ASU Partnership Project Manager – Independent Contractor (1099)

At InStride, people are our purpose. We believe that investing in people is the most powerful way to drive success—for individuals and organizations alike. As a public benefit corporation, we partner with leading employers to unlock opportunities for their employees, providing access to top-tier education programs that align with their employees’ career goals and the company’s business goals. Our mission goes beyond skill-building; we're here to empower our partners’ employees to advance their careers, elevate their expertise, and achieve meaningful personal and professional growth. No matter the team you’re on, our dedication to the success of our partners and their employees is what drives us. If you're passionate about making a difference and driving educational and professional advancement, InStride is the place for you. To get a better feel for our culture, watch more here. Candidates must be located in one of the following states to be considered eligible for employment: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WI. Part-time: Approximately 20 hours per week Contract duration: October/November 2026 through April 2027 What we're looking for (role overview): InStride is currently seeking a highly organized and proactive ASU Partnership Project Manager to join our Academic Partnerships team on a part-time contract basis. With guidance from the VP, Strategic Partnerships, this individual will support the execution of key initiatives related to InStride’s partnership with Arizona State University (ASU). This role will focus on keeping projects, meetings, stakeholders, documentation, and deliverables organized and moving forward. The ideal candidate is an exceptional project manager who can coordinate across multiple internal and external stakeholders, maintain clear documentation, proactively track action items and deadlines, and ensure commitments are followed through to completion. Skills we’d love to see you show off: - Project Management: Create structure around complex, cross-functional work by establishing timelines, tracking deliverables, identifying dependencies, and keeping projects moving toward completion. - Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate effectively across multiple teams and stakeholders, ensuring owners understand expectations, deadlines, dependencies, and next steps. - Meeting Management and Follow-Through: Prepare for meetings, coordinate agendas and materials, capture decisions and action items, and proactively follow up with owners to ensure commitments are completed. - Documentation and Organization: Maintain clear, accurate, and accessible project documentation so stakeholders have visibility into decisions, status, responsibilities, and next steps. - Operational Efficiency: Identify opportunities to enhance workflows and processes, driving improvements that increase productivity and streamline operations. - Problem Solving in Dynamic Environments: Tackle challenges with a proactive and adaptable approach, thriving in fast-paced, ever-changing contexts. - Clear Communication: Present project updates and complex information effectively to both internal and external audiences, ensuring alignment and understanding. - Attention to Detail: Manage multiple priorities, timelines, and stakeholders while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and follow-through. - Purpose-Driven: Motivated by a mission to create social impact through education, combining business success with meaningful contributions to society. Who you are (ideal profile): - You bring 4+ years of experience in project management, program management, operations, consulting, or a similar role involving coordination of complex, cross-functional initiatives. - You are highly organized and have demonstrated success managing multiple workstreams, deadlines, stakeholders, and deliverables simultaneously. - You are exceptionally strong at follow-through and proactively ensure action items and commitments don't fall through the cracks. - You can take a complex or loosely defined initiative and create the structure, documentation, timeline, and accountability needed to move it forward. - You communicate clearly and professionally and are comfortable working directly with both internal stakeholders and external ASU stakeholders. - You excel in collaborative environments where multiple teams and perspectives must come together to execute successfully. - You bring a proactive and adaptable mindset, ready to tackle challenges with resourcefulness and positivity. - You thrive in dynamic, fast-paced settings, embracing change and ambiguity with ease. - You have a knack for finding practical solutions and removing operational roadblocks. - You’re motivated by meaningful work and seek opportunities where your contributions have a lasting impact. - Experience working in higher education, education technology, or with large university systems is a plus but not required. How you will create impact (key responsibilities): - Coordinate ASU Partnership Projects: Manage project plans, timelines, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables for initiatives related to InStride’s partnership with Arizona State University. Ensure project owners have clarity on responsibilities and deadlines and proactively surface risks or blockers that could impact execution. - Drive Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate work across InStride teams and ASU stakeholders to ensure initiatives move forward efficiently. Connect the right stakeholders, clarify ownership and dependencies, and maintain visibility into progress across workstreams. - Manage Meetings and Follow-Through: Support recurring and project-specific meetings between InStride and ASU by coordinating agendas, gathering materials, documenting key decisions, capturing action items, and ensuring owners follow through on commitments. - Maintain Project Documentation: Create and maintain organized, accurate documentation for ASU initiatives, including project plans, meeting notes, decision logs, action-item trackers, timelines, and status updates. Leverage platforms such as Asana, Confluence, Salesforce, and other collaboration tools to create transparency and accountability. - Track Action Items and Deliverables: Maintain a centralized view of outstanding actions, deliverables, owners, and deadlines. Proactively follow up with stakeholders, identify overdue or at-risk items, and escalate blockers when appropriate. - Provide Project Status Visibility: Develop concise updates that provide internal and external stakeholders with clear visibility into project progress, upcoming milestones, open decisions, risks, and next steps. - Support Operational Issue Resolution: Help coordinate the resolution of operational issues involving InStride and ASU by documenting the issue, identifying appropriate stakeholders, tracking decisions and next steps, and ensuring items are carried through to resolution. - Champion Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve how ASU-related projects, meetings, documentation, and cross-functional workflows are managed. Implement practical improvements that reduce friction, strengthen accountability, and make execution more efficient. *The benefits listed within this career page are for full-time positions only and may not apply to this job posting. Target base compensation amount for this role outlined below. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts shown below. $30—$30 USD We are looking for someone who is not only technically skilled, but also enthusiastic about making a meaningful impact. If this description resonates with you, we're excited about the possibility of having you on our team. As a skills-driven employer, we encourage you to apply if there is a skill-fit, even in the absence of years of experience. Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At InStride, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this role! Benefits @ InStride As an organization that champions investing in people, it’s critical we walk the talk. That’s why InStride employees are eligible to enroll in 2,800+ online certificate and degree programs through our Step Forward program. Unlike traditional tuition reimbursement programs, InStride covers your tuition upfront, regardless of your course of study, degree type, or school - eligible to employees starting Day 1. This role is also eligible for the following benefits: - 401(k) plan with company match - Flexible vacation policy - Paid family leave - Best-in-class health care benefits - And more! InStride Diversity and Inclusion Statement At InStride, we foster a culture of belonging, we support authenticity and intersectionality, and we embrace and appreciate our differences. We do this by building a diverse pipeline of talent and ensuring equitable access to opportunities, information and leadership. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let your recruiter know. Policies & Disclosure InStride recommends employees have their COVID vaccinations. InStride may require employees to have COVID vaccination before entering the office or attending any InStride-related even in the future. However, we do not require this at this time. For questions on how we use personal information of job applicants, please refer to InStride's Job Applicant Privacy Policy. Beware of recruiting scams. InStride does not require a financial transaction or any financial account information to be eligible for employment. If you receive a message purporting to be from InStride asking you for a financial transaction, your financial account information, or any other sensitive information, please do not respond and let us know immediately at [email protected]. About InStride InStride is a human capital management company that helps organizations retain talent, upskill employees, and fill critical workforce roles through education programs. By breaking down barriers to learning, fostering career growth aligned with organizational goals, and simplifying program management, InStride delivers lasting impact. Partnering with forward-thinking companies like Labcorp, Adidas, and SSM Health, InStride drives meaningful social and business outcomes by providing access to life-changing education. Visit instride.com or follow InStride on LinkedIn for more information and up-to-date news.