Project Coordinator, Marketing & Communications at American Physical Society – College Park, Maryland

Project Coordinator, Marketing & Communications

Who we are:

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and around the world.

Position Summary:

The Project Coordinator drives the successful execution of prioritized Marketing & Communications initiatives from intake through delivery. This role provides operational structure, workflow management, and cross-functional coordination to support APS’ mission and business goals.

In close partnership with Marketing & Communications Owners, the Project Coordinator maintains clear project intake, documentation, timelines, and accountability across the project lifecycle. This role ensures work is well-scoped, visible, and executed efficiently within established prioritization and governance frameworks.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, proactive, detail-oriented, and effective at managing multiple priorities in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.

APS is a remote-first work environment, meaning employees primarily work from home. In-person meetings are held when there is a clear business need or benefit, and employees may be required to attend such meetings.

Responsibilities:

Intake Translation & Project Setup

• Maintain project requests within APS project management systems (e.g., Jira, Asana, Airtable).

• Ensure intake submissions, prioritization tier, briefs, expected outcomes, and success metrics are documented and accessible.

• Confirm clarity of scope prior to execution; identify and resolve gaps or ambiguities early.

Project Planning & Kickoff Coordination

• Schedule and facilitate project kickoffs for Tier A and Tier B (high- and medium-priority) initiatives, as designated.

• Prepare agendas, documentation, and supporting materials.

• Document key decisions, including deliverables, audiences, timelines, roles, risks, and success measures.

• Partner with Marketing & Communications Owners to develop and maintain RACI documentation.

Operational Project Management

• Manage day-to-day workflows, timelines, and task assignments across projects.

• Maintain accurate project status updates and dashboards.

• Identify risks, scope changes, and blockers; escalate proactively to Marketing & Communications Owners and Directors.

• Track and document scope, timeline, and priority adjustments.

• Monitor project backlog to ensure visibility and appropriate sequencing of lower-tier work.

• Close projects in all systems upon completion.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Facilitate coordination across writers, designers, digital teams, and subject-matter experts.

• Track cross-project dependencies and resource constraints.

• Ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged at each stage of execution.

• Support collaborative problem-solving to maintain project momentum.

Reporting, Metrics & Continuous Improvement

• Track and report on operational metrics (e.g., on-time delivery, rework rate, cycle time, backlog aging).

• Identify workflow inefficiencies and recommend process improvements.

• Facilitate post-project reflections and capture lessons learned.

• Partner with Process Owners to strengthen intake and delivery systems.

Editorial Calendar Coordination

• Manage the integrated Marketing & Communications editorial calendar across channels (web, email, social, events, campaigns).

• Align intake priorities with campaign timelines and publishing schedules.

• Provide visibility into upcoming launches, deadlines, and key communications milestones.

• Partner with content owners and channel leads to ensure asset readiness and timely publishing.

• Monitor calendar adherence and identify gaps, duplication, or over-saturation risks.

Additional Responsibilities

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, business administration, or related field. Equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Minimum of 3 years of project coordination or project management experience, preferably within marketing or communications environments.

• Experience supporting complex, multi-project workflows is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent initiatives in a structured intake or workflow environment.

• Strong organizational and time-management skills.

• Experience working within project management platforms (e.g., Jira, Asana, Airtable, Smartsheet).

• Ability to anticipate risks and proactively solve problems.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong documentation and process discipline.

• Ability to work cross-functionally and manage by influence.

• Detail-oriented with the ability to maintain accuracy across multiple moving pieces.

• Comfort operating within a governance framework and defined prioritization model.

• Experience in a nonprofit, association, scientific, or mission-driven organization is a plus.

Travel: This position may require limited travel (up to 10%) to attend meetings or organizational events as assigned.

Salary:

The salary range for this position takes into account various factors influencing compensation decisions, such as skill sets, experience, training, and other business and organizational requirements. The salary listed within the specified ranges considers relevant experience. Our compensation philosophy at APS aims to maintain salaries at the midpoint of the market. As a result, we typically hire within the target starting range. Exceptional, rare cases may merit reviews above target starting range for specialized or niche skills aligned with strategic operational goals.