Project Manager (Full-Time, Temporary)

Position Summary

The Project Manager role requires an organized, proactive individual who thrives on keeping complex, multi-workstream engagements moving on time and on scope. The Project Manager will work alongside account leads, strategists, writers, designers, and production partners to plan, coordinate, and primarily deliver an integrated communications program for a public sector client.

This is a six-month project-based employment position, expected to conclude upon the completion of the project and/or the six-month time frame. Pinkston may consider extending or converting this full-time temporary position to an extended role based on performance and business need.

A successful Project Manager will be detail-oriented, comfortable building processes, adept at managing competing priorities, confident coordinating internal teams and outside vendors, and willing to hold colleagues and partners accountable to deadlines. This role suits someone who enjoys being the person who makes the trains run on time—and who is equally comfortable rolling up their sleeves on the work itself.

The Project Manager will work at our Falls Church, Virginia office.

Additional Details

• Status: Full-Time, Fixed Term W-2
• Term: Six month/Project Based, with potential to extend
• Work Location: Falls Church, Virginia
• Travel: Occasional, less than 10%
• Salary: $75K–$85K annually

Role Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day project management for a public sector client engagement—planning, sequencing, and tracking work from kickoff through delivery.
• Manage a workstream end-to-end: sequence contributors against one schedule, hold scope, and deliver on time.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams and external partners to move deliverables from scope through delivery, holding each milestone to deadline.
• Serve as the accountability layer on the project: make sure the right people are in the right conversations, deadlines are met, and risks surface early rather than being discovered late.
• Support account leadership in client-facing meetings—preparing agendas and materials, capturing decisions and action items, and driving follow-through between meetings.
• Build and maintain the project management infrastructure the team relies on: templates, trackers, documentation, and repeatable account processes.

Skills & Qualifications

Required

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 3-4 years of professional project management experience, preferably in an agency, consultancy, or in-house communications environment for commercial or government clients.
• Demonstrated ability to translate a scope of work into timelines, budgets, resourcing plans, and deliverable trackers.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and workstreams on tight deadlines.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams—writers, designers, video and production staff, digital—and holding outside vendors to schedule and budget.
• Ability to track hours, budget burn, and scope against contract, and to flag risks before they become problems.
• Initiative to self-start, build process, and problem-solve independently in a fast-paced, creative environment.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including comfort in client-facing settings.
• Willingness to collaborate across teams and to give and receive direct feedback.
• Comfortable collaborating closely with a small team of communications professionals.
• Availability to begin immediately.
• Alignment with Pinkston’s guiding principles.

Preferred

• Experience managing complex digital or multimedia projects from planning through launch.
• Experience working on a contract or project basis.
• Familiarity with research-driven or data-informed content development.
• PMP, CAPM, or comparable project management certification.
• Experience with Slack, Google Workspace, and project management platforms such as Monday.com, Asana, or similar.

Who We Are

Pinkston is a full-service branding, marketing, and communications agency offering integrated public relations, creative, digital, and research services to transform companies and organizations. As an outcome-driven agency, Pinkston delivers customized, strategic solutions that drive real-world impact.

Benefits

Pinkston offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes company-sponsored health, dental, and vision plans accompanied by employer-funded life insurance, HRA, and short-term disability plan. Optional long-term disability and additional Life Insurance are also available. Pinkston provides a 401k retirement plan and contributes to each employee’s retirement annually regardless of employee participation.

At Pinkston, we believe great things happen when people come together and are committed to building a collaborative in-person work environment. Pinkston is also committed to a healthy work-life balance. We offer flexibility through an innovative hybrid work model that gives team members the opportunity to work 30% of the time remotely.  Pinkston provides generous holiday and vacation policies, paid parental leave, and an additional week of paid “volunteer time off” to encourage employees to invest time in a 501C non-profit of their choice.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Pinkston is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and apprenticeship. Pinkston makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.