What Does It Take to Become a Kicksaw Project Manager?

As anyone who has ever received a Salesforce login can probably guess, wrangling the myriad factors that go into creating a solution that works well, scales appropriately, meets requirements, is accessible to users, and can be completed on time and on budget is, well…complicated, to say the least. 

Implementing Salesforce and companion software is no walk in the park, but hey — that’s why Kicksaw exists, so we really can’t complain. And like most consultancies out there, we hire Project Managers to help out with the heavy logistical lifting. But a job is so much more than its title — so what exactly do we expect out of the folks we hire for this crucial role? Just keep reading to find out!

Working for Kicksaw is far from your typical Project Manager (PM) experience, and that’s because our approach to Salesforce implementations is unique. We consider the experience we provide to be our product, and this dedication distinguishes us from the competition in the best possible ways. For our customers, it means receiving solutions that truly meet their needs and deliver real, incredible value. For Kicksaw team members, it translates to a workplace that genuinely prioritizes employee well-being. Like, for real.

What’s more, we approach consulting radically differently from other consulting firms out there. We call our approach Fractional Operations — check out this explainer video to learn more.

For Project Managers, as well as other Kicksaw roles, Fractional Operations creates an environment that prioritizes employee well-being while not sacrificing clients’ needs. It’s a win for everyone, and we firmly believe it’s the best way to do business. And if you join our team, we’re pretty certain you’ll agree. 

I love learning about the different business use cases our clients have. As a PM, I'm exposed to such a wide range of businesses that are seeking support in streamlining their processes and getting the most out of the technology they have provisioned at their organization. One day I might be learning about business processes from the medical sector, and my next project might be an arts organization that is working to streamline their ticketing/booking systems through Salesforce. I love learning about all of the behind the scenes work that goes into keeping our world running!
— Sarah Tirey, Kicksaw Project Manager

What sets the Project Manager role apart? 

The Project Manager is instrumental in establishing Kicksaw as a premier Salesforce Consulting firm and is crucial to the success of Kicksaw’s client relationships and implementations. Reporting to the Delivery Manager and as a key member of the Delivery team, the Project Manager serves as the primary point of contact for our more complex client projects. They are responsible for planning and executing their assigned projects according to specifications, within set timeframes and budgets.

Project Managers act as a bridge between the client, the Pod (a Pod is a team consisting of Salesforce Consultant, Solution Architect, and Salesforce Admin), and Engineering Operations or other teams involved in the clients’ engagement. The Project Manager keeps tabs on all the moving parts and ensures that solutions are delivered effectively and efficiently, meeting both technical specifications and business objectives. 

An important difference to note between the Project Manager and Salesforce Consultant (SC) roles, as they can be very similar, is that SCs only manage projects that are assigned to their particular Pod, and PMs do not consult on Salesforce design requirements. When Kicksaw takes on a project that carries a heavy administrative load and/or involves many sets of hands and eyes across our internal teams, that project is given a PM (in addition to a Pod) in order to allow the SC to focus on the business requirements/design work with the Solution Architect and Salesforce Administrator. Many hands make light work and all.

And remember that unique business model? It comes with an additional benefit for our team members: without utilization metrics limiting us, burnout isn’t an issue here. Seriously. We see and treat you as a person, not just another cog in the machine. Yes, you’ll enjoy a full workload with multiple clients, but your contribution to our organization goes beyond just 40 hours of work each week. You are a valued and respected team member, and we will support you as we all work together to achieve success for Kicksaw, our customers, and yourself as an individual contributor.

What does an average day look like for a Project Manager at Kicksaw? Expect around six to eight hours of external client meetings per week, with a similar amount of time spent on internal meetings. Outside of your scheduled meetings, you control your own schedule. We trust you to manage your workload effectively and are not concerned with the specifics of how, when, or where you work, because we have confidence that you’ll represent us well and make us proud.

As far as a "typical" workday goes, anticipate that any combination of the following tasks could fill your calendar on an average day:

• Stand-up meetings with Pods: During these meetings, you’ll get an understanding of the week’s priorities (or a summary of the prior week’s accomplishments), discuss blockers, and identify how you can help the team focus on the implementation work rather than project administration. 
• Client meetings: Attending client meetings is, of course, a big part of the job — when participating in project meetings, PMs typically provide advance meeting agendas, take thorough notes during the call, and spearhead meeting follow-up communication to ensure every minute the client spends with us has a valuable output. 
• Emailing stakeholders: Frequent communication with both clients and internal team members is necessary for a wide variety of reasons, including obtaining sample payloads, data dictionaries, branding guidelines, or whatever else our team needs in order to create solutions that deliver value.
• RAID (Risks, Actions, Issues, Decisions) mitigation: Reviewing risks and issues that the team is already facing or may face throughout the project lifecycle and creating mitigation plans so we are prepared is a critical part of the Project Manager’s workload.
• Project timeline mastery: It’s important to periodically review and manage project timelines to ensure we’re efficiently tracking towards our milestones — you’ll work closely with SCs from the Pods you’re currently working with to accomplish this.
• Being an ear and support pillar for our teams: Over the course of any given day, you may need to jump on ad hoc calls to help explain requests from the client, listen to concerns from our team, and help identify solutions.
• Cross-team dependencies: Project Managers bring various Kicksaw teams, such as Sales Ops, Marketing Ops, and Engineering Ops, together to ensure we are all collaborating on the best solution for the client.
• Creating artifacts and templates to support the growth of Kicksaw’s PMO practice: Kicksaw never stops iterating on our own processes, and neither do the Project Managers — we’re always pushing for internal improvement.
• Leadership updates: Working with executive leadership to share project status updates, major milestones, and keep everyone informed on how projects are progressing is an important part of the job.
• Project scope maintenance: This includes doing what’s necessary to fully understand scope changes and help gain agreement on any decisions that impact the budget, scope, or quality of the project with internal teams and external stakeholders
• Crunching numbers: Work with both SCs and the Finance department on the project’s forecasted hours, budget, and billing.
• Lending a sympathetic ear: Project Managers routinely listen to concerns from both clients and internal team members and help create a plan for any project changes, especially when it comes to the changing priorities of the client. 

Every day brings fresh new challenges, but for a Kicksaw Project Manager, variety is what makes the job exciting! To excel in this role, you must be adept at juggling multiple tasks simultaneously — we move fast around here. Key skills include exceptional time management, clear communication, confidence in leading discovery sessions, and strong experience in Salesforce development and implementation. If this sounds like you, keep reading!

Being a Kicksaw Project Manager means I have the space and creativity to do what it takes to bring success to our clients. In past consulting organizations, I had a utilization target that I needed to meet, as well as rigid scope parameters — I felt limited in my capacity to deliver because of the emphasis on only delivering what was agreed upon and hitting targets. As a Kicksaw Project Manager, though, I have the flexibility to focus on what really matters: project success. I can focus on actual problem solving, risk mitigation, removing blockers across the teams, and flexing the scope as our clients’ business needs change. This requires creative and critical thinking, but results in both a better relationship and a better outcome for our clients. And frankly, it’s more fun the Kicksaw way too!
— Sadi Foltz, Kicksaw Project Manager

What does career growth look like for a Project Manager?

There are three tiers for Project Manager at Kicksaw, and we like to break them down this way: 

• Tier 1: Entry — Is learning about rope
• Tier 2: Mid/Developing — Can tie a knot, and participates when others tie complex knots
• Tier 3: Sr./Career — Ties complex knots, calculates rope strength, teaches others how to tie these complex knots, and uses knots strategically

All Kicksaw team members utilize an intuitive performance management platform to maintain organization, and performance reviews are conducted biannually. Our internal rubric offers clear guidelines for evaluating tiers within each role, allowing easy access to career progression and salary range information — no need to contact HR or schedule any meetings to get answers to your questions (but you are always welcome to schedule those meetings anyway, of course!).

At Kicksaw, each role follows a well-defined career progression track. For those aiming for managerial positions, we provide a dedicated path, while an "individual contributor track" is available for those who prefer to hone specific skill sets. Both career paths are equally weighted, because management is not the sole route to success at Kicksaw. We know not everyone wants to be a manager, for any variety of reasons, and we fully support that.

We really value self-improvement and encourage all employees to continuously enhance their skills — whether it's through taking classes, attending conferences like Dreamforce or other Salesforce events, or engaging in activities that boost professional abilities, Kicksaw supports ongoing learning. We offer educational reimbursement (with a cap), an annual tech stipend, access to resources that help you find relevant classes, and more.

In short, the sky's the limit when you're a Project Manager at Kicksaw!

The two most important talents a project manager can bring to a client engagement are communications management and issue/risk management. Timely and qualified communications benefit both the client and the internal team, and fewer assumptions and enhanced camaraderie occur with stellar communications. The identification, articulation and mitigation of both project issues and risks are vital to success — all projects will experience issues and risks during their life cycles. A rockstar project manager will be able to manage issues and risks to improve the likelihood of a successful project and reinforce an ideal client perception.
— Joe Sardo, Kicksaw Project Manager

How should I prepare for an interview for the Project Manager role?

When our People Ops team reviews your resumé, they’re mostly looking for significant experience in Agile CRM implementation project management. Hands-on experience with Salesforce is also crucial — while we don't expect you to design an org or build out an integration, you do need to be an expert on SFDC’s overall capability and functionality. You should definitely be a Salesforce Certified Administrator, and similar certs, such as CSM or PMP, are really nice to see on your resumé as well. 

If you pass the initial HR screening and there's a mutual fit, you'll proceed to a series of interviews with a member of leadership (such as the PMO Manager or a Delivery Manager) and a current Project Manager. During these interviews, we’ll delve into your approach to project management, your behavior during key discussions, and your comfort with using data and analytics to optimize processes and fully leverage our teams’ potential. Most importantly, though, these interviews are an opportunity for our team to meet you, a potential new teammate! Think of them as conversations with genuinely kind people invested in your success — that's the interview experience at Kicksaw.

Preparing for an interview for the Project Manager role (or any role at Kicksaw) centers around one key principle: authenticity. Our "Be You" core value is paramount during the interview process — we're interested in you as a person, not just your skills and resumé. Personalities and unique perspectives shape how individuals work and collaborate, which is very important to us. Equally crucial is demonstrating a natural affinity for all four of our core values: Work Together, Be You, Own It, and Keep It Simple.

Kicksaw's success is absolutely a product of our amazing team, which is why fostering a people-centric culture is a top priority around here. We’ve worked hard to build a culture that genuinely prioritizes our team members through a remote-first work philosophy and a growing list of employee benefits. This commitment means we are very intentional about bringing on individuals who align well with the culture we’ve cultivated. Demonstrating alignment with our core values and contributing to our unique culture are key qualities we seek in candidates, regardless of the role.

With all this in mind, please submit your resumé! We understand that applying for a new role can be daunting, but rest assured, real people will carefully review your application. The Project Manager role at Kicksaw is an exciting opportunity for individuals who have strong consulting skills, excel at maintaining communication across departments, always go the extra mile to ensure a project’s success, and are on the hunt for a rewarding career with a truly unique consulting firm.

We look forward to hearing from you!