Project Manager, ClimateLens (Volunteer)

ClimateLens Project | https://www.sprout-climate.org/climatelens/?ref=sprout-climate.org

Role Title

Project Manager

Function

ClimateLens

Reports To

Strategic Lead

Role Level

Mid-Level (3–7years experience)

Time Commitment

7–10 hours per week

Start Date

February 1, 2027

Duration

1 year (possible extension depending on projects)

Check-in Frequency

Biweekly sprint meetings, monthly meetings with Strategic Lead(s)

ClimateLens is an evolving initiative at the intersection of climate change, data, and mental health. The project is transitioning from a research-focused mandate toward active advocacy around the mental health impacts of climate change on individuals and communities. Our MVP roadmap reflects this evolution:

• MVP 1 (completed): Understanding the topics discussed about climate change on social media and the climate emotions detected within those conversations
• MVP 2 (completed): Understanding the connections between those topics and emotions, and how they evolve over time
• MVP 3 (in early stages): Building a taxonomy of climate anxiety, mapping, categorizing, and surfacing the emotional landscape of how people experience climate-related distress

This shift toward advocacy means ClimateLens is increasingly focused on translating data insights into real-world impact to inform mental health support systems, community conversations, and policy discussions around climate grief and anxiety. The Project Manager will play a key role in navigating this transition and keeping the team aligned through it.

Role Purpose
The Project Manager will serve as the operational backbone of ClimateLens, coordinating people, priorities, and timelines to keep the team moving forward. This role is about leadership and facilitation: ensuring contributors are unblocked, milestones are met, and the project stays aligned with its evolving advocacy mission. The Project Manager acts as the connective tissue between technical and non-technical teams, translating strategy into actionable plans and fostering a culture of accountability and collaboration across a distributed volunteer environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the end-to-end ClimateLens project timeline, milestones, scope, and deliverables
• Coordinate priorities, timelines, and dependencies across research, technical, product, and outreach teams
• Facilitate Agile stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives, backlog grooming, and regular project check-ins
• Maintain project workflows, tickets, documentation, and progress dashboards using Linear, with high-level milestone tracking through GitHub
• Monitor team progress, identify blockers and project risks, and coordinate mitigation proactively
• Ensure contributors have clear responsibilities, expectations, and deadlines, while adjusting priorities and timelines as requirements evolve
• Coordinate research activities and milestones alongside technical development, keeping findings, data insights, and project objectives aligned
• Support the translation of research and technical findings into actionable project plans, workshops, outreach activities, and other outputs
• Maintain clear communication between technical and non-technical contributors and provide structured project updates to leadership
• Support outreach initiatives with schools, community organizations, and other project partners
• Help ensure research, technical development, and outreach collectively support the ClimateLens mission and MVP roadmap

Check-in Frequency
Biweekly sprint meetings; monthly meetings with Strategic Lead(s)

Required Qualifications

• Exceptional communication skills across remote tools (Slack, Google Meet); able to produce clear documentation, actionable meeting summaries, and articulate tasks to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong organizational and time management abilities, with experience overseeing end-to-end project timelines and managing multiple subteams and deadlines simultaneously
• Solid understanding of Agile methodologies, with hands-on experience facilitating stand-ups, retrospectives, and sprint planning
• Proficiency in project management tools: creating and managing tickets, tracking cross-team dependencies, and maintaining task boards
• High emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills; able to navigate team dynamics and maintain a collaborative, solutions-oriented environment
• Previous experience as a project manager, with the ability to accurately communicate responsibilities and challenges
• Curiosity and willingness to learn new tools and technical concepts to collaborate effectively with engineering teams

Nice-to-Have Qualifications

• Background in environmental, climate, or community-focused projects
• Familiarity with data & AI projects or civic tech initiatives
• Experience working in volunteer or distributed teams in nonprofit or social impact contexts
• Experience supporting research projects in social science, mental health, climate, computational language, or other interdisciplinary fields
• Passion for climate justice, community empowerment, and participatory data storytelling
• Experience with outreach to educational institutions or local communities

Key Deliverables & Success Metrics

• Well-maintained project documentation, style guides, and progress dashboards that keep all contributors aligned
• Technical and non-technical reports that communicate project progress clearly to diverse stakeholders
• Timely delivery of MVPs in collaboration with the development team
• Successful outreach initiatives with partners
• Positive team feedback on communication, coordination, and overall project momentum

How to Apply
Submit your application through our Google Form: https://forms.gle/s6ULESPkGP9UiiEq7. Please include a brief statement of interest explaining why you are passionate about this role and any relevant experience.

About Sprout
Sprout is a volunteer-run not-for-profit working at the intersection of community, data & AI, and climate change to strengthen communities’ capacity to bounce forward from climate impacts. Our mission is to help community groups effectively advocate for their needs and find solutions to environmental, social, and economic challenges exacerbated by the changing climate. Learn more at https://www.sprout-climate.org/

Equity Statement
Sprout values diversity and inclusion, seeing volunteers as essential partners and co-creators. We value their diverse perspectives and community knowledge, encouraging them to challenge and guide our initiatives.