Project Coordinator Job Description

A project coordinator is responsible for coordinating between all the people and departments working on one project. Often times this means being the person who handles all the scheduling, setting deadlines and making sure communications between all the departments run smoothly. The coordinator knows what all the departments are working on and how the pieces fit together in order to complete the project.

Formulate Deadlines

The project coordinator will determine the deadlines for all the departments to make sure work is turned in a timely manner. This includes knowing the order that things must be completed in if one part of the project depends on another part in order to be completed. By having one person centrally coordinate the deadlines the overall project should run more efficiently.

Report to the Project Manager

The project coordinator will report to the project manager on the status of all the departments as well as provide the project manager with projections regarding various due dates and completion projections. The Project manager sets about final deadlines and budgets and the coordinator must find a way to meet these deadlines and budgets. If there is to be any change to the final deadlines or budgets, it must be approved by the manager and the project coordinator needs to provide documentation as to why the change needs to be made.

Follow Up

It is up to the project coordinator to assess the morale of the members of the various teams. Running occasional focus groups and surveys can help the coordinator know what is working and what isn’t working. These tools can often help the coordinator find solutions to problems without having to consult the project manager. By staying in tune with the members of the project, the coordinator will be more effective. In addition, the coordinator needs to follow up after the project to make sure the end result was on par with the projections.

Technical Knowledge

The project coordinator should know the basics of the technical sides of all areas of the project. Without this knowledge it is difficult to set appropriate goals. In addition, the technical know-how makes the project coordinator a more effective hiring manager to make sure each part of the project is peopled properly. It is the coordinator’s job to find solutions to any and all problems over the course of the project. In order to do so, they need to know the technical options if something is not working as it should.

Skills

A project coordinator needs to be a good communicator and a people person. It is important that the coordinator can relate to all the members of the team in a reasonable way. This means setting hard goals as well as having a good policy for complaints and concerns. The coordinator should be able to multi-task so as to cover all areas of the project at the same time and maintain the workflow at an acceptable level. The coordinator must be able to properly communicate with management as well to resolve problems above his or her pay grade.