Project Coordinator

** HYBRID position in Edison, NJ. Please only apply if you can work in Edison, NJ office 3 days/week**

Salary - $50,000-$65,000/year

We're Growing — And We Need Someone Who Loves a Good Checklist

Ascender Studios is an award-winning boutique digital strategy, design, and implementation agency based in Edison, NJ. We partner with clients across the full spectrum - from ambitious startups to Fortune 500 pharma giants - to build award-winning web and mobile solutions powered by cutting-edge UX and the latest technology.

The drive to deliver excellent work, centered on great client relationships, is at the core of everything we do. We're not a faceless agency with layers of bureaucracy. We're a nimble, tight-knit team that moves fast, thinks on its feet, and never stops raising the bar.

That's exactly why we need you.

What You'll Do (The Role)

As our Project Coordinator, you'll be learning the craft of digital project management from the ground up — working directly alongside an experienced Project Manager who will show you the ropes. This isn't a "watch from the sidelines" role. Things move fast here, and from early on, you'll be involved in real work, building real skills, and growing into real responsibility.

This is a growth role by design. You'll be mentored, challenged, and given increasing ownership as you find your footing — all in an environment where no two days look the same and the pace keeps you sharp. Here's what that journey looks like:

Learn to Own the Details

• Work alongside your PM to manage multiple brands and projects — spanning Healthcare and Pharma — including websites, banners, email programs, social media, and print from initiation to completion

• Learn to build and monitor project timelines that give creative and dev teams the space to do great work while keeping client commitments intact

• Develop the habit of keeping our project management software dialed in — tasks organized, dates accurate, resources properly assigned

Learn to Run the Day

• Grow into leading daily hot sheets: setting the team's deliverables for the day, documenting decisions, and surfacing next steps before anyone has to ask

• Learn to track project changes throughout the lifecycle and reconcile estimates against actuals — training your eye to spot a drift before it becomes a problem

• Build your instincts for being the connective tissue between internal teams so that client requests are met with a coordinated, confident response

Learn the Business

• Shadow and support your Project Manager on client engagements, picking up the rhythms of agency life, client communication, and project strategy

• Develop your judgment for prioritization, scope management, and knowing when to escalate — the unwritten skills that make a great PM

Who You Are (The Requirements)

We're looking for someone equal parts organized and adaptable — someone who gets genuine satisfaction from bringing order to complexity, and who actually thrives when the pace picks up.

The Baseline

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or a related field

• At least 1 year of professional experience in a project coordination, project management, or agency environment

• Proficiency in MS Office — particularly Excel and PowerPoint — is a must

The "You" Factor

• Obsessively organized — color-coding, folder structures, and airtight systems aren't just habits for you, they're a personality trait

• Calendar-driven — you live by your task list and would never let a deadline sneak up on you

• Eagle-eyed — you catch the typo everyone else missed, and the misaligned date no one noticed

• Numbers-comfortable — spreadsheets are a tool, not a threat

• Chaos-wrangler — you can hold many moving parts in your head and still know exactly what's due tomorrow

• A true follow-through person — you don't consider something "done" until it actually is

• Proactively curious — you're already thinking about the next step before anyone has to ask

• A strong communicator — clear, confident, and professional in both writing and conversation

• A team player — you pitch in because it's the right thing to do, not because someone told you to

• Energized by a fast pace — you don't get rattled when priorities shift or deadlines stack up; you get focused

• Digitally savvy — you pick up new tools quickly and enjoy finding smarter ways to work

A Note on our Culture

At Ascender Studios, "everyone does everything" isn't a euphemism for being stretched thin — it's a badge of our nimbleness. We don't have layers of approval or rigid job lanes. If a client needs a win, we all jump in to make it happen.

For a Project Coordinator, that means you won't be sitting on the sidelines. You'll be in the mix, learning fast, moving fast, and contributing in real ways from day one. If that sounds like the kind of place you've been looking for, we'd love to meet you.

More reasons to consider Ascender:

• 10 paid holidays
• 10 days paid vacation time
• 7 personal/sick days
• Health/dental/vision insurance
• Life insurance and Disability coverage
• Annual stipend for professional development
• 401(k) plan match
• Hybrid schedule (3 days per week in Edison, NJ)