Project Manager, Community Veterinary Medicine Project

Community medicine is an emerging veterinary discipline focused on expanding access to care for animals and the people who love them. It draws on both shelter medicine and private practice and is organized around principles such as spectrum of care, protocolled medicine, and task-shifting. The field is growing quickly, but it has no shared, authoritative body of guidance.

The Community Veterinary Medicine Project is a collaborative, multi-institution project, housed at the SF SPCA. It will be the first comprehensive, freely available resource for the veterinary field. Over 18 months, an Editorial Leadership Council (ELC) of five veterinary leaders, led by SF SPCA CEO, Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, will work with a national cohort of subject matter expert authors to produce four connected resources:

• Clinical Guidelines for veterinarians practicing community medicine
• An Operations Manual for launching and running community clinics
• Clinical Decision Tools designed for use in the exam room
• A Research Database, developed with UC Davis

The work follows a formal governance process with conflict-of-interest disclosure, an AI use policy, external peer review, and review by a Strategic Advisory Council.

You'll own day-to-day delivery of the project: the plan, the timeline, the budget tracking, and the pipeline that moves more than two dozen chapters from first draft to publication. You'll always know where things stand and what's at risk, and you'll bring problems to the Executive Sponsor, Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, early, with options.

This role suits someone who enjoys order, notices when something is about to fall through the cracks, and communicates clearly and warmly with senior professionals. Most of the people you'll work with are senior veterinary leaders who don't report to you and are fitting this work around demanding clinical careers. You don't need a veterinary background, but you do need to be comfortable learning a specialized vocabulary and applying written standards consistently.

The workload rises and falls. It peaks around the open call for authors, contributor onboarding, each convening, and final platform assembly. We'll plan schedules together so hours flex to meet those windows.

Responsibilities

Own Project Plan and Timeline

• Build and maintain the master project plan and timeline across all four deliverables.
• Spot schedule risks early and bring recovery options to the Executive Sponsor.
• Approve routine deadline extensions within agreed limits and escalate larger changes.
• Track spending against the grant budget and prepare progress and budget inputs for funder reports.
• Keep records that meet funder and governance documentation requirements at all times.

Run the Governance Process

• Keep the ELC moving: schedule meetings, set agendas, deliver pre-reads, and follow action items through to completion.
• Run the Strategic Advisory Council's two scope reviews, from distributing materials to consolidating feedback.

Manage the Contributor Lifecycle and the Review Pipeline

• Run the open call for authors and onboard selected contributors, making sure every conflict-of-interest disclosure, AI use attestation, and contributor agreement is on file before writing begins.
• Partner with the ELC chair to set and hold authors and reviewers to agreed deadlines.
• Log and organize incoming applications by topic for ELC review.
• Send author notifications and onboarding packets.
• Organize author orientation sessions, kickoff calls, and mid-point check-ins, including recordings for those who can't attend live.
• Maintain an accurate contributor roster with contact details, topic assignments, credentials, and affiliations.

Track Manuscripts Through Review

• Log each draft on receipt and run a first-pass check against the submission checklist. This covers file naming, required deliverables, figure files, and completed forms.
• Route drafts to the assigned Category Editor, and track feedback and revision deadlines at each governance stage.
• Manage external peer review logistics: send invitations, share materials, track reviewer agreements and deadlines, and collect comments.
• Keep the project tracker (Asana) and shared Google Drive folders current, so anyone can see where every chapter stands.

Coordinate the In-Person Convenings

• Plan two 2-3 day convenings (virtual or in-person), managing logistics, participant travel, and budget, and partner with the facilitator who leads the sessions.
• Process travel reimbursements and contributor stipends according to budget and policy.

Lead Assembly and Launch

• Compile contributor attribution, credentials, and COI disclosures for publication front matter.
• Manage final platform assembly by tracking files, version control, and outstanding items.
• Coordinate launch communications logistics, including author notifications and distribution of attribution language.

Reporting Relationships and Contacts

• Reports to the Senior Executive Assistant to the CEO; Executive Sponsor: CEO