Project Manager – Research & Funded Projects (All Genders)

zerothird is running a growing portfolio of several larger publicly funded and collaborative R&D projects in the field of entanglement-based eQKD and long-distance quantum-secure communications, including flagship efforts in Common Criteria CC Certification. Technical leadership and domain expertise are covered by our internal experts and project leads. What we need is a senior project manager who owns the project management discipline end-to-end: planning, coordination, reporting, risk, budget, and stakeholder management across funding agencies, consortium partners, and internal teams.

• Independent project execution and coordination with external partners and funding bodies (e.g. European Commission, FFG, EuroQCI consortia)
• Ownership of project schedules, milestone planning, and technical/timeline alignment across consortia
• Continuous monitoring of project progress, deliverables, and budget consumption across all phases
• Risk management: early identification of deviations and implementation of mitigations
• Coordination of interdisciplinary project teams (engineering, optics, software, certification, commercial)
• Alignment with portfolio management and company-level prioritization
• Quality, cost, and contract management, including reporting obligations toward funding agencies
• Preparation and orchestration of project reviews, deliverables, and audits

• Completed technical or scientific education (HTL, FH, or university — physics, IT, telecommunications, electrical engineering, or comparable)
• Minimum 5 years of project management experience, ideally in R&D or publicly funded projects (EU Horizon, ESA, FFG, or similar)
• Background or solid working understanding of one of the following is a strong advantage: IT/networking, certification and standards (ETSI, ISO, Common Criteria), or applied physics/photonics
• Familiarity with the reporting logic and administrative requirements of EU/national funding programs
• Structured, independent, and pragmatic working style with a strong sense of ownership
• Excellent communication skills toward technical experts, consortium partners, and funding officers
• Strong commercial awareness (budgets, effort tracking, contract logic)
• Confident use of MS Office and project planning tools (MS Project, Jira, or comparable)
• Fluent in German and English (written and spoken)

• Experience in quantum technologies, photonics, optical communications, or cybersecurity
• Experience leading consortium-level coordination (WP lead or coordinator role)
• Familiarity with certification or compliance-driven project environments (NIS2, DORA, Common Criteria, ETSI GS QKD)
• PM certification (IPMA, PMI, PRINCE2)

zerothird is committed to building a diverse team. Women are currently underrepresented in our technical organization, and we therefore strongly encourage qualified women to apply. Where candidates are equally qualified, preference will be given to female applicants.

If you enjoy taking ownership, driving projects forward, and creating structure in dynamic environments while enabling teams through effective coordination and communication, we’d like to hear from you.

The minimum gross salary for this position is €3.284,86 per month (based on full-time employment) in accordance with the collective agreement. However, there is a willingness to offer a higher salary depending on experience and qualifications.

We look forward to receiving your application!