Senior Project Manager

End Client: County of San Diego

Job Title: Senior Project Manager

Duration: 12-48+ Months

Start Date: ASAP

Position Type: Contract

Number of Hours: 40 Hours a Week

Location: San Diego, CA 92101 - Hybrid

Interview Type: Webcam

Department: Department of Assessor, Recorder and County Clerk (ARCC)

Description: The Senior Project Manager will serve as the owner-side lead project management resource for a large-scale enterprise modernization program. The role will plan, govern, coordinate, and oversee a portfolio of technology modernization, business transformation, infrastructure transition, and operational initiatives, with the Property Assessment System Replacement Project as the primary priority. The selected individual will represent the County's interests independently of implementation vendors and will coordinate executive leadership, business stakeholders, technology teams, consultants, software vendors, and implementation partners. The role requires objective program oversight, strong executive communication, disciplined vendor accountability, and hands-on leadership through implementation, cutover, go-live, and stabilization.

Work Expectations

• Available during County business hours in Pacific Time.
• Available onsite in San Diego for key activities, including governance meetings, vendor workshops, UAT, cutover, go-live, and stabilization.
• Available for after-hours support during critical implementation periods when required.
• Able to perform project-related IT activities using County-owned equipment and County-managed networks.
• Able to commit to the initial engagement and support continuity throughout the contract period.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership

• Lead multiple concurrent enterprise modernization initiatives and related business and technical workstreams.
• Establish and maintain program governance, decision-making, escalation, accountability, and reporting processes.
• Develop and maintain an Integrated Master Schedule covering County, vendor, infrastructure, data, integration, testing, training, readiness, procurement, cutover, and stabilization activities.
• Monitor scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, issues, decisions, assumptions, dependencies, and program health.

Vendor, Stakeholder, and Executive Management

• Coordinate multiple vendors, consultants, County departments, business teams, technical teams, and executive stakeholders.
• Monitor vendor performance, deliverables, milestones, contractual commitments, dependencies, and corrective actions.
• Facilitate steering committee meetings, governance sessions, workshops, and executive briefings.
• Provide objective, decision-oriented recommendations regarding program status, vendor performance, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and readiness.

Implementation and Operational Readiness

• Coordinate requirements management, design and configuration, system integration, data migration and conversion, testing, training, organizational readiness, cutover, go-live, and stabilization.
• Support cloud migration, data center exit, infrastructure modernization, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, reporting, analytics, automation, and related strategic initiatives.
• Protect continuity of critical operations throughout implementation and transition.
• Lead readiness assessments and confirm that critical business, technical, operational, and organizational conditions are met before major milestones.

Reporting, Documentation, and Knowledge Transfer

• Prepare executive dashboards, weekly status reports, monthly executive reports, decision papers, presentations, and briefing materials.
• Maintain risk, issue, decision, action, dependency, and vendor performance logs.
• Develop project charters, integrated project management plans, communication plans, resource plans, testing plans, data migration plans, cutover plans, and closeout documentation.
• Mentor County staff and transfer governance processes, templates, tools, methods, documentation, and institutional knowledge.

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional project and/or management experience, including at least five (5) years in a local government environment.
• Minimum five (5) years leading large-scale, complex enterprise technology implementation or modernization projects with budgets of $10 million or more.
• Lead project or management experience on at least three (3) enterprise system implementations through implementation, deployment/go-live, and/or post-production stabilization.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating multiple concurrent workstreams involving business stakeholders, technical teams, vendors, consultants, and executive leadership.
• Demonstrated experience managing project scope, schedules, budgets, risks, issues, decisions, dependencies, vendor performance, and executive reporting.
• Demonstrated experience with major implementation activities, including requirements management, system integration, data migration/conversion, testing, organizational readiness, training, cutover, go-live, and stabilization.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects within a public-sector, government, highly regulated, or similarly complex organizational environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Property assessment, CAMA, property tax administration, land records, permitting, or comparable government enterprise system experience.
• Owner-side project management and independent vendor oversight experience.
• Cloud migration, data center exit, infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity, and business continuity experience.
• Bachelor's degree in business, information technology, computer science, public administration, engineering, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• PMP, PgMP, Agile, Scrum, Prosci/change management, SAFe, or comparable credentials.