IS Sr. Project Manager

IS Sr. Project Manager

The IS Sr. Project Manager is responsible for establishing and executing all aspects of the project management function for large scale, complex business solutions and/or portfolio of small to large sized IS Infrastructure related projects (network related project management experience essential). The Sr. Project Manager role will effectively manage and deliver solutions that involve a combination of the following attributes: project investment that is less than $5 million, multiple project teams, multiple technology disciplines, global or multiple region geographic delivery, geographically disbursed project teams, and/or a high level technical complexity. The Sr. Project Manager management function includes, but is not limited to: Project Leadership, Planning & Administration, Execution Integration, Resource Management, Project level decision making and Financial Management. This position must have a mastery of project management methods, and proven prior experience working on a variety of technical development projects to succeed within the high paced environment of Global Information Systems. It is expected that the end result of this position will be the delivery of an efficient and effective solution or series of solutions resulting in a competitive advantage for the company. A project is defined as a solution-delivery effort that has clear start and end dates and defined success criteria in terms of quality and cost. PMP Certification preferred.

Project Leadership

At the core of project management is the critical personal characteristic of leadership. It is through effective leadership that the Sr. Project Manager will execute all aspects of the project management discipline to facilitate successful delivery. While not a function per se, it is a critical aspect of this role that is woven throughout all other essential job functions. These characteristic will demonstrated through the following:

• The ability to effectively and concisely communicate with all project team members, project sponsors, project managers of other projects, supporting of IS associates, and Global IS Sr. Staff members, and when called on to do so, engagement with members of business operations and project customers / partners.
• Establishing an ongoing communications dialogue with the project teams to ensure everyone never loses track on what the project is intended to deliver (Charter) and its importance to the project customer and, that project team members can clearly articulate both the mission and desired outcomes.
• Takes ownership/responsibility for finding solutions to problems and implementing, of not only those items specifically within their area, but holds project team members capable and accountable to do the same in their respective areas.
• The ability to take the forward looking or proactive view on program/project direction and progress to: anticipate possible opportunities to accelerate the program through a different path or approach, or possible issues that can be proactively addressed before they have negative impact the program.
• The ability to effectively facilitate and/or mediate conflict, issues or compliance to govern rules at and across all levels of the project delivery structure, ensuring team productivity by fostering creativity, empowerment, and accountability with in the team.

Planning & Administration

Establishes a project management function based on standard project methodologies that will be used for the overall execution of a project. Establishes the Project Charter in collaboration with the Executive and Project Sponsors to make sure project scope, objectives, authorized budget and business value are clearly stated to be guiding elements for a project team as they execute and successfully deliver the project. Collaborate with Project Sponsors to define and deploy a project governance program for regular project reviews (steering committee), project decision making and major project impact issues that would require Global IS Sr. Staff level involvement. Ensures that a project team is clearly defined (internal/external resources) and a project team organization chart with defined delivery roles and responsibilities and reporting structures is created and maintained throughout the duration of a project. Creates and maintains a detailed execution project plan complete with project task dependencies, critical path; major deliverables and delivery milestones that are used to manage the effective execution of the project; conduct schedule impact assessments, and provide for the resource reporting task classification for financial reporting. Publish program specific administrative processes and procedures that include but are not limited to: standard status reporting, issues, risk and opportunities management, resource onboarding and off boarding, resource time reporting, and other items require to efficiently execute a project according to establish Global IS project management methodologies and standards. Utilize the Global IS standard project SPS site to facilitate cross team communication, and to provide a central repository for program working papers and all deliverables (intellectual property capture). Establish a master project meeting calendar for standard meetings to ensure project alignment and to minimize the number of project related meetings. Act as the central coordinating point for any and all requested program audit and quality assurance activities.

Execution & Integration

Create and deliver an effective project launch meeting to ensure all project resources, supporting resources not directly assigned to the project, project sponsors, and supporting business resources are aligned on the project charter, key project management processes and tools, sponsor expectations, deliverables, baseline business metrics to be measured post-delivery, and delivery schedule. The launch meeting is the first major execution integration activity of a project. Conduct regular integration meetings with teams within the project to ensure integration points and cross project dependencies remain aligned according the master project plan. These meetings will also ensure that all forthcoming major deliverables are being reviewed and approved according to deliverable processing guidelines. Establish a master communications calendar for standard regular internal program communications to keep project team members informed, external communications to keep projects constituents informed. Help orchestrate the reviews of all such communications for the Project Sponsor to ensure consistent and accurate messaging about the program is made. Provide oversight and input to project plan realignment options for project delivery teams should project delays or issue in one or more teams negatively impact the over master schedule. Actively manage and communicate regular project status to the appropriate parties; proactively manage project issues, risk and opportunities to minimize project impact, Conduct impact assessments (Financial and schedule) on any options identified to address unavoidable or sponsor requested changes to the master schedule and then present them for consideration and disposition. Orchestrate any approved master schedule changes throughout the project to ensure that the financial impact and impact to project momentum forward is minimized. Prepare, communicate and drive cutover plans for all projects moving to production that require integration of multiple teams, infra-structure changes, data conversion or controlled start of business operations. See to the quality of the cutover deliverables, monitor the progress and handle the communications before, during and after the execution, making sure all stakeholders are informed about any risks or issues at all times.

Financial Management

Ensure the project's time reporting system tasks are appropriately classified in the project plan and that they are reviewed by Global IS Finance for implementation within the applicable time management system. Ensure that all project delivery resources are properly trained on how to record their time on a weekly basis, and that they are doing so to ensure appropriate financial accounting. Coordinate with the Project Sponsor and Global IS Finance on establishing monthly project forecast processes and reporting and then ensure the required actions are taken to attain the accurate data to conduct forecasting. Assume accountability for project finance control working to keep the project within budget at all times. Whenever the project scope changes, take the necessary actions to define impact to budget and to get approvals if a budget increase is needed. Approve the time reports related to the projects.

Job Qualifications

A Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Science and Math or related discipline with an IT emphasis is required. A graduate degree in Technology, Business or Management is a preferred. PMP / CSM Certification preferred. Six Sigma Green or Black Belt Certification preferred. ITIL Global Process Experience preferred. Minimum 8 to 12 years of continuous experience in a project management role with demonstrated competency in the following: 1. Relationship management – within an enterprise globally, among executives, customers and staff; as well as externally with vendors and business partners as required. 2. Superior communication skills both written and oral. Experience leading large cross-function teams and driving consensus among colleagues; ability to lead, motivate, influence, and drive to results in a highly-matrixed environment is essential. Ability to motivate colleagues to peak performance and establish credibility with key decision makers. 3. Significant experience in evaluating a broad range of internal and external factors when solving problems and making decisions; identifies critical, high pay-off strategies and prioritizes team efforts accordingly; adjusts actions and decisions for focus on critical strategic issues (e.g., customers, quality, competition, etc.). 4. Complex problem resolution under stress and ability to merge diverse technology agendas into a cohesive, integrated architecture by influencing key technology resources. 5. Strong people leadership capabilities. Ability to develop and grow a project team that is skilled and motivated to deliver against commitments. 6. High performance dedication, including attention to the details that matter, and willingness to work issues to successful closure with strong results orientation driving change in a complex matrix environment. 7. Ability to conduct and interpret qualitative and quantitative analysis and problem solving skills and show independent judgment and creative problem solving techniques in a highly complex environment. 8. Establishing relevant and comprehensive project performance related metrics that highlight, not only the overall health of the project, but provides before and after business operations performance as a result of the project's solution delivery. 9. Identify potential project risks, implement appropriate courses of action to address project slippage and develop strategies to mitigate future risk. 10. Work is performed without appreciable direction. Completed work is reviewed from a relatively long term perspective for desired results. 11. Good resource management and planning including different types of resources, internal and external, coming from different teams and working with different sets of