IT Project Manager

The Opportunity

At Black & Veatch, the primary purpose of the IT Project Manager is to assume a strong leadership role of the execution of technical project investments the company has chosen to pursue, typically overseeing the successful delivery and management of multiple projects at once.

The IT Project Manager must be comfortable facilitating other professionals through undefined and ambiguous activity and be well-practiced in creating order from disorder. Additionally, they must do this within established scope, to expected quality specifications, and within time and cost constraints. These success factors may require the IT Project Manager to facilitate discovery sessions to bring clarity and definition to them, where it is lacking. Ultimately, this role carries considerable responsibility for the success and future at Black & Veatch! 

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze Demands (project proposals) to determine time frame, funding parameters and appropriate human resources (resource plans) for accomplishing projects, and identifying deliverables, milestones, and required activities and tasks. 
• Determine project planning and tracking methodology, such as Agile or Waterfall, based on factors such as clarity of scope, complexity, risk, or change tolerance.
• Communicate with sponsor and end user of the project output, to set and ensure that project goals are in line with business objectives. 
• Assign duties and responsibilities to project personnel, including key stakeholders and sponsors and define the responsibilities and authority, at project kick-off. 
• With the project Sponsor, establish and implement an appropriate communication plan based on sponsor’s requirements and the needs of all personnel and functions affected by the status and outcome of the project. 
• Create multi-level project work breakdown structures which consider critical path dependencies and assign work to the lowest levels possible. 
• Project a strong leadership persona through all project interactions, while motivating individual contributors, conferring with project stakeholders, and updating sponsors. 
• Drive detail discovery and articulation through rigorous questioning and other structured techniques during times of project ambiguity; intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills. 
• Take bold and expedient action to notify sponsors and leadership about project risks and issues as you see them, possibly even through times of opposition to do so, escalating appropriately when needed. 
• Suggest and implement mitigation plans on risks and issues, layering in feedback and suggestion from sponsors and other leadership if needed. 
• Demonstrate a propensity for quickly learning and assimilating new skill areas, practices, and knowledge domains. 
• Monitor project activities, ensuring the currency, quality, and integrity of information, while providing consistency in content and “look and feel” according to D&IT PMO standards. 
• Follow established standards and procedures for project reporting and documentation. 
• Benchmark project management performance continuously to identify the potential for improvements and increase capability in project and portfolio management. 

Management Responsibilities

Acts as a project manager. Among responsibilities is management of a project team. The individual comprising this team may vary by project.

Preferred Qualifications

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, information systems (or a related field), project management or general business management. Alternatively, equivalent IT experience. Project manager training and certification is preferred. 

Experience 

• Eight or more years of IT experience, with sensitivity and commitment to business problem solving. 
• A minimum of five years of demonstrated competency in a assistant project management role or project management role involving the execution of multiple projects or a large project. 
• Three or more years of Business Unit or Business Unit-facing experience, with sensitivity and commitment to business problem solving. 
• Experience in leading a team; experience in leading through influence vs. authority. 
• Experience and ability in effectively using “soft skills” or “people skills”. 

Knowledge and Skills 

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate others; ability to empathize and knowledge of personality types. 
• Ability to adapt to new circumstances in a dynamic and changing business environment. 
• In depth experience with project management methodologies (for example, that of the Project Management Institute and Agile approaches), and when to use them. 
• Sensitivity to working in a political environment and to interacting with senior leadership. 
• Strong knowledge of project-planning tools, such as MS Project, MS DevOps, and Jira. (ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) a plus.) 
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills. 
• Expertise in setting and managing customer expectations. 
• Distinctive blend of business, IT, financial and communication skills. This blend is vital because this is a highly visible position with substantial impact. 
• Effective influencing and negotiating skills in an environment where this role may not directly control resources. 
• Strong knowledge and understanding of business needs, with the ability to establish and maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence. 
• Ability to develop and execute a project resource plan that ensures that the right people are in the right place doing the right things at the right time. 
• Talent for organizing the disorganized, bringing order to chaos, and building reliable, repeatable structures within Project Management. 

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors of Business Administration or related field
• Twelve or more years related experience
• All applicants must be able to complete pre-employment onboarding requirements (if selected) which may include any/all of the following: criminal/civil background check, drug screen, and motor vehicle records search, in compliance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Certifications

PMP Certification desired

Work Environment/Physical Demands

• Depending on the Black & Veatch office site you report to, periodic travel may be required, from zero when not needed, to once per month during special projects.
• Hybrid or flexible work options may be offered after the first 90 days of employment based upon manager discretion, job performance and work assignments.