Job Description

Position Summary - Leads the planning, executing and implementation of multiple complex projects and programs. The selected Senior IT Project Manager must maintain complete control of project scope, schedule, budget, risk & issues. Facilitate timely decisions to maintain project schedule and budget. Provide IT Leadership with regular project updates, create and maintain trusting relationships, identify, and manage project issues, identify project risks early and assist by providing prudent and timely recommendations for risk response. In addition, supports, trains, and educates Project Management Office (aka PMO) and Non-PMO staff in all aspects of PMO processes. Partners with campus stakeholders to collect feedback on potential improvements and help create project management processes catering to the unique culture of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Job Responsibilities

• Brings experience in project management best practices and governance to help develop the technology Project Management Office including establishing frameworks, processes, and templates.
• Coaches, collaborates with, educates, and influences decision makers and stakeholders to implement enterprise procedures and processes to improve our project delivery success rate.
• Defines IT project scope, goals, and deliverables in support of business goals. Creates and maintains project documentation. Monitors and controls execution phase to ensure that projects are completed on time and meet business and system requirements.
• Manages the Project Management Life Cycle from beginning to end and communicates frequently with stakeholders and project teams to ensure stakeholder and project team buy-in.
• Provides support for project plan development and monitoring timelines, budgets, and scope. Utilize PM tools to manage project timelines and accuracy, ensure project resource commitments are met, and to track activities and variances.
• Creates project budgets; estimate resources needed and work effort for project activities and negotiate with resource managers to ensure that the appropriate resources are assigned to achieve project goals. Record time spent and report on variance.
• Applies industry-accepted methodologies (i.e., PMI (Project Management Institute)) to ensure adherence to project management standards and requirements and to provide stakeholders with continual reports on project progress and performance.
• Applies PM tools and methodologies to ensure project milestones are achieved and scope is maintained.
• Conduct project completion reviews, resource and vendor assessments and create recommendation reports to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements.
• Observes project team dynamics to ensure effective team member synergies and to resolve and escalate issues.
• Creates progressive project milestones for facilitating smaller-scale achievements and to motivate the project team.
• Performs assessments throughout projects to identify risks and potential impact and to develop response strategies for managing and mitigating risk factors.
• Participates in the evaluation, selection, maintenance and continuous enhancements of project management methodology, tools and templates, and contributes to the overall improvement of the PMO.
• Develops standards and procedures for project reporting and documentation required by the PMO which would include detailed project management plans, schedules and status reports.
• Reports on the status of the overall project. Identifies and communicates resource conflicts. Gives presentations on project updates, project cycle, and expected results.
• Solicits regular feedback from stakeholders and project sponsors to continually improve project performance.
• Initiates review of projects after completion to ensure realization of benefits.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or higher and seven years of related experience in project management or combination of education and relevant experience.
• PMP Certification preferred.

Experience

• 7+ years of hands-on IT project management experience.
• Experience in successfully running infrastructure, software development and product implementation projects is required.
• Sufficient technical background to: Understand the technologies and technical issues involved with IT projects; Ability to manage project scope and resources; Anticipate, identify and manage resolutions of critical obstacles.
• Proficiency with project management/scheduling software, Microsoft Office Suite.
• Depth of knowledge in at least one technical discipline/domain needed to deliver projects.
• Experience in both developed and underdeveloped PMO governance structures with plenty of lessons of what to do and not do.
• Proven experience in organizational change management, risk mitigation, and conflict management.
• Experience in roles as a Program Manager, Project Manager, and/or Business Analyst.
• Experience in the development and management of project budgeting, tracking and a solid understanding of OpEx versus CapEx.
• Knowledge of quality assurance and testing.
• Knowledge of data integration across different technical platforms.
• Knowledge of enterprise services like Microsoft 365, ERPs, SAAS, IAAS, and PAAS models.
• Experience with higher education policies and systems.

Capabilities Required

• People – you are working to coordinate resources and priorities across people who do not work for you, but you need to do work for you.
• Communicator – you are an expert in comms - everyone knows what is going on and what they need to do.
• Project Governance – you know what great project governance frameworks look like and how to set them up.
• Project Delivery – you get projects delivered after learnings from countless projects – good and bad.
• Structured Chaos – you can take disparate ideas, needs, requirements and structure them into a clear plan.
• Tools – You have firsthand experience with at least one PPM platform as well as task management solutions like Smartsheet, Wrike, Asana.
• Concepts – You have a solid understanding of Change Management, Service and Product Management.

Style and Approach

• Born to plan, driven to schedule and hyper detail oriented
• Excellent organizational, planning, written & verbal communication skills to address a wide variety of audiences.
• No meeting starts without an agenda or ends without minutes shortly following.
• Deep passion & interest in the practice and art of project management.
• Ability to productively assemble, engage, and lead cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated influence, relationship building, and problem-solving skills in various situations.
• Curious and a love for learning.
• Strategic thinker who works proactively and can be successful through both independent and collaborative work environments along with hands on readiness.
• Self-directed, consistent, and reliable with effective time management skills.

Knowledge and Skills

• Working knowledge of ITIL and ITSM.
• Exposure to Scrum and Agile methodologies
• Experience working in a Project Management Office (PMO)
• Working knowledge of PMBOK, PMI
• Experience with Change Management
• Quality Assurance/Quality Control experience
• Ability to work under tight deadlines while providing high-quality work

About Information Technology:

The integration of advanced technology throughout all levels of study is ubiquitous across universities – it facilitates digital transformations and ultimately shapes the future of higher education.

At Stevens, our legacy is built on technology. The Division of Information Technology not only acknowledges but wholeheartedly supports this opportunity to drive our community's advancement in technology and innovation. In order to foster collaboration in the areas of teaching and learning, student success, research and scholarship, service and outreach, and administrative operations – we implement value-driven strategic solutions and support new technologies with enhanced security in an increasingly remote space. Along the way, the Division of Information Technology strives to meet global challenges that require us to turn inward, unveiling a shared vision of empathetic leadership, accountability, and exceptional customer-centric services that fully support and empower our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the vision and mission of Stevens.

Department

Office of Client Experiences and Strategic Initiatives