This is a non-merit system, employment-at-will, long-term contract position.
The Sr. IT Project Manager is responsible for leading, managing, and successfully delivering simultaneous WSSC Water strategic initiatives, programs, and projects, supporting the achievement of WSSC Water’s strategic priorities, and critical business objectives. The Sr. IT Project Manager applies seasoned project management expertise in coordinating with WSSC Water senior leaders and IT and business stakeholders to design, monitor, control and provide transparent reporting on the status and implementation of mission-critical Commission IT solutions. The Sr Project Manager applies expert knowledge of program management, project management, scheduling, planning, organizational readiness, risk management, technology, and the software development life cycle to collaboratively develop and implement plans, schedules and budgets that accurately represent the required work effort in consideration of organizational resource constraints.
The scope of responsibilities includes, but is not limited to, requirements definition and analysis; program/project scope definition; identification of program/project milestones and critical paths; assessment and mitigation of fiscal, legal, political, regulatory and other risks; and coordination of project initiation through closeout activities.
The Sr. Project Manager must apply his/her extensive, practical knowledge of industry program and project management methodologies and standards in assuming responsibility for the completion of all phases of program and project activities. The incumbent is also responsible for supporting governance activities within the IT Department’s Project Management Office and Governance Division, and regularly reporting program and project status to IT senior leadership and/or project steering committees.
Essential Functions
•Analyzes program and project requirements to collaboratively define program and project scope, goals, objectives and deliverables in collaboration with senior management and stakeholders, to support WSSC Water priorities and business goals
•Defines project success and acceptance criteria and approvals, communicating them to involved parties throughout the project life cycle
•Develops, maintains, revises, and distributes comprehensive project management plans for assigned IT programs, projects and initiatives, accounting for internal and external dependencies and resource and schedule constraints
•Plans and develops full-scale project plans, schedules and milestones using appropriate tools
•Regularly updates schedule and resource allocations, providing timely escalation and visibility
•Plans, directs, manages and executes program and project development and implementation from initiation through closeout, according to strict deadlines and budgetary constraints
•Develops, validates, tracks, analyzes and adheres to portfolio, program and/or project budgets, recommending subsequent budget changes, when necessary
•Approves project invoices in accordance with delegation of authority, technical project accomplishments, and contract(s)
•Establishes and implements program and project communication plans and deliverables
•Identifies and manages project dependencies and critical paths
•Tracks, validates and reports status of project milestones and deliverables to project, business, and senior-leadership stakeholders
•Supports the IT PMO’s successful project delivery by actively participating in defining, developing, documenting, implementing, and communicating standardized project management processes, procedures, and practices for the entire project lifecycle
•Establishes, manages, and effectively communicates project expectations with team members and other stakeholders in a timely, intuitive manner
•Proactively manages changes in project scope, identifying risks and devising mitigation and contingency plans
•Delegates tasks and responsibilities to appropriate personnel
•Identifies and resolves issues and conflicts within the project team
•Leads, coaches, and motivates project team members and contracted personnel, influencing them to take positive action and accountability for their assigned work
•Conducts project postmortem and creates lessons learned and recommendations reports to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements; gathers data and prepares diagnostic and prescriptive reports on significant group or institutional issues
Other Functions
•Attends IT PMO meetings, IT steering committee meetings, and other meetings, as directed
•Leads coordination for the various Teams, Offices, Sections, Business Analysts, subject matter experts (SMEs), and functional and technical consultants to ensure cross-departmental communication, problem identification, and resolution
•Reports key metrics on program/project activities
•Performs other duties, as assigned
Work Environment And Physical Demands
Work is performed in a business casual office environment
Required Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities
•Expert knowledge of Agile project management principles and practices and associated organizational management systems
•Ability to maintain project team focus and structure; including the development of a strategic project management plan encompassing schedule, budgetary, contractual, human resource, and stakeholder elements
•Expert knowledge of the software development life cycle (SDLC) methodologies and best practices as they apply to project management and design, with the ability to make practical application of project planning and management principles and practices to all SDLC phases
•Ability to organize and lead cross-functional project teams to produce deliverables on-time and within budget
•Demonstrated ability to perform analysis and make recommendations to improve project design and performance, including the ability to identify and analyze requirements, dependencies, risks, critical paths, and needed resources
•Expert ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing, including status reports; project summaries; scoping documents; staff and executive presentations; workshops or training; lessons learned; and other project-related documentation
•Ability to understand agendas of other functions, groups, and business units within WSSC Water and to integrate that understanding into the decision-making process of the team
•Ability to align activities and projects to promote key organizational strategies and structure
•Ability to build effective teams with both management and employees and facilitate the work of groups and/or teams
Minimum Education, Experience Requirements
•Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Project Management, Business Administration, Computer Science or a related discipline
•6+ years’ experience managing all phases of large complex IT projects including design, budgets, risk assessment, and mitigation
•Experience with the function of an IT Governance/PMO, interacting with executive steering committees and business stakeholders at varying levels
OR
•High School diploma (or equivalent)
•10+ years’ experience managing all phases of large complex IT projects including design, budgets, risk assessment, and mitigation
•Experience with the function of an IT Governance/PMO, interacting with executive steering committees and business stakeholders at varying levels