Project Manager, Systems at Palladium International

Job Description

The Project Manager systems is responsible for pl anning, leading, organizing, and motivating agile project teams to achieve a high level of performance and quality in delivering agile projects that provide exceptional business value to users. The PM is responsible for managing several concurrent high visibility projects using agile methods in a fast-paced environment that may cross multiple projects.

At the program level, leading and managing complex program- level projects consisting of multiple agile teams and/or requiring integration with activities outside with other activities outside the scope of the agile teams;
At a team level, playing a consultative role to help put in place the appropriate people, process, and tools and coaching members of the team as needed to optimize the efficiency of the project team;
In situations that require a hybrid Agile approach, using good judgment and skill to develop a project management approach that is suitable for planning and managing the effort to achieve the project goals within designated project constraints.

Essential Job Requirements:

• Project Planning and Management:
• In consultation with the portfolio managers the Project Manager will oversee the delivery of the project across the triple constraints (time, cost, quality). Ensure that PMP processes are followed and will be responsible for the overall project management of the HIS enhancement work;
• Define project scope and schedule while focusing on regular and timely delivery of value and participate in and contribute to development of the annual workplan;
• Organize and lead project status and working meetings; prepare and distribute progress reports;
• Manage risks and issues; correct deviations from plans; and perform delivery planning for assigned projects.
• Team Management:
• Assist in team development while holding teams accountable for their commitments. Support prioritization of work and scheduling in consultation with the portfolio managers (Software architects);
• Conduct trade-off and cost analysis on planned software development;
• Ensure that PMP tools, such as JIRA, are fully leveraged for high-level visibility of team performance, to monitor project resources to support optimal allocation to project activities. Provide mentoring and training to team members as needed;
• Function as the scrum master and create reports for donor including the 2 week sprint reports and provide feedback on applications development;
• In tandem with Solutions Architect, assign software developers to sprints and hold all developers accountable to quality and time criteria and ensure daily stand-ups during sprints in consultation with portfolio managers;
• Leveraging organizational resources to improve capacity for project work;
• Product Owner Support:
• Support the Product Owners in managing customer expectations for project deliverables;
• Managing stakeholder communications, and helping to implement an effective system of project governance;
• In consultation with stakeholder engagement teams and DCO, undertake Stakeholder management and communication with the clients:
• Develop progress reports on priority HIS enhancements against agreed timelines;
• Prepare weekly progress reports to senior management and highlight risks to project timelines;
• Prepare Bi weekly reports to the donors and participate in monthly technical meetings.
• Prepare updates to stakeholders.
• Process Management and Improvement:
• Define and manage a well-defined project management process and champion ongoing process improvement initiatives to implement best practices for Agile Project Management.
• Team building:
• Promote empowerment of the team, ensure that each team member is fully engaged in the project and making a meaningful contribution,
• Encourage a sustainable pace with high-levels of quality for the team.

Qualifications:

• Solid understanding of software development life cycle models as well as expert knowledge of both Agile and traditional project management principles and practices and the ability to blend them together in the right proportions to fit a project and business environment;
• A proven track record of successfully implementing software or web development projects using Agile methodologies including 8+ years of experience as a Project Manager managing large, complex projects in a high-tech development environment with multi-function teams. PMP preferred;
• Prior experience with SCRUM/Agile methodologies with enterprise-level application development projects. PMI-ACP, CSM, or equivalent preferred;
• Experience overseeing multi-function project teams with at least 10-15 team members including Developers, Business Analysts, and QA Personnel;
• Balanced business/technical background:
• Sufficient level of technical background to provide highly-credible leadership to development teams and to be able to accurately and objectively evaluate complex project risks and issues;
• Ability to provide leadership to business analysts and collaborate with customers and develop strategies and solutions of high business value.

Skills Required:

• BA or BSC or equivalent experience is required; MA or MSC is a plus;
• Strong interpersonal skills including mentoring, coaching, collaborating, and team building;
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills with an ability to manage competing demands;
• Strong knowledge and understanding of business needs with the ability to establish/maintain high level of customer trust and confidence;
• Proven ability to lead software development projects and ensure objectives, goals, and commitments are met;
• Solid understanding of and demonstrated experience in using appropriate tools:
• Agile Project Management tools such as Jira/Greenhopper, Rally, VersionOne or equivalent;
• Microsoft Project, Visio, and all Office Tools
• Excellent oral and written communications skills and experience interacting with both business and IT individuals at all levels including the executive level;
• Creative approach to problem-solving with the ability to focus on details while maintaining the “big picture” view.