Technical Project Manager

Reporting to the Manager of the Project Management Office, this position will work under minimal direction to independently coordinate, plan, support, and execute enterprise-wide and division information technology projects. The incumbent will manage the Project Management Life Cycle from beginning to end, establish multi-disciplinary stakeholder and project team buy-in, apply his or her knowledge and understanding of industry-accepted methodologies (i.e., Project Management Body of Knowledge [PMBOK]) and lessons learned from past experience to facilitate project success.

The Technical Project Manager will provide imaginative, thorough, and practicable solutions to a wide range of problems. Using technical experience and training, the incumbent works with all the Information Technology Services departments and functional divisions during the course of managing projects, with an emphasis on projects incorporating technology to support student success, teaching, learning, and research.

The incumbent will also work with the Director, other project managers, and ITS colleagues to develop and implement maturing project management policies and procedures. This incumbent will develop a thorough understanding of Information Technology services and how they each support projects.

Position Information

Executes Technical Projects

• Applies certified PM tools and methodologies to achieve project milestones, maintain scope, and execute project plans.
• Observes project team dynamics to ensure effective team member synergies and to resolve team issues.
• Creates progr¿¿ssive milestones to recognize successes, provide feedback, and motivate the project team.
• Gathers and analyzes project metrics to evaluate project performance and to manage issues, risk and changes of scope.
• Coordinates with technical managers and resources from Information Security, Networking, Operations and other information technology departments to execute the plan, utilizing past experience and knowledge to look for gaps or risks.
• Communicates with stakeholders, senior management and project leaders to discuss issues and resolutions and to authorize scope changes.
• Maintains project status and appropriate documents such as requirements, issues, and risk in the project and portfolio management tool. 

Monitors and Controls Projects

• Utilizes PM tools to manage project timelines and accuracy, ensure project resource commitments are met, and track activities and variances.
• Performs assessments throughout projects to identify risks and their potential impact and to develop response strategies for managing and mitigating risk factors.
• Using email, Word, Visio, Excel, and the project software as appropriate, interacts with project customers to verify completion dates, review milestone expectations, and to manage Information Technology Services (ITS) personnel resource schedules.
• Interacts with Functional Managers to manage resources and to meet project commitments and avoid delays and conflicts.
• Offers sponsors solutions to problems with imaginative, thorough, and practicable solutions.

 Closes Projects

• Evaluates project achievements and facilitates the "lessons learned" process to provide documented historical information for future projects.
• Obtains formal approvals for closing project plans to ensure deliverables met requirements and expectations.
• Works with the Service Desk and the Applications Manager on formal handover.
• Surveys customers, stakeholders, sponsors, and team members to gather input on project quality, metrics performance and recommendations for improvement.
• Stores documents, creates final status, finalizes project plan, and formally closes the project in the project and porfolio management tool.

Project Governance

• Assist with implementation and improvement of yearly Project Governance process and Project Management processes
• Reviews project requests and works with requestor and team to get estimates.
• Assists with periodic resource planning.

 Education/Work Experience:

• Bachelors degree in related area such as Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Information Technology, Business, or related field from an accredited university.
• Three years experience and proven ability to independently plan and manage complex projects with a technical component and with broad division or university impact.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Working knowledge of an ability to apply the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)
• Demonstrated ability to work and communicate effectively with users at multiple levels of the organization
• Excellent communication skills including writing, speaking, facilitation, and presentations
• Demonstrated experience successfully working with Information Security, Systems, Networking, Service Desk and other IT departments to plan for proper system and security design and best practices during project planning, execution, and transition.
• Demonstrated personal accountability and creative problem solving skills.
• Demonstrated experience and commitment to providing excellent service to diverse faculty, staff, and students.
• Demonstrated experience with effectively completing assignments, prioritizing based on strategic goals, and meeting deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications