IT PMO Manager - Infrastructure Portfolio

IT PMO Manager - Infrastructure Portfolio

About the Opportunity

Summary

The division of Information Technology Services is currently seeking a talented individual to fill the role of Portfolio Manager. The Portfolio Manager is the key interface between the business/operations functions and ITS. A successful Portfolio Manager emphasizes visibility, maximizes the value of investments and facilitates decision making discussions. The Portfolio Manager role is responsible for providing a centralized view of assets and initiatives related to a specific portfolio(s). The Portfolio Manager, in conjunction with the business leaders, help drive project prioritization and decisions around which projects will deliver maximum value. The portfolio manager will drive on planning, prioritization, implementation and monitoring elements of projects within a portfolio. The Portfolio Manager may also directly manage projects or programs . In addition to the business liaison and portfolio accountability responsibilities, this position includes managing projects/programs and resource management within the projects, stakeholder and sponsor communications, reporting, and engagement.

To ensure that essential services are provided to the university community, the employee will be required to work outside their regular working hours as needed.

Qualifications

Education

Bachelors or Master's degree with project management, finance background or technical background, or equivalent experience. PMP Certification required.

Experience

• Eight or more years of experience in IT and business/industry
• Strategic, operational and technical project management experience
• Product management experience
• Vendor management experience, holding vendors accountable
• Record of accomplishment of successfully managed projects
• Leadership and motivational skills to maintain naturally high moral within the matrix team.
• Previous technical competency in the areas of release management, agile development, & maintaining backlogs
• Demonstrated Risk management, especially at the portfolio level is required.
• Demonstrated Financial management for a program/portfolio is required, including budgeting, forecasting and reporting.

Knowledge and Skills

• Exceptional leadership skills, with the ability to develop and communicate the portfolio objectives, inspire and motivate staff, and maintain alignment with IT & the business strategy.
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels across the organization. Has strength of character to have difficult conversations with senior stakeholders including customers, internal team members and senior management; excellent written, oral and presentation skills. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain and "sell" the portfolio goals and objectives to the business, as well as technical leadership.
• Data Analysis skills and the ability to tell the story from the data.
• Demonstrated release management and future product road mapping skills
• Effective use of hard and soft skills including conflict resolution, team building, decisions making.
• Pragmatic organized and results oriented and with ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent planning, organization, execution and controlling skills.
• Problem solving skills - ability to analyze and solve complex issues that do not have routine solutions.
• Regularly pitches new projects or process which will enhance portfolio/program/project effectiveness and further evolution
• Attention to detail but able to see and communicate the big picture.

• Ability and willingness to convey proficiency in project management to others.
• Possesses a high degree of political sensitivity, astuteness and the ability to effectively use the informal power structure of the organization to achieve success and clear obstacles for the portfolio.
• Highly empathetic and able to vary styles of interaction to match the needs of a variety of temperaments and personalities.
• Strong business acumen, including industry, domain-specific knowledge of the enterprise and its business units. Familiar with industry trends and innovation.
• Effective influencing and negotiation experience and skills in an environment with high competition for resources.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and deliver against financial and resource constraints.
• Experience with one or more project/program management methodologies (such as PMI PMBOK, Agile) and across a range of project types.
• Demonstrated ability in project planning tools, such as Microsoft Project and Project Server, with evidence of practical application.
• Highly skilled in managing Agile teams, use of JIRA for sprint and release planning
• Deep understanding of current and emerging technologies, how other enterprises are employing them to drive digital business, and how they may be applied to the enterprise to drive digital business.
• Ability to manage project details as well as strategy.
• Ability to form strong relationships across ITS and Business workstreams
• Ability to work in an agile mindset with minimum requirements and defining them as we go along
• Willingness to work through critical timelines and do what is needed to keep project progressing forward
• Higher-Ed experience is a plus but not required
• Individuals in this role can operate fairly autonomously without being heavily supervised.
• Experience in establishing and managing Business Value Realization practices.
• Financial experience with familiarity with budgetary planning and cost reporting
• Previous industry experience in technology business management
• Proven leadership experience including knowledge of approaches, tools, and techniques for gaining the cooperation and support of others.
• Demonstrates an ongoing commitment to professional growth in portfolio management, agile project management.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Portfolio Management (30%)

• Responsible to ensure flawless and smooth execution of the contracted projects and programs within the portfolio according to defined timelines and cost, via leading multidisciplinary project teams.
• Establishes and ensures appropriate governance functions for the portfolio in accordance with enterprise policies, practices and on behalf of the executive sponsor.
• Creates agenda and solicits topics for monthly Portfolio steering committee to report out on KPI and demand, project, incident and request metrics and performance to SLA.
• Acts as main point of contact between business area(s), interfacing applications, 3rd party vendors, ITS leadership and/or project and program managers.
• Responsible for SNOW data quality and accuracy within Portfolio - including demands, projects, incidents, requests etc
• Develops and controls the portfolio budget formulation, and manages expenditure within agreed spending plans with key focus on customer centricity and internally on quality, cost , profitability, timelines and risk management
• Leads the development and maintenance of stakeholder mapping, communications and reporting.
• Collaborates with architecture team to assist in the development of a vision and strategy for the product and content lifecycle application and integration portfolio.
• Participates in customer meetings to ensure services meet customer expectations.
• Creates a collaborative partnership among IT Leaders and portfolio stakeholders and enables resource demand planning, change management and project pipeline planning decisions.
• Drives a culture of transparency and accountability, enabling information-based decision making in the management of IT investments.
• Directs the creation and maintenance of the required portfolio documentation and artifacts.
• Ensures and balances the availability of the required skills and competencies across project teams within the portfolio.
• Monitors and coordinates dependencies across the projects in the portfolio and resolves conflicts.
• Performs other duties as needed.

Continuous Improvement

• Participates in the development and evolution of the overall approach for the portfolios, understands the portfolio business objectives and develops key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the Portfolio success.

New Initiatives and Portfolio Pipeline Health (15%)

• Partners closely with technical and business owners to analyze new project requests and readiness for governance decisions and provides transparency of portfolio investments.
• Prepares the portfolio for success by creating, presenting and championing business cases help drive prioritization decisions as required in the governance process.
• Communicate business value metrics within the business case story including investment cost and benefits measurement & benefit tracking
• Creates the Portfolio Roadmap and drives delivery to that Roadmap.
• Facilitate joint planning with business partners and ITS in early stages of project formation.
• Provide consulting services to business partners on new initiatives.
• Be an advocate for business stakeholder in IT discussions.

Project Management (45%)

• Directly manages projects within the portfolio.
• Identify and schedule project deliverables, milestones and required activities and tasks.
• Provide leadership and motivation to project team members throughout the project life cycle and confer with project staff to outline work plan.
• Establish work plan and staffing for project activities, iterations or phases, and arrange for recruitment or assignment of project personnel.
• Review and analyze project proposals or plans to determine time frame, funding limitations, procedures for accomplishing projects, staffing requirements and allotment of available departmental resources to various project phases.
• Review/approve work plan of external service provider or consultancy contracted to execute project.
• Leads regular interactions with the executive sponsor to inform, alert, negotiate and maintain a continuing good relationship and shared vision for the project outcome.
• Implement project communication plan.
• Conduct risk assessment and mitigation.
• Monitor project activities, ensuring the currency, quality and integrity of the information, while providing consistency in content and "look and feel" across the enterprise.
• Ensure that project goals are accomplished and in line with business objectives.

Supervisory responsibility (10%)

• Supervisor of contractor or FTE program or project managers

Position Type

Information Technology

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.

Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.

Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.


To apply, visit https://northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/careers/job/Boston-MA-Main-Campus/IT-PMO-Manager---Infrastructure-Portfolio_R117390



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