Senior IT Project Manager - 12-18 month contract

Senior IT Project Manager (Software Focus) 12-18 month contract Chicago, IL (remote for the foreseeable future, but must be local)

Summary

The Project Manager (PM) role requires a results-driven professional who is highly organized, with a keen attention to detail and a strong ability to lead and solve complex problems. The PM is expected to complete multifaceted program and project assignments with limited direction and has the autonomy to make decisions and recommendations regarding assigned projects, in accordance with company policies, procedures, standards and guidelines. The Project Manager will have accountability to drive the performance of cross-functional teams involved in the planning and delivery of projects. The individual must implement effective and efficient business solutions, perform management and oversight of complex projects, and provide ongoing strategic direction to project teams. The PM is responsible for applying project management principles and practices to deliver projects on time and within budget and is expected to work independently with limited guidance and understand how and when to escalate issue, risks, etc. What you'll be doing

• Leads multiple simultaneous cross-functional programs from inception through to deployment.
• Interacts with a variety of business and IT stakeholders as a peer and trusted advisor including multiple interactions with Senior Staff/C-Suite.
• Leads project meetings, providing timely recap and manages the action items outside of meetings.
• Develops and executes against work breakdown structures (WBS) for each project.
• Creates and shares timelines/WBS at the right level and understand how to show high level or milestones to Senior Leaders on projects.
• Executes assigned project efforts in accordance with the company's project management methodology.
• Manages resources and escalates appropriately if not getting response needed.
• Actively utilizes company's Eclipse PPM system to hold timeline/WBS, issues/risks, financials and status message on a daily/standard basis to reflect current state as real time as possible.
• Assigns and tracks resources across project efforts in conjunction with functional managers.
• Influences project team and stakeholders to ensure projects are on time and on budget.
• Escalates known issues/risks to project success to manager as appropriate when at an impasse where time, cost or resources are affected.
• Manages a vendor assessment which includes creating a request for proposal (RFP), coordinating multiple vendor demonstrations, assisting the Business Partner with scoring and selecting the vendor and finally working with Strategic Sourcing to finalize/negotiate contract.
• Leads business-process analysis and process-improvement activities when business analyst resources are not available.
• Acts as project management coach to functional led (non-PM) projects to follow PMO methodology, guidelines and templates.
• Prepares, analyzes, and presents requirements, design mockups and any other relevant project data.
• Assists with vendor management throughout assessments and implementations of products.

Skills we're seeking

• 7+ years of experience with IT Project Management
• Focus on software project management (specifically vendor software implementations, migrations, upgrades – we are NOT looking for someone to lead software development teams for home grown development)
• Must be comfortable working in an enterprise environment, predominantly using Waterfall
• Must have experience with requirements gathering, documentation, etc.

Nice to have experience

• Experience working within a PMO
• Experience managing HR or Finance technology projects
• Experience working in the professional services industry

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