Senior Project Manager

Position Summary:

Senior Project Manager plays a pivotal role in leading and delivering IT projects within the Agile Project Management Office (APMO) that serves the higher education sector. This position focuses on managing complex projects using both Agile and Waterfall methodologies to drive innovation and operational excellence across academic and administrative domains. The Senior Project Manager will partner with stakeholders to align project objectives with institutional goals while fostering a culture of agility, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Agile Project Leadership:

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of IT projects, leveraging both Waterfall and Agile frameworks such as Scrum or SAFe.
• Facilitate the definition of project scope, objectives, and success criteria in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Identify and manage project risks, dependencies, and impediments.
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure project and team performance.
• Provide regular status updates and deliver project insights to senior leadership.

Team Collaboration:

• Serve as a servant-leader to cross-functional Agile teams, enabling them to achieve their goals effectively.
• Foster a collaborative environment that emphasizes ownership, accountability, and transparency.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Act as the primary liaison between the Agile PMO, business units, and stakeholders.
• Maintain clear and open communication regarding project progress, risks, and outcomes.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 8 years of IT project management experience, with at least 3 years working in Agile environments.
• PMP or equivalent project management certification.
• Strong understanding of Agile Project Management principles, practices, and tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Jira, Smartsheets, Microsoft Project).
• Experience managing cross-functional teams and multiple simultaneous projects.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Information Systems, Business, or a related field.
• Certification in Agile frameworks (e.g., Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), SAFe Agilist, PMI-ACP).
• Experience working in an Agile PMO within higher education or related industries.
• Familiarity with higher education IT systems (e.g., Workday, Salesforce, or PeopleSoft).
• Proven expertise in leading digital transformation initiatives, such as cloud adoption or process automation.
• Experience implementing scaled Agile practices (e.g., SAFe, LeSS).
• Knowledge of compliance requirements and data security in higher education IT environments.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

This job operates in a professional office environment. The employee may be exposed to various components of an office environment such as florescent lighting, pollen, dust, recycled air, cooling fans, semi-enclosed areas, central heating, seasonal warmer temperatures and office noise. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to work varying hours on Monday through Friday given the schedules.
• Ability to work additional hours as project and job demands arise (including evenings and weekends as necessary).
• Occasionally required to move 5 – 40 pounds.
• Ability to remain in a stationary computer position for extended periods of time.
• Ability to use hands and fingers to type.
• Ability to reach with hands and arms for using a computer.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

Some travel may be required, up to 10% of the time.