Project Manager - Modernization Program

The Modernization Program at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for a Project Manager. This position will be remote with no required travel, although there is a preference for occasional on-site meeting availability.

About the Opportunity

This position is for an enterprise Project Manager within the WVU Modernization Program. This position provides strategic leadership and oversees highly complex enterprise projects, coordinating the efforts of multiple employee teams and consultants. The incumbent will be expected to be an experienced project management professional with higher education experience preferred. In this role, you will need to build and maintain effective customer relationships with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, advise senior leaders on strategies and best practices within a project context, and use best practices and functional expertise in project management to drive organizational change.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week 
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year or more based on years of service (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you’re ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family’s, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6%25 employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ’s.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

• Manage projects from inception to completion to help drive forward the University Modernization Program goals and objectives using PMP best practices.
• Provide project management leadership to a variety of stakeholders in projects relating to financial, human resources, student experience, or information technology.
• Create project artifacts including project schedules, project charters, project management plans, and executive reports.
• Actively monitor open issues and perform risk assessments and mitigation planning in conjunction with key stakeholders.
• Communicate and give presentations to ensure all project stakeholders, including senior executives, are effectively updated on project status, issues, schedules, risks, budgets, and resources.
• Serve as liaison with consulting agencies as well as units across the University campuses to direct and manage assigned resources. 
• Integrate new and existing projects into strategic and tactical plans tracking team progress against schedules and work plans, negotiating changes in scope or project schedule, and closely monitoring and mitigating potential risks to the project.
• Responsible for the anticipation, identification, and possible resolution of risks from a multi-project perspective throughout the project lifecycle.
• Responsible for detailing, prioritizing, and communicating potential risks to avoid unnecessary departmental expenditures or inefficient assignments of project resources. 
• Participate in the risk mitigation, resolution, or contingency decision-making process. Assist in the development of "lessons learned" documentation to avoid similar issues on subsequent projects. 
• Analyze user department needs, make proactive recommendations to improve existing processes and identify where technology changes may create opportunities.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and/or experience.  
• A minimum of five (5) years of Professional Project Management experience.
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Demonstrate strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills
• Strong analytical, negotiation, communication, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical peers
• Problem-solving and decision-making skills to anticipate and identify issues and concerns, analyze options and establish and implement solutions which balance and meet the needs of all parties within the program
• Ability to work independently to follow projects through to completion by applying time management and multi-tasking skills
• Experience in managing multiple projects simultaneously and ensuring that project tasks, budgets, timelines, and resources for the project stay within scope, on time and within project budget
• Experience creating comprehensive project schedules, timelines, and work plans
• Experience with risk identification, risk mitigation, contingency planning, tracking, escalation, and resolution in consultation with the Senior Leadership 
• Develop and deliver progress reports and presentations to senior management 
• Ability to provide a high level of customer service to faculty, staff, internal and external customers in a professional, service-oriented, respectful manner using skills in active listening, collaboration, and problem-solving

Technical Skills: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required in the technical area: 

• Understanding or familiarity with project management principles and creation of project schedules.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, efficiently, and effectively in a complex business and technical environment. 
• Demonstrated ability to appropriately manage and prioritize multiple work assignments to ensure timely and quality completion. 
• Demonstrated ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive materials or information. 
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective and cooperative working relationships with employees at all levels within the university, and external consultants, vendors, etc. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree 
• Three (3) years of Higher Education Experience 
• ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System Implementation Experience 
• Workday Implementation experience 
• PMP