Project Manager at Wheels, Inc. in Des Plaines, Illinois

Job Description:

Wheels, Inc.


Wheels is an Equal Opportunity, Voluntary Affirmative Action Employer, Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran

Company Headquarters
Posted Today
Full time
R1404

Location:
Des Plaines, Illinois

Job Description:

The Project Manager is responsible for managing the full life cycle of an overall program/project. This includes facilitating activities across multiple groups working to deliver a project. The Project Manager, along with the Project/Product Owner and Project Team, develops the Project Plan, tracks the team's performance of project tasks and insures that the Wheels Stage Gate Framework is followed. The Project Manager is responsible for forecasting and securing project resources, developing and maintaining project costs and schedule, communication, stakeholder management as well as status reporting, risk management, solving project related issues and escalating issues to the Project Sponsor/Leadership Team as appropriate.

A Project Manager, with direct accountability to the Project Sponsor and Leadership Team, is responsible for effectively and efficiently operating within the six Project Management constraints

(Time, Cost, Scope, Resources, Quality, Risk). The Project Manager should partner with IT, Product Management, operations, training, marketing and other stakeholders to identify and complete key deliverables.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Serve as Project Manager on the following types of projects:

• Application/Software Development
• Operational/Process Re-engineering
• Enterprise/Organizational Initiatives

With the following responsibilities:

• Validate that a reasonable and effective project scope has been established
• Work with the team to establish a thoughtful Release Plan or master schedule
• Gain stakeholders' approvals for the plan and deliverables
• Manage/oversee overall project and deliverables
• Ensure that project is adherent to Stage Gate requirements and Executive Reviews
• Ensure Project Team is completing work and deliverables
• Participate in Project Charter development as needed
• Drive the development, review and adherence of the Project Plan
• Establish project scope/costs/schedule baselines and manage to and report variances
• Manage product/market launch including: Marketing, Client/User Communication/On-boarding and overall project roll-out
• Assist in project benefit definition and realization
• Measure and report on project progress
• Risk and Issues Management
• Ensure transparency, escalate unresolved issues
• Manage the development of process creation and re-engineering documents, work instructions, and training
• Ensure outside resources are secured for project success
• Ensure all deliverables are met as outlined in project plans and sub plans
• Close out projects with lessons learned and generate closing report
• Facilitate and manage all project change requests including presentation to project Steering Committee, Key Driver Team and Project Prioritization Council
• Partner and coordinate with the project's assigned Scrum Master to ensure software development is progressing as needed including backlog creation and maintenance, appropriate Quality Testing is performed and facilitating Scrum ceremonies as needed
• Manage and coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and ensure quality exit criteria is met

Support the Project Management Office

• Participate in the on-going development and maintenance of organizational Project Management Maturity model including tools and templates
• Work with, Human Resources and the Wheels organization to develop training materials relating to Project Management office topics and tools. Periodically serve as instructor for internal project courses.
• Contribute to the PMO's best practices knowledge base through continual learning
• Stay current on industry trends related to project, program and portfolio management. Incorporate learning into Wheels Project Management maturity
• Assist and coach project teams in the implementation and adherence to project management guidelines

QUALIFICATIONS

• Thorough understanding of the PMBOK
• Thorough project management understanding and demonstrated experience directly managing projects using a Stage Gate framework
• Working knowledge and experience using project management software applications
• Managed projects from end to end thru the entire project lifecycle from initiation to closure and associated project governance requirements
• Working knowledge and previous experience with various application development methodologies, e.g., Structured / Waterfall, Agile (Scrum, FDD, XP, etc.), Iterative
• Experience managing projects requiring interaction with business users, analysts and application designers in the development of system requirements, business rules and functional designs
• Experience managing project deployments with the engagement of business users, product management and marketing in the launch of business process improvements, technology solutions and new products/services to market. (GoTo Market background)
• Familiarity with test perspectives (e.g., unit, integration, functional, UAT, performance and load, regression, etc.)
• Ability to adapt leadership style based on various situations, audiences and stakeholders
• Ability to proactively facilitate and utilize multiple problem solving techniques for optimal results
• Self-motivated, able to work independently and as team player, team focused
• Logical, objective, results oriented, organized
• Ability to resolve issues and constraints through collaborative negotiations
• Clear written and oral communication skills - report writing, business correspondence, procedural documentation, presentations
• Experience delivering project management communications to various organizational levels from developers, to business users & leaders to executives via presentations and written updates
• Excellent computer skills - proficient with MS Office Suite (Windows, Word, Excel, Visio, Project)
• Excellent analytical and trouble-shooting skills with proven ability to identify and address root cause
• Able to function in multi-task / multi-system environment with continuous focus on improvement and flexibility
• Must have a high level of reasoning ability and be able to analyze metrics, spot trends, and make changes in processes to improve quality
• Must demonstrate sound judgment in balancing project dimensions of quality and speed.
• Ability to communicate effectively with executive leadership via presentations on project forecast, scope, and variances.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• B.A./B.S.in IT/Engineering/Project Management, Masters a plus
• Minimum 5-10 years' experience in increased levels of project management responsibilities
• Have or able to obtain a PMP and Agile Certification within 1 year of employment
• Experience reporting within or supporting Project Management Office
• Prior involvement in software implementation projects, especially interfacing with IT developers, analysts and/or architects
• Service industry experience preferred

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Regularly required to speak, hear, see, and to use hands and fingers for computer keyboard and phone usage.

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