At McMaster University, we strive to attract, develop, and retain talented faculty and staff, and to foster inclusive excellence which values the strengths, perspectives, and contributions of each individual. McMaster is one of the Top 70 Universities in the World and is recognized as Canada’s Most Research-Intensive University. McMaster continues to be recognized as one of the top employers in the Hamilton / Niagara region and one of Canada’s Top Diversity employers.
Our University Technology Services team mission is to provide exceptional customer service and a high level of support to the McMaster community. Critical to the success of this role we stand by and value integrity, mutual respect, collaboration and cooperation in support of the University’s IT Strategic Vision of a connected One IT community.
About the Position
The University Technology Services department at McMaster University is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Project Manager to join our dynamic team. As a Senior Project Manager, you will play a pivotal role in planning and executing multiple concurrent projects to support the upgrade and migration of Oracle-related technology projects. This is an excellent opportunity for an individual with strong technical and leadership competencies to make a significant impact in a prestigious academic institution.
The Project Manager is a member of the IT Strategic Implementation Team within the office of the Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and reports to the Senior Manager, IT Strategic Portfolio Management working closely with the Associate Director. The Project Manager is responsible for leading and managing multiple concurrent IT Strategy projects to meet quality, budget, scope and time objectives.
Are you the right candidate?
This role requires a seasoned professional with a proven track record of leading complex enterprise wide technology initiatives involving diverse teams, multiple stakeholders, and vendor partners. The ideal candidate will have experience managing large scale systems upgrades or modernization projects that include both technical and organizational change components. Experience working in higher education or similarly complex environments is an asset. Your ability to balance complex competing priorities, navigate cross functional relationships, and deliver results in a dynamic setting will be key to success in this role.
The successful individual will ensure a full and robust approach to project management processes including strong planning, communication and organizing capabilities to create a cohesive and well-defined understanding of the full scope, cost and timelines necessary to successfully deliver prioritized projects. You will work closely with the Project Sponsor, a Project Steering Committee, Project Team and campus wide stakeholder groups, and external partners.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the next phase of McMaster's enterprise systems modernization program, focused on upgrading core ERP environment that supports HR, Finance, and Student Administration.
- Develop and manage all aspects of interdepent projects from planning, resourcing, executing project tasks to managing external vendor relationships, communications, budget, risks and issues.
- Lead walkthroughs and reviews of project plans, stakeholder communication, documented success criteria and risk mitigation strategies. Organize and conduct start-up sessions to communicate requirements and project plans, and to initiate team building.
- Develop executive level communication regarding all aspects of the project. Develop and maintain project plans, prepare project status reports and keep management, clients and other project stakeholders informed of the status.
- Develop and manage project budget, timelines and milestones for presentation to senior management.
- Evaluate work product to ensure adherence to established functional and operational specifications.
- Conduct in-depth client / internal interviews to determine scope, priority and constraints of business needs.
- Lead the development of project charters, business case documents and cost justifications.
- Conduct stand‑ups and meetings to ensure that the project team can track progress, identify and resolve blockers.
- Ensure project deliverables and collaterals are documented and uploaded to project repositories.
- Ensure proper setting of priorities, problem resolution and incorporation of changing events and conditions into the project from business, technical and political perspectives.
- Manage work assignments of internal staff and schedule and monitor adherence to procedures, protocols, and standards.
- Partner with the Technical Team to maintain the information technology issues database, create new issues and track the status of open issues.
- Responsible for leading change management as it relates to changes in business or systems processes including ensuring that change process aligns with best practices, managing and guiding the transition process and facilitating the adoption of changes within the organization.
Manage Internal Business Partners and Vendor Relationships
Plan, coordinate, and schedule meetings for effective user groups, leadership team, and advisory boards.Contribute to the review of business processes and practices to help identify opportunities for refinement and improved alignment with new features and functionality resulting from system upgrades.Development and management of communications plan both internally within the project team and more broadly with the appropriate Institutional constituents and vendors.Manage vendor relationships and project involvement as required to drive projects forward.Organizational Responsibilities
Coach junior staff in order to ensure a highly motivated and technically competent team.Act as a senior lead responsible for planning, coordinating, and scheduling work assignments to project team members to ensure the completion of assigned projects.Remain current with security policies and procedures.Promote the use of the Project Management framework within the project delivery team.Technical Recommendations, Training and Systems Testing
Manage the development of proof of concepts to support introduction of new tools and services into the institution.Manage development and peer reviews to ensure requirement specifications are correctly interpreted.Gather and compile information on hardware and software products that meet predetermined specifications. Analyze and verify requirements for completeness, consistency, comprehensibility, feasibility, and conformity to standards.Take ownership of all issue management both functional and technical by leading investigations to identify underlying problems, analyzing potential solutions and implementing system resolutions, including workarounds.Manage all phases of testing including, but not limited to, system, integration, acceptance, regression, and performance.Review test cases created by the testing team members to ensure that the test cases adequately define the technical / business processes.Resolve problems in the test, production implementation, and post‑implementation phases in coordination with other technical and business groups.Review systems, processes, and information and provide recommendations to others.Prepare and / or review a variety of project documentation, training materials and related documents.Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, Business or a related field of studyPreferred : Certifications – PMP and ITIL10 years of relevant Technical Project Management experience / Program Management practicesIn depth use of project management framework, including scope management, project planning, communication management, risk / issue management and cost managementExperience leading complex projects in a hybrid work environment is requiredExperience with vendor managementDemonstrated ability to successfully lead a diverse team on strategic projectsExperience with Oracle and Peoplesoft technologiesExperience leading and implementing best practices in change management is an assetHow To Apply
Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply online on the McMaster website. We thank you for your interest; only candidates moving to the interview stage will be contacted.
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