Stellenbosch: Project Manager (Technical Workstream Lead) – (CONTRACT) posted by PM Connection

Purpose of the role:

• The Digital Delivery & Change team is responsible for the successful delivery of enterprise-wide programmes and projects sponsored by the Business Operations, Legal and Advance Delivery Team (ADT) functions. The change portfolio of work is broad in range and includes infrastructure change, business process improvements, business transformation and technology implementations, often working with a third-party supplier or internal delivery teams.
• This role is responsible for leading the delivery of a new technology and change workstream for a new Offshore Delivery Centre based in South Africa. The Project Manager will work with sponsors and other senior stakeholders across a range of business and technology functions to clearly define project scope, objectives, outcomes, and business benefits. Identifying the appropriate delivery approach based on business needs, resistance, risk, impact, and cost. The role will also be expected to lead on the delivery of an instruction module that will be built as part of the Service manage system in order to manage instructions that are requested via the centre in a formal manner, so that they can be audited and verified.
• The successful candidate will have the ability to understand and assess business and change management needs at an enterprise level and will have experience of implementing medium to complex business change, working across multiple business functions, teams, and geographies.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the end-to-end implementation for the technology workstream for the new Offshore Delivery Centre, ensuring all aspects of delivery are on-time and on-budget. Working with various internal and external suppliers to deliver all technology deliverables.
• Establish and maintain effective relationships with senior stakeholders for the project.
• Collaborate with wider stakeholder groups including HR, Finance, BD, Vario, Tech Services, and other stakeholders to ensure they are regularly updated about tech solutions and to mitigate any risks or dependencies.
• Manage technology communication plans and ensure effective communication with all stakeholders, including via regular project status updates and project review calls (internal and external). Work alongside other business area to ensure all communications are aligned for launch.
• Manage and coordinate the procurement of required products or services.
• Ensure that all project related activities adhere to local and international compliance and data regulatory rules, and ensure solutions are reviewed by the information security team.
• Maintain detailed technology project documentation, including the technology workstream approach document, project plans, and status reports. Ensure the technology workstream plans align with the principal contractor and third-party suppliers.
• Document and update any new PM processes or changes to existing processes. Work alongside internal teams and suppliers to ensure all relevant stakeholders are trained and a support model is established.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive testing plan to identify and resolve system issues, ensuring a smooth transition to the new solution.
• Ensure all project deliverables meet the expectations of the key stakeholders and where necessary, intervene to ensure issues are successfully managed and escalated appropriately.
• Identify project resources required, agree on resource allocation, assign project responsibilities, and review.
• Monitor and coordinate the activities of the project team members to ensure efficient and effective completion of project tasks.
• Manage the technology financial aspects of the project, tracking actual spend against budget and providing updates as required. Ensure that any variances in spend are highlighted and corrective action is taken and that any operational costs transferring into the Technology Services budget are clearly documented and communicated with the Head of Digital Delivery and Change.
• Implement change management strategies to ensure a seamless transition for employees. Review operational impact and training needs to support a smooth transition to business as usual. Finalise project documents, handover to operational teams, and capture lessons learned before completing project closure.

Person Specification

Qualifications:

• Educated to degree level standard or equivalent.
• Project Management qualification (PRINCE2 and/or APM Practitioner, APMG AgilePM, APMG Change Management).

Relevant experience:

• Previous experience of working on fit-out projects as a technical workstream lead
• Comprehensive track record of enterprise-wide project implementations with a business focus, experience of a broad range of project delivery techniques (waterfall, agile, hybrid).
• Experience managing, leading, and inspiring project team members in a project delivery model where there is no direct line management responsibility; ability to influence project team members.

Experience of following project delivery best practices, policies, procedures, and processes with ability to adapt them as appropriate to meet the specific needs of the project.

• Experience in procurement process, selection and engagement of third-party providers and ongoing relationship management of third-party implementation partner and/or solution provider.
• Experience of Agile methodology, project and change management techniques.
• Good understanding of strategic themes, epics, features, product management and product ownership techniques and principles.
• Understanding of core legal systems (such as iManage, Aderant PMS, Interaction CRM and BigHand) is preferred.
• Legal sector or professional services experience gained in an international firm; understanding and experience of legal business processes.

Key skills:

• Strong project management skills with demonstrable advanced planning, co-ordination, and management skills.
• Understanding of the full project lifecycle with expert awareness of specific deliverables which are the responsibility of the project manager.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; the ability to command respect and have credibility with senior stakeholders including the ability to negotiate, influence, persuade and challenge the status quo when required to achieve a successful outcome, demonstrating strong emotional intelligence.
• Organised and methodical with good analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to identify, communicate and resolve complex project issues.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft O365 products (Teams, SharePoint, Yammer, SWAY, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and Project).
• Proficient in the use of project management tools such as MURAL, JIRA, and MS DevOps.

Personal qualities / behaviours:

• A motivated self-starter who is delivery-focused, a good team player and able to work collaboratively with others.
• Flexible, adaptable, resilient, patient, calm under pressure and able to manage/prioritise a busy workload.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, dealing with areas of conflict to resolution and delivering pragmatic, commercially-sound solutions; a decision-maker.
• Ability to use own initiative and identify pragmatic solutions to problems.
• Emotional intelligence: ability to adapt communication style and approach to suit the audience.
• A desire to continuously learn and self-improve.
• Professional, calm appearance and manner.

Kindly regard your application as unsuccessful if you have not heard from the agency within 2 weeks.