Project Manager at FNZ Group

Role Description

As a Project Manager you will be responsible for the end to end management of projects to contracted time, quality, and budget requirements. This will involve leadership of a distributed project team in multiple locations, and the proactive identification, management and resolution of risks and issues throughout the full project lifecycle.

The role requires a background in technology or management consulting with experienced in leading large projects within the financial services industry.

As a Project Manager at FNZ you may be involved in the delivery of a single large scale project or multiple smaller projects.  This is a very client facing role and requires the ability to build strong relationships with customers, often at a senior level.

Organisational Design

The role operates within the Project Delivery team with a reporting line to a SA PMO or account director associated to the aligned client.

Specific Role Responsibilities

Delivery Management

• Manage the delivery of the project through the full project lifecycle, from initiation through to implementation.
• Ensure the project delivers in-line with the FNZ Software Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC) and associated quality gates. Tracking that these are actively followed and managed on each project.
• Create and maintain an end to end project plan that delivers the agreed scope of the project to time, budget and quality criteria.
• Ensure the FNZ Solution Centre understands all build scope through approved designs and specifications in accordance with the SDLC, collaborate with them to create a build and test plan that delivers against project milestones. 
• Be actively involved in the delivery of each project by coordinating the day to day running of the project to ensure it achieves its expected milestones.
• Have strong relationships and take accountability for working with all FNZ Directorates/areas to agree scope, timelines and artefacts in order to ensure delivery of the project in line with overall agreed plan.
• Take accountability for the overall estimating process for a  project, and work collaboratively with the Lead Solution Consultant, Delivery Manager, and the Test Manager to estimate the work effort required to deliver the project scope within the agreed timescales and budgets.
• Maintain accurate project status and project financial reporting for the entire project team.
• Provide timely, precise, accurate and comprehensive project MI both internally and externally to FNZ customers.
• Understand the FNZ products and technology so you are able to identify and manage risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies through the full project lifecycle.
• Build mitigation plans for all risks and issues, and take ownership for ensuring these mitigation plans are executed, or escalated
• as is appropriate.
• Understand the commercial environment FNZ operates within and be able to identify any changes which might impact FNZ commercially in advance to the Account Director.
• Have strong relationships with 3rd party suppliers and ensure they are engaged appropriately and contracts are in place and managed to ensure the required outcomes for FNZ.
• Manage all operational readiness activities associated to the project, as required, ensuring that the appropriate training and handovers take place ahead of go-live.
• Undertake post implementation reviews and ensure that lessons learned are captured and shared with the rest of the PM community.

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage and motivate a virtual team in multiple geographic locations, communicating project progress, and ensuring all team members take accountability for delivery.
• Motivate, mentor and encourage project team members to utilise themselves to their full potential and take accountability for their assigned work.
• Create a culture of continuous improvement on the project, support process improvement initiatives, and identify new process improvements.
• Swiftly resolve any conflicts within the project team and/or related stakeholders both within and out with FNZ.
• Be an active member of the PM community within FNZ, contributing to team sessions, supporting other Junior PMs and sharing best practice and lessons learned.
• Knowledge of the regulatory environment in which FNZ operates, be responsible for managing the impact of all regulatory changes and ensure future change is built into project plans so FNZ clients have a compliant platform.

Experience required

Required Industry Knowledge

• Financial Services experience preferably investment/wealth/life and/or pensions products and the markets in which FNZ and our customers operate in.
• An understanding of the regulatory environment FNZ operate within.
• Managing 3rd party suppliers.
• Significant experience in leading the delivery of business critical projects, preferably Software implementations within Financial Services.
• Experience of managing stakeholders to executive levels.

Required Knowledge and Skills

• First class degree, masters, MBA or equivalent experience
• Confident, and able to take initiative given client and delivery focused environment;
• Independent, self-directing and delivery focused working style;
• Commercially aware;
• Excellent organisational, administration and time management skills;
• Good team communication skills, confident in dealing with internal and external clients;
• Highly developed written and oral communication skills;