Senior Project Manager at University of the Western Cape/Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland

Information and Communications Services (ICS)

Project Management Office

The Information and Communication Services (ICS) department of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is seeking to appoint a qualified Senior Project Manager on a contract basis for 9 to 12 months to perform a lead role in managing the implementation of a Strategic Institutional Project.

The successful candidate will facilitate timely decisions to maintain project schedule and budget; provide management with regular project updates and reports; maintain trusting relationships; identify and manage project risks and issues.

Key performance areas (KPAs):

• Effectively build and manage relationships across a diverse spectrum of stakeholders (from executive management, line management, operational staff and third-party contractors) to align focus and activities to achieve desired business outcomes;
• Manages the project constraints of scope, time, budget, quality, risk and resources;Ensure compliance with the University’s project governance framework;
• Create and execute project charters and project plans, and revise as appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements;
• Manage outputs of virtual project teams to complete deliverables within agreed timelines;
• Facilitate timely decisions and escalations (where appropriate) to effectively manage project schedules;
• Create project resource plans and effectively facilitate resource allocation, ensuring clarity of roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders;
• Manage project budgets effectively including forecasting and variance reporting;
• Identify project risks and provide prudent and timely facilitation of risk assessment and mitigation plans with stakeholders;
• Effectively maintain risk and issues registers and facilitate reviews of corresponding activity logs with project stakeholders (risk owners);
• Produce relevant project artefacts/documentation across each stage of the project lifecycle, and ensure that artefacts are archived in the central repository;
• Provide management with regular project updates and reports;
• Manage the day-to-day operational aspects of projects;
• Participate in periodic project quality assurance reviews;
• Establish, execute and monitor organisational change management plans (including communications and training plans) to enable successful project delivery and user adoption;
• Able to effectively apply both Waterfall and AGILE project management methodologies;

Minimum requirements (qualification, skills and experience):

• At least five (5) years’ experience as a Senior Project Manager, delivering large-scale (enterprise), complex ICT projects;
• A proven track record of having successfully managed systems-related projects using the SDLC framework;
• A Degree or equivalent NQF 7 qualification in Information Systems or Computer Science; or a current PMP, or Prince2 or AGILE (practitioner level) Project Management Certification plus at least five (5) years’ experience as a practising Project Manager.

Preferred qualifications, skills and experience:

Recognised certification in the following would be advantageous:

• Business Analysis
• Systems Development
• Program Management
• Experience in the implementation and/or major enhancements of ERP systems would be advantageous;
• Management of IT systems-related projects in the Higher Education sector would be advantageous.

Required competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to work both unsupervised and collaboratively within a team to deliver results within agreed deadlines;
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with both technical teams and business stakeholders;
• Excellent planning, organising and time management skills;
• Excellent verbal and written communications;
• Excellent facilitation and consensus building skills;
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence and adaptability;
• Act as a positive change agent within the ICS department and the broader UWC community;
• Experienced in analysing complex issues and facilitating appropriate solutions;
• Deliver engaging, informative, well-organised presentations;
• Deliver high-quality, well-constructed, professional documentation and reporting;
• Skilled at communicating difficult/sensitive information tactfully.