Strategic Project Manager at 2U

What We’re Looking For:

The Strategic Project Manager is responsible for managing and executing strategic projects that align with and drive the strategic mission and business objectives of 2U Cape Town. Strategic Project Managers are the bridge between key business stakeholders and the teams delivering the work. They are responsible for managing stakeholder expectations, ensuring cross-functional alignment, and guiding the team in delivering project success.

Responsibilities Include, But Are Not Limited To:

Project Management:

• Manage and execute strategic projects, including:

  • Integration projects

  • Inter-office projects

  • Systems and Technology projects

  • Cross-functional strategic initiatives

• Project Planning:

  • Compile and align business on Stakeholder List / RACI to define project team roles and responsibilities.

  • Create and accurately maintain project plans, indicating accurate tasks, critical path, milestones, timings, assignees, and task dependencies.

  • Ensure that business have supplied and thought about project success criteria ahead of project kick-off and provide guidance and support to help define and align on the criteria where required.

  • Schedules and facilitates project kick-off meetings, to review project timings, agree to roles, and align the team on scope and project overview.

• Project Execution:

  • Governance of project documentation in a structured manner on a Team Drive / Asana / Google Sheet.

  • Compile project Risk Registers and manage and report on risks accordingly.

  • Create mitigation plans and contingencies for each risk and manage the implementation thereof. 

  • Escalate project risks and issues to project sponsors to ensure project success.

  • Lead project meetings and distribute meeting outcomes to ensure that next steps are planned for and expectations are managed at all times. 

  • Clearly communicate project expectations, risks, project progress and updates to internal and external project stakeholders on projects.

  • Manage project team task execution to ensure successful project delivery. 

  • Provide regular status reports to the project sponsors.

  • Manage project resource allocations and proactively identify potential project delays due to capacity limitations.

  • Manage cross-functional collaboration across teams to successfully deliver on project objectives, and improve cross-functional processes to expedite project timelines.

• Technical project management:

  • Scope management and change request processes.

  • Monitor the project variables (effort, scope etc.) against the plan and the project performance baseline.

  • Ensures business sign-off on UAT and Production deployment.

  • Determine the project management approach to follow for the specific projects, within the 2U PM framework (Agile and Waterfall).

 Strategic Operational Support:

• Finalise all activities to formally close the project, including closing off project codes and running project retrospectives

• Provide PM consulting to stakeholders to lead best practice PM methodologies across the business.

• Support the operations of the Strategic Projects team to improve the processes, documentation, and approaches used across projects. 

• Review new SPM requests and assess viability through the SPM selection criteria.

Things That Should Be In Your Background:

• 5-7 years experience as a project manager for systems and development or strategic projects

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in a technology-related field or relevant ICT work experience as a Project Manager

• Good knowledge and handling of project and program management methodology and techniques; e.g. PMBOK(R)

Other Attributes That Will Help You In This Role:

• Self-motivated and able to find opportunities for improvement

• Excellent communication and documentation skills

• Comfortable working in a constantly changing atmosphere and prioritizing work appropriately

• Proactive attitude

• Organized and methodical work process

• Strong attention to detail

• Team player who does not need extensive supervision