PMO Consultant

Title: PMO Consultant

Location: Duluth

Our client is seeking a Senior level PM consultant that has experience bringing strategy and structure to an existing PMO. The current PM team is 2-3 people and their responsibilities span across all departments within the financial institution; IT, Operations, Marketing, HR/Training, Staff Development, etc. Reporting to the CEO, this person needs to be assertive, sharp, influential, business savvy and have strong business acumen.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reviews, analyzes and implements PMO and project management best practices and resources.

Develops and maintains the project life cycle management process for initiating, selecting, managing, and delivering quality results from all IT projects.

Establishes a standard set of repeatable and flexible tools and processes for project planning, issue management, status reporting, risk assessment, etc.

Manages and coordinates day-to-day administrative support for the PMO which includes; collecting project intake request creation, project schedule creation and changes, project status reporting, and PMO metric reporting.

Attends key governance project and portfolio strategic steering meetings between business units, as well as executive steering committees.

Responsible for program and portfolio performance including; planning, monitoring, communicating project resources needs, budget performance, Earned Value performance, risk mitigation, issues escalation, and working with individual project leaders to assess and resolve problem areas proactively.

Ensures all projects adhere consistently to standard company project management practices and methodologies.

In coordination with the project leaders, reports on the overall PMO performance status of all projects to the senior Governance and Finance Manager as well as the corporate IT Leadership Group (ITLG).

Leads and facilitates regularly scheduled PMO key project group status reviews.

Monitors IT project resource/staff availability via established tools and processes, identifies appropriate allocation for current and future resource workloads and helps work with IT project leads to proactively resolve resource constraints.

Works closely with vendor purchasing and finance teams to track budget cost plans versus actuals versus outlook.

Reviews and approves project PMO change requests. Trends for analysis, reports results to senior Business leaders.

Interacts with IT and business department owners to understand key objectives and to help align project expectations and requirements on a regular basis, as well as strategic annual planning basis.

Increases business awareness of PMO requirements, benefits, and processes and continuously improves upon these elements.

Ensures all projects are managed in accordance to established governance practices and compliance requirements.

Fosters cross-functional relationships for effective project management.

Tracks the completion of major milestones and Critical-to-Path (CTP) deliverables.

Participates in the annual GPI IT budgeting process as needed.

Operates within a fast paced environment and makes fact-based decisions.

Using Analytical skills to review data, draw conclusions, and take effective actions.

Works with all levels of management while communicating effectively as a team player.

POSITION SPECIFICATIONS:

Bachelor's Degree preferred with an emphasis in information systems, or computer science, or related field. Equivalent work experience considered.

Masters in Project Management, Program Management, or MBA preferred.

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through PMI required.

7+ years direct project management experience required. Experience with a scoping and execution in a variety of projects

5+ years program management office leadership experience required.

High level of attention to detail that translates into a high degree of accuracy in results.

High proficiency in the configuration, use, and maintenance of MS Project, MS SharePoint, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint required.

Proficient in PMI, program, and project management methodologies including waterfall and SCRUM/AGILE techniques. Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or PMI Agile Certified Professional (PMI-ACP) a plus.

Understanding of IT Service Management structures as defined by ITIL, including Change Management and Service Transition a plus.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills a must.

Strong analytical and organizational skills, detail orientation, and interpersonal skills

Demonstrated ability to implement creative solutions while working under pressure, is self-directed, and possesses a strong leadership attitude.

Ability to collaborate and communicate with all levels of employees and management both within the IT department and with the rest of the business units.

Motivated in proactively seeking out and resolving project performance constraints with stakeholders.

Strong leadership to lead effective project teams.

Demonstrated ability to operate independently and follow general guidelines.

Demonstrated ability to think, reason, and continuously learn.

Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot and solve problems; strong analytical skills.