Programme Manager

Job description

Programme Manager

The Programme Manager one or projects at any one time in an efficient and effective manner, and is responsible for their delivery within agreed timescales, budgets and conformance to agreed requirements. This person is also responsible for leading more PM’s and the efficient utilization of assigned staff and any associated third parties. They are accountable for ensuring that all project activities conform to the company’s quality management standards and processes.

Responsibilties

• Plans and manages one or more projects assigned, keeping the customer and senior management informed about project progress;
• Compiles and agrees the project plan with the client.
• Compiles and agrees with the client any Statements of Work in line with contractual arrangements with the client.
• Monitors progress against project plan and budget, correcting and / or escalating abnormal situations when necessary;
• Maintains the Project Plan, in particular with forecast completion dates and impact analysis;
• Tracks actual costs vs plan (using Microsoft project and our internal Dynamics FO time recording system);
• Maintains awareness of all ongoing non-trivial problems towards their solution. Ensures that project objectives are met;
• Monitors and controls all individuals allocated to the project ensuring that all project activities are carried out in accordance with the appropriate standards. This includes ensuring that activities are planned and executed in line with the KPMG Microsoft Business Solutions project delivery methodology;
• Manages any third parties that may be involved as sub-contractors within the project, as relevant, and ensures that any deliverables are produced on time, to required quality standards, and in line with agreed commercials;
• Ensures Risks and Issues are being correctly assessed and reported. Pro-actively predicts and mitigates risk;
• Participates in client reporting sessions, including as relevant, weekly progress review meetings and (typically) monthly Steering Committee meetings
• Tracks actual vs. budgeted costs and effort on a weekly basis;
• Plans and monitors any validation activities with the customer to ensure that all requirements are met;
• Plans and monitors any internal verification activities, including any reviews, walkthroughs and testing, and oversees the correction of non-conformities to ensure quality of all project deliverables;
• Plans and monitors release and implementation activities (e.g. release and/or implementation plans, hand over/support documentation, etc.);
• Works very closely with the Solution Architect on an ongoing basis in ensuring the overall quality of deliverables prior to release to the client;
• Receives, analyses and co-ordinates the implementation of project/system live changes requested by the customer when applicable;
• Addresses all project customer satisfaction issues, escalating feedback as necessary for further action;
• Participates in KPMG Microsoft Business Solutions resource management, utilisation and capacity planning processes.
• Minimises non-billable resource utilisation on projects, and escalates as required with the Senior Programme Manager and Resourcing to optimise billable use of resources. Escalates any forecasted requirements for non-billable effort with the Senior Programme Manager in order to maintain awareness and if possible mitigate. Tracks non-billable effort against the project budget;
• Contributes towards continuous refinement and improvement of our best practice project delivery methodology. Offers advice and mentors more junior Project Manages and members of staff. Liaises with peers to provide assistance and convey lessons learnt as required, in order to promote and improve the overall program and project delivery capabilities of KPMG Microsoft Business Solutions;
• May be involved in pre-sales activities, providing guidance related to project planning and estimations as required.

Requirements

• Be an established Programme or Senior Project Manager with a proven track record of delivery of software implementation projects. Full lifecycle implementation experience is required;
• Proven track record of delivery of multiple simultaneous projects;
• Experience managing third party sub-contractors, ideally including independent software vendors (ISV’s);
• Experience in managing teams and delivering multiple concurrent streams of work;
• Very strong Microsoft Office skills particularly with Microsoft Project, Excel and SharePoint;
• Prince 2 Practitioner / certified APM professional preferred;
• Experienced in Agile project management, ideally with direct experience and knowledge of tools including Jira, VSTS, TFS, and of methodologies including Scrum and Kanban;
• Ideally experience and specialism in ERP and / or CRM implementation projects, preferably utilising the Microsoft stack;
• Ideally experienced in delivery of eCommerce projects, preferably utilising Magento and / or .Net or Java-based basket platforms;
• Experience of delivery on online solutions such as eCommerce and / or customer portals with complex integration to line of business systems and payment gateways preferable;
• Excellent time management skills with demonstrable experience of working under pressure to tight deadlines and managing a high workload with conflicting priorities;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to influence and manage a range of relationships in a complex environment;
• Experienced in mentoring junior staff and supporting their professional development.
• Strong communication skills (verbal, written and listening): an ability to present information concisely, to communicate in a manner applicable to all levels;
• Able to produce high quality and professional presentations;
• Excellent attention to detail and ability to ensure documents are consistent in language, terminology and style;
• Flexible approach to work with a focus on delivery to deadlines and high standards;
• Ability to handle highly confidential information with tact and discretion;
• Ability to quickly obtain a broad knowledge of KPMG Microsoft Business Solutions, including governance structures and operating procedures, and offers advice on possible changes and improvements;