Project Manager

Employee Group: Managerial & Professional

Job Category: Information Technology

Department or Area: IT Services

Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada (Hybrid)

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status and provide proof that they were fully vaccinated or had an approved accommodation to engage in in-person University activities. These requirements were suspended effective May 1, 2022, but the University may reinstate them at any point.

Queen’s University is the Canadian research intensive university with a transformative student learning experience. Here the employment experience is as diverse as it is interesting. We have opportunities in multiple areas of globally recognized research, faculty administration, engineering & construction, athletics & recreation, power generation, corporate shared services, and many more.

We are committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcome applications from individuals from equity seeking groups such as women, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous/Aboriginal peoples, persons with a disability, persons who identify in the LGBTQ+ community and others who reflect the diversity of Canadian society.

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Reporting to the Assistant Director, Delivery Management in the Strategy and Partnerships directorate, Information Technology Services (IT Services), the Project Manager (PM) plays a pivotal role as decision maker and leader in the IT Services department. The PM is a self-motivated individual with strong communication skills who continuously strives for results and champions a strong relationship with the various internal and external stakeholders while providing project management expertise to a team of architects, engineers, business analysts, systems analysts, and programmers. The PM ensures best practices are applied throughout the systems design lifecycle by actively coordinating and executing project management deliverables, change management initiatives and activities associated with the transition to operations. The PM assumes responsibility for project outcomes, timelines, milestones, and budget and must carefully monitor all aspects of the operational objectives of the assigned projects. The PM collaborates with other PM’s and the directorate Managers to ensure they deliver technology and/or business solutions that meet the requirements of the client and align with the University’s strategic vision.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Coordinates human and financial resources to deliver projects on time, within scope and on budget that deliver the desired results; leads the planning and coordination of projects for the purposes of developing business application solutions that incorporate a well-defined scope, commitment of IT resources; monitors project budgets and clearly defined milestones.
• Collaborates with IT professionals and key business owners and determines operational objectives by providing leadership and direction for successful execution of all aspects of the project. Responsible for overseeing the project schedule, timelines, and milestones, carefully monitoring all aspects of the operation.
• Leads a diverse group of cross-functional project teams by using effective and efficient methods of communication to provide work direction, and technical and functional guidance to project team members. Manages schedules and assigns work, oversees its completion and coordinates and monitors workflow of project team members, committees, and others.
• Contributes to planning and coordination activities with internal and external stakeholders regarding change management and transition to operations.
• Encourages effective collaboration that mitigates team conflicts and communication problems; regularly acknowledges the team's contributions and regularly schedules team meetings to ensure project goals are on track.
• Collaborates with the other Project Managers to establish and maintain policies and procedures; creates and maintains project documentation; disseminates information on a timely basis; coordinates project activities.
• Contributes to the strategic direction, resource allocation planning, operational planning and provides leadership to those resources who contribute to the projects. Provides strategic and tactical advice, as well as guidance and coaching to the project resources.
• Performs risk management to minimize project risk.
• Measures project performance using appropriate systems, techniques and tools; collects, compiles and analyzes data on the project performance to gain insight and assess project effectiveness; adjusts the project plans as needed.
• Adapts to change quickly and works with the project team to identify/overcome challenges; maintains momentum to meet milestones.
• Persuades, convinces, or gains the commitment from key stakeholders by using effective influencing strategies.
• Ensures that quality assurance is conducted on all key project deliverables.
• Conducts post-implementation reviews to identify key learnings and opportunities for improvement; creates summary report of findings and recommendations to share with key stakeholders.
• Respects diversity and promotes inclusion in the workplace.
• Understands IT industry best practices, standards, and resources to ensure continuous optimization of IT delivery effectiveness.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• University degree with a concentration in business, project management, IT management, computer science or related field combined with several years of experience managing complex projects in a decentralized environment.
• Experience implementing new IT capabilities (applications, systems or infrastructure) involving diverse technologies.
• Experience in leading diversified teams, combined with facilitation and conflict identification/resolutions skills.
• Certification in PMP, PRINCE2 or Master’s program is an asset.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including experience in writing technical documentation.
• Consideration may be given to an equivalent combination of education and experience.

SPECIAL SKILLS:
• Building Relationships: builds constructive working relationships characterized by a high level of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual respect.
• Business Acumen: builds strong business acumen by sustaining a strong customer service perspective.
• Change Management: champions change and fosters the team and environment for change.
• Collaboration and Teamwork: promotes collaboration and commitment within a team to achieve goals and deliverables.
• Communication: displays confidence and articulates a clear message when interacting with diverse audiences utilizing excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Client Orientation: builds and maintains a client-centric culture by working closely with the customer while maintaining a high level of client satisfaction.
• Decision Making & Judgement: relies on experience, thinking several steps ahead in deciding the best course of current/future actions to develop, recommend policy framework based on analysis of emerging trends.
• Integrity: earns others’ trust and respect through consistent honesty and professionalism in all interactions.
• Initiative: acts to address problems; focuses on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them and gets the job done.
• Leadership: sets clear, meaningful, challenging, and attainable common goals and expectations that are linked to the mission, vision, values and goals aligned with the organization and strives to achieve them.
• Planning & Organizing: executes proposed actions within predetermined timelines against organizational goals. Develops and integrates current/future plans to achieve the overall organization goals.
• Strategic Perspective: develops and proactively implements long term organizational goals, considering the competitive landscape that will move the organization forward.
• Innovation: develops creative ideas that provide solutions to all types of workplace challenges.
• Driving for Results: demonstrates a desire to meet and exceed one’s own performance objectives. Not accepting the status quo, takes a calculated risk to improve the organization’s performance.
• Developing Others: enables team members to grow and succeed through consistent constructive feedback, and encouragement.
• Self-Development: displays an ongoing commitment to learning and self-improvement to enhance the performance of the team.

DECISION MAKING:
• Plans, implements, and evaluates project objectives and determines action plans to meet goals and priorities; makes recommendations regarding the overall functional of the project in conjunction with other Project Managers or Managers in the Solution Development directorate.
• Recommends modifications to the master project schedule to enhance effectiveness towards the business result or strategic intent.
• Makes financial decisions such as approval of project expenditures, and ensures that the project-related procurement activity is in compliance with the Queen's University policies.
• Exercises good judgement in overseeing the development and implementation of solutions and remedies to operational challenges.
• Develops processes and systems that are consistent with organizational goals.
• Determines project priorities and decides on the utilization of staffing resources and the assignment of work to achieve optimum efficiencies and productivity while considering peak periods and project assignments.
• Determines the most appropriate and efficient communication methods to ensure that all relevant team members receive a status update.
• Handles operational incidents so that service levels are maintained at a reasonable level and organizational responsibilities are met.

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen’s is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity. In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

The University provides support in its recruitment processes to applicants with disabilities, including accommodation that takes into account an applicant's accessibility needs. Candidates requiring accommodation during the recruitment process are asked to contact Human Resources at hradmin@queensu.ca .