Project Manager

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Job Profile

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Department

Compensation Range

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Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Project Manager supports the Development and Alumni Engagement (DAE) Portfolio by leading, managing and implementing strategic enterprise technology and transformational change projects. The Project Manager manages the entire project lifecycle of medium and large-scale complex projects including developing project plans, assembling project teams, assigning individual responsibilities, identifying appropriate resources needed, and developing schedules to ensure timely completion of projects.

The Project Manager advances the strategic goals and objectives of UBC's fundraising and alumni engagement teams by directing and coordinating cross-functional project teams and managing inter-project dependencies and communication. The incumbent ensures that project management methodologies are followed. May also work on Business Analysis requirements gathering and business solution processes.

Organizational Status

The Project Manager position is situated in the Strategic Initiatives and Operations unit of Advancement Services, withing the Development and Alumni Engagament (DAE) portfolio of UBC. DAE focuses on building relationships with alumni, donors, and stakeholders to support the university through fundraising, alumni relations, and strategic partnerships.

The Project Manager position reports to the Associate Director, Project Management and works closely with Senior leadership across the Development and Alumni Engagament (DAE) portfolio and the university, as well as key stakeholders, project managers, and both business and technical resources to implement key strategic projects.

Work Performed

Core Duties:

• Initiates projects following appropriate project management methodology including gathering and defining project requirements, developing project charters, project plans, budgets and schedules, identifying staffing requirements, and forming project teams.

• Selects and follows project management best practices, procedures, and quality objectives, and tracks metrics for assessing progress.

• Balances workload, provides technical and analytical guidance and work direction to project team, including scheduling, assignment of work, review of project efforts and removal of roadblocks which may inhibit project success.

• Ensures that all team members have the tools and training required to perform effectively, and provides the team with constructive feedback as it pertains to project performance.

• Assesses variances from the project plans, budgets and schedules, develops and implements changes as necessary to ensure that the project remains within specified scope and is within time, cost, and quality objectives, and keeps management aware of the situation

• Conducts formal review with business sponsor at project completion to confirm acceptance and satisfaction.

• Identifies potential areas for improvement in current methodologies and provides guidance to other less experienced project managers.

• Develops and maintains a productive working relationship with project sponsors, vendors, Internal UBC partners and key stakeholders

• Maintains appropriate professional designations and up-to-date knowledge of current information technology techniques and tools.

Specific Duties

• Lead strategic projects of considerable size, diversity, complexity and risk and assumes responsibility for their successful completion.

• Leads a multi-functional and multi-unit consultation process and designs project plans that support the strategic development of the Portfolio

• Leads feasibility studies and other such processes to identify viable solutions to stated business requirements

• Develops and implements change management processes to manage and report requests, priorities, assignation of resources and determine impact on project deliverables.

• Leads and facilitates project plans including Milestones, RACI, Decision logs, Change logs, Tasks, risk log and mitigation strategies as well as communication management plans.

• Develops and maintains productive working relationships with key individuals and stakeholders at senior administrative and executive level across UBC

• Work according to the university's policies, processes and guidelines, e.g. Privacy Impact Assessment, Request For Proposal, Architecture Review Board, etc.

• Provides mentorship to less senior DAE Project Managers and Business Analysts

• Works in close partnership with the Director, Strategic Initiatives and Operations

• Consults and collaborates with senior leaders from across DAE to build buy-in and foster support for project goals

• Communicates broadly to various stakeholder groups regarding project objectives, status and participation requirements.

• Presents project proposals, business cases, project updates and analysis to DAE executive leadership as required.

• Performs other related duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

This position is responsible for the implementation of crucial projects that enable fundraising and alumni engagament across UBC. The decisions made by the Project Manager can significantly impact the Development and Alumni Engagement team as well as other important constituents. Inaccurate or delayed planning and resource usage could lead to poor outcomes; the loss of donors or volunteers; loss of funds; damage to the reputation of the University; and loss of future donors and volunteers.

Supervision Received

Works with wide latitude. Work is reviewed in terms of achievement of broad project objectives and goals.

Supervision Given

May supervise cross-functional project teams from across DAE in the completion of project-specific tasks. Also required to mentor and advise more junior members of the team as appropriate.

Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Project Management Professional designation is an asset.

• Project Management experience in public sector setting, with direct experience navigating complex organizations.

• Experience in procurement, managing Request for Proposals (RFPs), and leading contract negotiations.

• Experience in fundraising, engagement or advancement setting is an asset.

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain project management documentation throughout the project lifecycle. Experience building and leading organizational change through the application of change management best practices.

• Demonstrated ability to: build relationships, consult with customers and potential customers; mentor and coach staff, and act as a resource; effectively facilitate groups to achieve appropriate outcome; develop and deliver effective presentations and workshops; effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities within a fast-paced environment.

• Collaboration - Consistently fosters collaboration and respect among team members by addressing elements of the group process that impedes, or could impede, the group from reaching its goal. Engages the right people within and beyond organizational boundaries, by matching individual capabilities and skills to the team's goals. Works with a wide range of teams and readily shares lessons learned and credit for team accomplishments.

• Communication for Results - Converses with, writes reports for, and creates/delivers presentations to all levels of colleagues and peer groups in ways that support problem-solving and planning. Seeks a consensus with business partners. Debates opinions, tests understanding, and clarifies judgments. Brings conflict into the open empathetically. Explains the context of multiple interrelated situations, asks searching, probing questions, and solicits expert advice prior to taking action and making recommendations.

• Problem Solving - Applies problem-solving methodologies and tools to diagnose and solve operational and interpersonal problems. Determines the potential causes of the problem and devises testing methodologies for validation. Shows empathy and objectivity toward individuals involved in the issue. Analyzes multiple alternatives, risks, and benefits for a range of potential solutions. Recommends resource requirements and collaborates with impacted stakeholders.

• Accountability - Sets enhanced objectives for self and others. Monitors performance trends and identifies opportunities to improve standards. Provides regular feedback and suggests alternative approaches necessary to ensure that organizational objectives and superior standards are achieved. Delegates responsibility and reallocates resources as needed to ensure that priorities are met for initiatives within area of responsibility.

• Analytical Thinking - Determines criteria for assessing issues and opportunities. Establishes clear goals and priorities needed to assess performance. Identifies relationships and linkages between different information sources. Anticipates issues that are not readily apparent on the surface. Identifies root causes and effects. Establishes clear goals and priorities. Anticipates potential problems and develops solutions needed to resolve them. Systemically analyzes relationships between apparently independent problems and issues. Reviews and cross-reviews reports. Identifies trends as well as isolated events. Translates analytical reports into management presentations, and provides guidance to resolve issues. Anticipates the possible outcome of potential solutions. Identifies areas of significant concern or opportunity. Probes and initiates research to identify critical problems.

• Business Enterprise Knowledge - Develops and implements technical solutions that meet operational improvement needs. Ensures that decisions are supported by relevant stakeholders, as well as sound performance data. Effectively communicates technology changes to clients and how the changes affect their business drivers