Project Manager at University of… · Bellville

The Information & Communication Services (ICS) department of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is seeking to appoint a qualified Project Manager on a permanent basis to perform a lead role in managing the implementation of strategic and operational projects.

The successful candidate will facilitate timely decisions to maintain project schedules and budgets; provide management with regular project updates and reports, maintain trusting relationships, identify and manage project risks and issues.

Reporting to the Manager: ICS Project Management Office, the duties and responsibilities of the Project Manager shall include the following:

Key Performance Areas (KPA’s):

• Effectively build and manage relationships across a diverse spectrum of stakeholders (from executive management, line management, operational staff and third-party contractors) to align focus and activities to achieve desired business outcomes,
• Manage the project constraints of scope, time, budget, quality, risk and resources,
• Ensure compliance with the University’s Project Governance framework,
• Create and execute project charters and project plans, and revise as appropriate to meet
• changing needs and requirements,
• Manage outputs of project teams (incl. virtual teams) to complete deliverables within agreed timelines,
• Facilitate timely decisions and escalations to effectively manage project schedules,
• Create project resource plans and effectively facilitate resource allocation, ensuring clarity of roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders,
• Manage project budgets effectively including forecasting and variance reporting,
• Identify project risks and issues, and provide prudent and timely facilitation of risk and issue assessment and mitigation plans with stakeholders,
• Effectively maintain risk and issue registers and facilitate reviews of corresponding activity logs with project stakeholders,
• Produce relevant project artefacts/documentation across each stage of the project lifecycle, and ensure that artefacts are archived in the central repository,
• Provide management with regular project updates and reports,
• Manage the day-to-day operational aspects of projects,
• Participate in periodic project Quality Assurance reviews,
• Establish, execute and monitor organisaional change management plans (including communications and training plans) to enable successful project delivery and user adoption

Minimum Requirements

• A degree in Information Systems or Computer Science or an equivalent NQF-7 qualification, coupled with a minimum of 5 years of experience in IT Project Management,
• A recognized project management certification within the industry
• A proven track record of having successfully managed systems-related projects using the SDLC framework,
• Demonstrable experience and knowledge of project management principles and methodologies (e.g. PMBOK, Waterfall, Prince2, Agile, etc.)

Advantageous Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Management of IT system-related projects in the Higher Education sector would be advantageous,
• Experience in using project management software and tools (e.g. MS Project, PPO)

Required Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to work both unsupervised and collaboratively within a team to deliver results within agreed deadlines,
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with both technical teams and business stakeholders,
• Ability to guide and mentor project management and administrative teams to ensure project delivery and compliance to Project Management processes and procedures,
• Contributes towards continuous improvement of the project management discipline, templates, artefacts, processes and procedures in an effort to ensure best practice alignment,
• Excellent planning, organising and time management skills,
• Excellent verbal and written communication,
• Excellent Facilitation and Consensus building skills,
• Demonstrates Emotional Intelligence and adaptability,
• Acts as a positive change agent within the ICS department and the broader UWC community,
• Experienced in analysing complex issues and facilitating appropriate solutions,
• Delivers engaging, informative, well-organized presentations,
• Delivers high-quality, well-constructed, professional documentation and reports,
• Skilled at communicating difficult/sensitive information tactfully.