Assistant Project Manager (Contract)

The Assistant Project Manager's primary responsibility is to oversee the planning, implementation and tracking of projects ensuring prompt deliverables within budget by engaging appropriately with internal and external stakeholders and maximizing the performance of project teams. This includes the responsibility for the tactical day-to-day aspects of discovery, validating, documenting and delivering business projects.

Role Dimensions:    

• Reports to PMO Lead/Programme Manager
• Occasionally required to work out of hours (late nights / weekends)
• Close liaison with PMO Team, Business Analysts, Architecture Team, Procurement, IT Operations, Finance, Project sponsors and key business stakeholders
• Work with external suppliers & partners as appropriate
• Support and coaching from Programme Manager and Senior Project Managers to develop skillset

Principal Accountabilities:

• Perform all aspects of project management using appropriate methodologies, ensuring best practice, including ensuring scope is clearly defined, testing is supported and hand over to support is consistent
• Support, and where necessary perform, all aspects of analysis, including requirements gathering (business and technology), process analysis, business case and functional specification development
• Analyse project proposals to determine time frame, funding limitations and appropriate process for accomplishing projects
• Ensure project is resourced and delivered on schedule, within budget and to expected quality
• Identify and schedule project deliverables, milestones and required activities and tasks, and project communications plan (where appropriate).
• Perform risk assessment, and implement mitigation plans.
• Provide leadership and motivation to project team members throughout the project life cycle, and confer with project staff to outline work plan.
• Facilitate project review and stakeholder meetings, presenting progress, risks and decision points.
• Maintain high standards for project reporting and documentation, including production of weekly status reports for project board
• Ensure that project goals are accomplished and in line with business objectives.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Proven experience in commercial engagements, including contract negation, implementation, and impact analysis
• Experience in Project / Program Management using leading methodologies
• Prince 2 Practitioner level trained or Agile equivalent.
• Advanced MS project skills
• Experience of Microsoft Technologies.
• Ability to lead and motivate others; demonstrating empathy and knowledge of personality types
• Knowledge of project planning tools
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; expertise in setting and managing customer expectations
• Effective influencing and negotiating skills in an environment where this role may not directly control resources
• Strong knowledge and understanding of business needs, with the ability to establish and maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence
• Demonstrated experience and ability in successfully utilizing "soft skills" or "people skills"
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute a project resource plan that ensures that the right people are in the right place doing the right things at the right time

Personal Attributes:

• Excellent communication skills written and verbal (technical & non-technical team members, users, and business representatives of all levels)
• Works well with others, has strong meeting-facilitation, project and time management skills.
• Confident leading and motivating cross functional teams
• Strong business analysis, meeting-facilitation, project and time management skills.
• Strong analytical and conceptual skills
• Enthusiastic and self-motivated
• Team work - Seeks ideas and inputs of colleagues to make best use of team expertise and improve team performance.
• Team work - Freely shares knowledge and findings with others
• Enthusiastic, with a positive ‘can-do’ attitude
• Identifies issues and takes a proactive approach to dealing with them.
• Has the drive and commitment to see activities to completion.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute multiple concurrent work streams in a high-pressure environment
• Experience working both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment
• Ability to work unsupervised, in teams and stand alone
• Flexible and adaptable in regards to learning and understanding new technologies