Program/Project Manager

Position: Program/Project Manager

Location: Mountain View, CA

Duration: Contract

About the Role:
This position requires an individual to perform project and program management function in the organization where execution of the deliverables is performed by multiple scrum teams and scrum masters using agile delivery methodology. In addition, many projects we deliver involves multiple Norton organizations with multiple delivery methodologies that constantly require alignments. It is expected that the candidate is not only fully capable of driving programs/projects in the multiple dependent org structure environment, but in an environment with multiple delivery methodologies and stakeholders.

Responsibilities:
Ability to Project Manage multiple projects under a Program

For each project, develop/identify a project team [internal teams involved, external teams involved, key stakeholders]

Align the plan with both internal and external teams. Use the agile cadence and terminology for internal teams [Release Plans, Sprints, Epics and User Stories] – translate this into common terminology for the external teams [dates, deliverables, end to end testing, release to production, etc.]

Know the required level of involvement from the Project Manager for each project and apply yourself appropriately. Some will need minimal involvement where most of the deliverables are managed by the scrum master and scrum team which project manager is simply expected to know their progresses, while some will require more involvement and coordination by the project manager.

Ensure your approach and involvement level is aligned with each scrum masters of the teams involved in the project.

Always ensure tight alignment and partnership with the lead scrum master, Product Manager and Product owner of the project.

Manage each dependencies appropriately. Some may be owned/driven by the scrum team while others require project manager to get involved. Continued alignment with the scrum masters and product owners will allow project manager to make the appropriate call.

Regardless of who owns the management of certain dependencies or action items, project manager is responsible for ensuring that they are being addressed and resolved.

Identify risks and always develop a mitigation plan to prevent risks from materializing – implement the plan and track its outcome

Drive and track the projects: Progress, action items, risks and mitigations and key decisions. Ensure everything is documented, communicated and tracked.

For any changes, immediately perform an impact analysis to the overall project and program – determine the risk to the program and put together an appropriate mitigation plan and communication immediately.

Summary and communicate the progress of each individual projects to its stakeholders. Determine best communication method depending on the project size and your involvement. Some may require weekly project alignment meeting, some may only require email communication, etc.

At the Program level:
Develop a program level plan which encompasses all projects underneath (if there are multiple projects) Provide the program level view of the progress of all the projects under a program – determine what communication format and method makes the most sense for the program

Schedule and drive the program level status meetings. Set a proper cadence, agenda, format and objective of the meeting and always follow up with the write up of the meeting discussions. Document and track any decisions, actions, risks that may have come up in the meeting.

Schedule and drive a proper communication format, cadence and recipient of the program level communication.

Ensure tight alignment with the scrum masters, Product Managers and product owners involved in the program. There may be one lead Product Manager which is the owner of the program which will be your key partner of the program.

Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree, plus more than 5~7 years of solid Program/Project management experience with more than 2-3 years of experience in Agile/Scrum delivery methodology in a technical environment Strong understanding of Agile and Agile transformation Demonstrated experience managing projects using both Agile and Waterfall development methodologies Excellent project management skills to ensure that efforts track to delivery and that stakeholders are kept up to date on status and changes Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Extensive multi-tasking and prioritization skills needed and can excel in a fast paced environment Experience using Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio), MS Project and collaboration tools like Confluence and SharePoint.

Additional Qualifications

First project this candidate is going to take on is to support our massive effort of Data Center Cloud move.

In order to successfully support this project, additional technical background will be highly preferred.

Important Technical background for this candidate for Cloud Move project:

Some level of understanding of network and service architectures is desired Some level of understanding of site operations would be helpful Cross team experience and skills to foster team work and drive key requirements among a large set of external and internal teams Effective communication skills to keep teams informed, address issues, and manage changes in the project Organized to gather requirements, create plans, determine dependencies, and manage the creation and delivery of a Move plan Experience with some of the below tools:

Jira

Confluence

Slack, or IRC

Azure or AWS Control Screens

Microsoft Project

About Ursus:
Why URSUS? Our global IT Staffing Services and Systems Integration team intelligently connects the market’s most qualified candidates, Global 1000 companies and Startups. We place the highest priority on understanding unique client needs first, ensuring mutual, best-fit success and integration of people and product. Our relentless attention to detail is the hallmark of our organization. We look forward to working with you.