Sr. Project Manager

Title: Senior Project Manager (Data & Analytics Projects)

Location: Remote Canada

Reports To: Project Director

The Role:

The Senior Project Manager is responsible for managing data & analytics project progress, managing risk and escalation of issues that cannot be resolved by the team, and, in general, ensuring the project is delivered on budget, on schedule, and within scope.

The Impact You Will Have in This Role:

This role involves collaborating closely with technical data & analytics teams to provide oversight on project deliverables. It includes the development and management of comprehensive project plans and effective communication strategies. The successful candidate will be responsible for logically organizing tasks, ensuring that they are executed efficiently and within the designated timeline. This includes continuous monitoring and adjusting of schedules to meet project milestones, facilitating smooth workflow, and maintaining clear, consistent communication among all team members and stakeholders. Additionally, this role requires proactive problem-solving to address any issues that may arise, ensuring that the project remains on track and objectives are met.

What You'll Be Doing in This Role:

• Develop/manage full-scale project plans and communication documents using appropriate tools provided
• Logically organize the work, so it is executed effectively and managed to the schedule
• Initiate resource requests and update as required. Make optimal use of resources
• Track, manage, update and control issues. Understand how to assess, document and manage internal and external project risks; develop contingencies and mitigation plans
• Maintain focus on budget and communicate or escalate if estimated costs are at risk. Understand and manage potential budget impact per contractual obligations and SLAs. Understand how to use project management tools and techniques related to cost planning and estimating. Understand and explain the root causes for variance
• Clearly understand the scope, identify changes early, and execute change approval procedures
• Set achievable project objectives; maintain a positive outlook; take responsibility; make decisions; and provide constructive feedback. Can strategize, inspire and motivate team members to achieve a common goal
• Work on multiple projects simultaneously
• Ensure project documents are completed, labelled and stored
• Coach, mentor, motivate and supervise project team members and contractors and influence positive action and accountability. Within a team structure, understand and know how to share information and best practices, delegate responsibility and promote support and interaction. Maintain a high level of trust with team members
• Project status reports are prepared and reviewed as required with appropriate details and distributed weekly
• Consistently communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders
• Operational management in ensuring quality planning, delivery & execution of the project
• Manages key relationships with internal & external executives, business, procurement and vendor teams

Qualifications of this Role:

• Undergraduate degree in business or equivalent experience in the data & analytics field.
• Agile project management experience; Minimum of 2 years Scrum experience in a Scrum Master capacity. Waterfall would also be an asset.
• Experienced with agile data & analytics product development principles, along with a demonstrated ability to lead/represent distributed teams consisting of data scientists, data engineers, AI engineers, software developers, QA analysts, data visualization specialists, product owners, senior leadership and business representatives toward increased agility over time
• Basic understanding of Machine Learning & AI concepts a definite plus
• Experience as a member of a high performing team working in a fast-paced data and analytics environment (production and new development) while demonstrating a strong ability to balance multiple priorities and respond to urgent issues and changes in product priorities
• Proven experience in managing complex data projects from initiation (business requirements gathering, use case definition, etc.) to completion
• Ability to understand the line of business, product/project domain and its relationship to the overall client portfolio. This includes understanding of data warehousing, data lake and data pipelining/ETL concepts.
• Superior analytical, evaluative and problem-solving abilities. Ability to analyze and identify problems, evaluate alternatives, find a solution; and make informed decisions
• Ability to manage approval and sign-off, allocate project resources, and manage priorities and schedule conflicts to enable efficient decision making
• Ability to use active listening skills to read situations quickly, settle disputes equitably, and negotiate agreements. Looks for a win-win agreement that can be understood and accepted by the project team
• Communicate timely, tactfully, concisely, and candidly, simplify jargon and make required stakeholders aware of all issues. Encourage interactive communication; be receptive to both positive and constructive feedback, and listen to team members and customers
• Manages key relationships with internal & external executive, business and vendor teams. Understand who the stakeholder is and what the stakeholder's needs are; to be able to set realistic expectations and to reach an agreement with the business from the project onset
• Proficient PC skills using Microsoft Tools. Ability to understand and apply established policies and procedures, corporate tools and technical requirements
• Effective negotiator using positive win/win strategy, applying negotiation skills with internal and external stakeholders, team members, and vendors
• Effectively leverages technical and business expertise to optimize team delivery
• Ability to travel based on assigned project

The Hiring Manager says:

"I'm looking for the kind of person who that can step into situations and quickly assess the need/issue and take control"

The Way We Work:

• Leader Led
• Remote First
• Foster Flexibility
• Reward Performance
• Time Off Matters

Company Mission

J.D. Power is clear about what we do to ensure our success into the future. We unite industry leading data and insights with world-class technology to solve our clients' toughest challenges.

Our Values

At J.D. Power, we strive to be Truth Finders, Change Makers and Team Driven - the distinct behaviors that, together, define our unique culture.

J.D. Power is committed to employing a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.

Should you require accommodations during the recruitment and selection process, please reach out to tarecruitment@jdpa.com.

To all recruitment agencies: J.D. Power does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and we are not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.