Project Engagement Manager

Since our founding in 1919, The New School has redrawn and redefined the boundaries of intellectual and creative thought as a preeminent academic center. At our university, students have the academic freedom to shape their unique, individual paths for a complex and rapidly changing world. As a New School employee, you will be a part of the university’s mission to prepare and inspire students to bring about positive change in the world. 
 

Working at The New School comes with several unique benefits including generous time off, hybrid work, and a tuition benefit for employees and their eligible dependents. 

The Project Engagement Manager partners with university business constituents, technical teams, vendors, and consultants to facilitate a variety of institutional projects, including complex cloud platform implementations and integrations. Day-to-day, the Project Engagement Manager is an ever-present facilitator successfully managing multiple, complex, cross-departmental projects. These responsibilities begin with creating functional and technical requirements and leading project activities from beginning to end. This position reports to the Director of Project Management and is a key member of the Project and Portfolio Management team.

The New School is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and particularly seeks applications from members of underrepresented groups, as well as candidates who share this commitment.
 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead a team of functional, technical, vendors, and consultant resources to articulate the business case, requirements, budgets, and all aspects of the strategy and operational work to fulfill the needs of a given project.

• Create multi-faceted project plans, in collaboration with all stakeholders for all kinds of technology projects, including complex cloud-based platform implementations.

• Oversee day-to-day operational aspects of projects; adapting as necessary through all aspects of implementation from start to finish.

• Maintain all aspects of project activities and documentation projects in the portfolio management tool. 

• Establish and maintain strong vendor relationships to ensure alignment on project goals, deliverables, and timelines.

• Review contracts, Statements of Work (SOW), and service agreements with project requirements to ensure they support project needs and objectives.

• Track and manage project budgets, ensuring accurate forecasting, adherence to financial constraints, and transparent reporting to stakeholders.

• Maintain prompt, proactive, and transparent communication with project teams, stakeholders, consultants and vendors.

• Use effective decision-making to control risk and minimize uncertainty while being proactive through strategic thinking to strive to find new and innovative ways to deliver successful results.

• Leads the project team in defining go-live readiness, including designing organizational structures for implementing support after go-live.
   

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree and relevant business process analysis and project management training and experience.

• At least four years of verifiable experience in project management of broad scope including integrations and change management.

• Strong knowledge of project management principles and methodologies, including both Waterfall and Agile.

• Ability to track, manage, and report on project budgets, ensuring projects stay within scope and target.

• Exceptional written and oral communication skills for diverse audiences, including active listening skills.

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and root-cause identification abilities.

• Strong interpersonal, facilitation, collaboration, and customer service skills in order to effectively work with a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders.

• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines effectively, prioritize appropriately, and make independent decisions aligned with organizational goals.

• Working knowledge of enterprise information technology systems and infrastructure.
   

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience leading Workday, Salesforce, or similarly complex cloud platform projects.

• Previous experience in higher education or a similar organizational environment.

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