Manager of Project & Portfolio Management - IT

Who we are:

The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, is a nonprofit criminal justice organization that strives to build just government institutions and safe communities free from the scourge of racism, white supremacy, profit, and inequity that is pervasive in this country’s legal systems. We are an “inside” lane organization that drives change at scale with ambitious public sector leaders who share our commitment to building anti-racist, reparative systems that deliver justice. We leverage our access to government to transform these systems and work collaboratively with stakeholders across many movements—including advocacy, grassroots, and grasstop organizations. Our role is to pilot solutions that are transformative and achievable, harness the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice, and use advocacy and communications to change narratives and norms.

Vera has a staff of 300 people and offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace. We expect our staff to embody respect, independence, collaboration, commitment, anti-racism, and equity—both in our outward-facing work and the internal culture of our workplace. We value a range of experiences in people’s educational backgrounds and encourage people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to apply.

Who you are:

The PPM Manager role is a senior role within the Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) team aligned to a multi-year technology transformation strategy. The PPM team is charged with providing oversight, governance and credible challenge across the project portfolio that spans all areas of Vera Tech and other key transformation initiatives.

The PPM Manager role will report directly to the Head of Vera Tech and will manage internal & external project managers, program managers, and portfolios, in addition to working closely with sponsors, cross functional business stakeholders, functional teams (e.g., technology, etc.), the PPM analyst, and other project management and technology professionals.

What you'll do:

• Provide hands-on PMO support to the Vera Tech Project Portfolio, as well as Leadership on PPM responsibilities and supervision of the PPM Team 
• Own "Request Management" to ensure requests follow a formal intake process that will be prepared and reviewed at the bi-weekly Vera Tech Governance Meeting
• Own "Demand Management" to shape new project requests, provide timely updates to requestors, prioritize projects and ensure projects are aligned to Vera’s Mission
• Provide portfolio-level status reporting to all project teams, business teams, IT, and business sponsors and owners
• Monitor & maintain risk, assumptions, issues, and dependencies, escalating action items as appropriate
• Other job duties as assigned including but not limited to: 
  • Produce executive level portfolio governance material  
  • Track issue management and correction action plans linked to project deliverables 
  • The buildout and maintenance of the strategic roadmap with benefit tracking  
  • Change management elements entailing identification and impact assessment of scope, scheduling, and resource requests
  • Manage dependencies across all portfolios and locations  
  • Provide hands-on project management for key strategic projects 

What qualifications are we looking for?

• 3+ years of managerial experience 
• PMP certification with at least 3 years’ experience post certification 
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Business, preferred 
• Experience with PPM tools such as Microsoft Project Online, Clarity, Primavera, or Planview PPM 
• Disciplined and methodical approach to PPM activities inclusive of Request, Demand, and Resource Management 
• Experience overseeing all aspects of PPM Governance  
• Experience overseeing deliverables from initiative, through to closure and beyond into sustainability 
• Experience in performing PPM roles on large and complex programs 
• Hands-on experience in managing PPM activities across several project portfolios, particularly in challenging non-negotiable timelines 
• Efficiency in Microsoft Office products including SharePoint, PowerPoint, Excel, and Slack 
• Motivation to self-manage tasks and collaboratively execute those responsibilities with peers and others 
• Experience in developing and implementing project controls to monitor and project assurance to assess adherence to PPM governance 
• Ability to analyze project data to identify quality assurance emerging issues across risks, resourcing and scope delivery 
• Ability to raft new and imp