Project Manager III

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Grade: Professional 311

Pay Range: $97,100.00 - $145,600.00

Job Description

The Project Manager III manages projects from inception through completion and implements change management strategies. Monitors and reports project status, including risks, issues affecting project schedules, and milestone achievements—to stakeholders and departmental leadership. The individual develops project plans and schedules and ensures projects meet departmental requirements, standards, policies, and deadlines. This role is expected to keep fully informed of departmental strategies and priorities and effectively influence the work of project team members in line with those priorities.

 

Primary Responsibilities

• Manages all phases of assigned projects (i.e., initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling, and closing)
• Keeps stakeholders and leadership informed of project statuses, including, but not limited to, milestone achievements, toll-gate progress, risks, and any issues that may adversely affect project schedules
• Keeps project management records and systems accurate and up to date
• Produces timely and accurate reports as directed
• Develops realistic project plans and schedules by analyzing organizational process assets, enterprise environmental factors, task dependencies, resource requirements, work breakdown, and departmental strategy and priorities
• Ensures projects meet organizational standards and are managed in accordance with applicable policies, processes, and procedures
• Documents project deliverables, outputs, and notes that capture why key project decisions were made
• Understands departmental strategic priorities and influences the actions and work efforts of team members in line with those priorities
• Implements change management strategies and monitors outcomes of strategies.
• Provides input to develop or refine project management procedures and processes for the purpose of improving efficiency
• Provides thought leadership, mentorship, and training support to project managers and associate project managers

Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

• Project management
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Ability to use project management systems and tools

• Strong understanding of change management methodologies and practices
• Ability to influence change and motivate others

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience serving as the lead project manager, with responsibility for project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure across complex initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience applying change management methodologies and practices to support organizational adoption and project success.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification 

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree
• Lean Six Sigma certification or demonstrated process improvement experience.
• Experience working within higher education, enterprise business operations, or large institutional environments.
• Familiarity with program or product lifecycle management systems (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, or similar platforms).
• Experience managing projects that involve software implementation, system integration, or SaaS platforms.

Position & Application Details