About UMass Amherst
UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450 acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.
Job Summary
The Senior Institutional Effectiveness (IE) Project Manager collaborates with various stakeholders across campus, including faculty, staff, and administrators, to ensure effective project delivery and alignment with the University’s strategic objectives and initiatives. The Senior Institutional Effectiveness Project Manager facilitates the project intake process by receiving new requests, completing setup, and sharing project details for cross-functional team review. This position coordinates, organizes, and/or manages specified team activities and projects designed to support OIE’s mission, vision, and strategic priorities. The Senior Institutional Effectiveness Project Manager may additionally contribute to and/or complete the fulfillment of projects and information requests. Serving as a contact for support requests from stakeholders, this position helps coordinate and drive tasks across various OIE functions and ensures timely, accurate, and thorough completion of projects and activities.
Essential Functions
- Works closely with Deputy Chancellor and other OIE staff to set priorities, coordinate work efforts, and report project activities.
- In consultation with the Deputy Chancellor, assists in developing long range implementation strategy; identifies project prioritization, defines project scopes, objectives, timelines, and resource requirements.
- In consultation with Deputy Chancellor, creates metrics and measurements that will be used in the implementation and deployment process to validate the achievement of objectives on a per-project basis and identifies and tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of strategic initiatives.
- Prepares project plans and determines timelines for OIE projects; manages active, pending and proposed projects for OIE; reviews the status of all assigned projects.
- Facilitates the orderly and efficient capture, storage, processing and dissemination of information regarding ongoing or upcoming projects; communicates status of key projects.
- Understands responsibilities with respect to conflicts of interest and behaves in ways consistent both with law and with University policy.
- Contributes toward creating a positive and respectful workplace defined by personal and professional competence, integrity, and collaboration.
- Understands and contributes to the implementation of departmental and institutional goals for achieving non-discrimination and creating a respectful, inclusive environment that is supportive of diversity.
- Uses access to sensitive and/or not yet public university-related information only in the performance of the responsibilities of position and exercises care to prevent unnecessary disclosure to others.
- Prepares regular reports on the status of deployment and implementation projects to which they are assigned; presents to various groups on status and implications of the implementation and deployment processes.
- Assesses progress and makes recommendations to keep projects on track.
- Assures proper documentation and communication related to projects.
- Prepares, documents and maintains OIE workflows, design processes and checklists for projects to ensure accurate tracking and staff accountability for successful project completion.
- Develops and manages effective working relationships with other departments, groups and personnel with whom work must be coordinated or interfaced.
- Serves as a liaison for designated areas as determined by the Deputy Chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness.
- Provides consulting support to campus stakeholders to maximize project implementation effectiveness.
- Provides guidance through development of a Project Management Community of Practice.
- Maintains currency with new technologies, processes and techniques for project management and be prepared to guide their introduction into the teams.
Responsibilities
- Develops and implements project strategies to support the achievement of organizational goals.
- Leads cross-functional project teams and manages project timelines and deliverables.
- Identifies and mitigates project risks and issues, ensuring successful project completion.
- Collaborates with stakeholders to gather project requirements and ensure alignment.
- Monitors project progress and communicates updates to key stakeholders.
- Fosters a culture of collaboration and teamwork among project team members.
- Continuously assesses and improves project management processes and methodologies.
- Provides guidance and mentorship to project team members.
- Contributes toward creating a positive and respectful workplace defined by personal and professional competence, integrity, and collaboration.
- Uses access to sensitive data and/or not-yet-public University-related information only in the performance of the responsibilities of position and exercises care to prevent unnecessary disclosure to others.
- May include supervisory duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)
- Bachelor’s degree with six (6) years of progressive experience in project management.
- Proven track record of successfully managing and delivering complex projects.
- Strong leadership and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
- A capacity for a high degree of independent action and initiative, including the ability to establish priorities and manage multiple complex tasks in a fast-paced environment while meeting defined goals and deadlines.
- Outstanding organizational skills to track a variety of ongoing projects in a busy environment.
- Experience in managing campus-wide or interdisciplinary projects.
- Excellent ability to analyze, summarize, and clearly present data and information in ways usable by stakeholders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
- Willingness to take on new challenges and tasks as needed.
Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure)
- Master of Business Administration.
- Project Management Certification(s).
- Experience working with strategic plan implementation.
- Experience working with University administrators and staff at various levels.
- Knowledge of and experience with change management or continuous improvement.
- Experience with industry-standard project management skills and approaches, e.g., Agile, Six Sigma, Kanban, Scrum.
Physical Demands/Working Conditions
- Typical office environment.
Additional Details
- Position reports to the Deputy Chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness.
- Success Metrics include:
- Timely and successful completion of all assigned projects.
- Achievement of project benchmarks and deliverables based on agreed-upon timelines and objectives.
- High levels of stakeholder satisfaction.
- Continuous improvement of project management processes and methodologies.
Work Schedule
- Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm with some work on weekends and evenings.
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This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee’s work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position is non-unit, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees Non-Unit (Professional) Employee Personnel Policy.
Salary Information
Salary Level 33
Exempt Hiring Ranges
Special Instructions to Applicants
Along with the application, please submit a resume and cover letter. References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references. Applications will be reviewed on a continuous basis until the position is filled. Early submissions are encouraged.
UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, caste, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, political belief or affiliation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related condition(s), veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, natural and protective hairstyle and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University. To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. It is the policy of UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.