Project Management Specialist
Description: The Project Management Specialist (Specialist) will work with the I.S. Department Project Management team (Directors, Managers and Projects Managers) and Departmental Business Systems Groups to ensure that all aspects of system projects are fully accounted for in their respective project plans. The Specialist will ensure the status of project plans is monitored regularly and reported to key project stakeholders, user groups and the I.S. Steering Committee. The Specialist will also be responsible for coordinating the quarterly user group and I.S. Steering Committee meetings by setting dates, preparing materials and taking minutes. Finally, the Specialist will contribute to the ongoing review of NFA's System Development Lifecycle to help ensure that all participants are adhering to agreed-upon principles while assisting with the identification of potential areas for enhancement.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Partner with the I.S. Department Project Management Team to develop project sites pursuant to approved project plans.
- Ensure all components of each project from the participating departments are properly accounted for in project plans.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to maintain a project gap analysis to track variations in each project schedule.
- Develop standardized status reports to ensure that project participants can easily review project progress.
- Assist in coordinating user group and I.S. Steering Committee meetings by communicating deadlines, preparing agendas, organizing materials, taking minutes, and keeping all related communications up to date.
- Ensure that project statuses are updated pursuant to policy.
- Summarize project charters for I.S. Steering Committee review.
- Aid in the development of project management standards, particularly the design of project management templates, and consistent reporting and communication guidelines.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's Degree in a related field preferred
- Four or more years' experience with project management practices and tools used to help create and monitor project plans
- Strong organizational skills to support project planning and prioritization meetings at both the staff and officer levels
- Thorough understanding of both waterfall and agile project management methodologies
- Strong understanding of best-practices applied to the System Development Lifecycle
- Experience with Microsoft SharePoint development a plus
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
- Ability to work well with large and diverse teams
- Excellent client-facing and internal communication skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Attention to detail and multi-tasking skills
Location: Chicago
