IT Project Management Office Lead

California State University, Monterey Bay is a mid-sized university in California’s Central Coast that grants undergraduate and graduate degrees. Powered by an inspiring Founding Vision Statement, CSUMB is part of the nation’s largest four-year public university system, California State University, which educates nearly 460,000 students every year. 

With a vibrant, diverse student body of over 7,000 students, CSU Monterey Bay is both a Minority Serving Institution and a Hispanic Serving Institution. Our staff and faculty transform students’ lives with a focus on student success and engagement through experiential learning, service learning, and a strong emphasis on multicultural and global perspectives. CSUMB’s sustainability goal is to be carbon neutral by 2030. 

The university’s Strategic Plan prioritizes inclusive excellence through recruiting and investing in developing a diverse body of faculty, staff and administrators. Many appreciate living and working close to the shores of beautiful Monterey Bay, with easy access to recreational areas from Big Sur to Santa Cruz. Nearby opportunities for collaborative research include working in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Silicon Valley, and with colleagues at local research universities, including UC Santa Cruz and Stanford University.

As one of the 22 campuses in the CSU system, CSUMB offers excellent benefits, including access to below-market-rate rental housing on East Campus, and competitive salaries for faculty and staff. With proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose, opportunities for faculty, staff and students are as endless as the shores of the nearby Pacific Ocean.

Under the general supervision of the IT Director of Enterprise Applications Services (EAS), the Project Management Lead works independently and engages with stakeholders at all levels to understand their needs, challenges, and priorities and to guide them in making informed decisions regarding selection, implementation, and integration of technology solutions.  The PMO Lead is also responsible for directly contributing to initiatives, projects and operations in support of IT systems, application services and resources. 

The incumbent collaboratively and effectively supports the entire IT Project Portfolio, utilizing various industry standard methodologies to ensure the successful delivery of new/modified applications while leading cross-functional teams to design and implement process improvements, system enhancements, and new systems. Follows industry standard frameworks for Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) from initiation, planning, analysis, design, development, test and implementation to maintaining systems/applications and supporting continuous improvement and data integrity efforts.  The Project Management Lead will promote User Experience (UX) best practices, and improve knowledge resources to support our staff, faculty and students.

In collaboration with the IT Director, establishes and maintains project management standards and methodologies including defining best practices, processes, and tools to be used across all projects within the organization.  Ensures IT projects align with the organization’s overall goals & objectives.  Assists in developing a governance framework, monitors adherence to established guidelines, and conducts reviews to ensure projects are on track. Assists in prioritizes a portfolio of projects and programs to optimize resource allocation and ensures successful delivery. Tracks project progress, issues, and risks, and providing regular status reports and updates to stakeholders.

Identifies and assesses risks associated with projects and implementing strategies to mitigate those risks. Facilitates effective communication channels between project teams, stakeholders, and other relevant parties. Trains, mentors and supports junior project managers and BA’s to enhance IT-PMO capabilities. Ensures that changes to project scope, schedule, or objectives are properly documented, evaluated, and communicated.

Evaluates and makes recommendations for improving existing project management processes and methodologies to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.  Maintains a central repository for project documentation, lessons learned, and best practices to promote knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.  Oversees project management activities: Manages requirements to control project scope while consulting customers with timely updates including reporting issues and risks. Participates in unit and user acceptance testing and quality assurance activities of applications and systems to ensure user requirements are delivered as expected including data integrity.  Facilitates product demonstrations/reviews for the project team and stakeholders after each iteration or release to consult with customers to ensure the delivered final product meets the definition of success and provides a seamless user experience.

Facilitates communication and collaboration with stakeholders and product teams to understand user requirements/needs to create engaging user experiences. Conducts business process and feasibility reviews, needs and alternative analysis to assess product or processes compatibility with existing systems while meeting user needs. Researches and evaluates potential, new and available system applications or analyzes potential solutions for a re-design, modification or upgrade of a current system to recommend solutions to optimize/consult end-user benefits and increase business values. Consults with customers to develop project documentation: requests for proposals, scopes of work, cost estimates, business cases and cost/benefit analysis. Confirms requirements with System Requirement Specs, process maps and other user- centric design methods including: User Stories, Storyboards, Wire Frames, Mock-ups, Prototypes, Proof of Concepts, and Personas to ensure usability and functionality. Presents solutions and recommendations on proposals for new systems, replacements, redesigns/modifications, process and workflow improvements that increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Develops and maintains knowledge in support of usability of systems/applications including but not limited to: on-line, self-help resources and documentation, both technical and functional, internal and external with interface guidelines to promote User Experience best practices.

Evaluates usability of any knowledge/content pertaining to IT applications, systems, services and processes through the use of user content evaluations to identify information gaps, content ambiguities and unclear pathways to report findings to the IT management team in an effort to improve self-help resources and user navigations to resources.

Plans and coordinates open labs/orientations in support of training efforts, observes systems usability, collects feedback and reports findings to IT management as required by each project. 

Provides end-user support to maintain assigned IT applications or respond to issues, fielding user requests received through the IT's service request system, phone, email and other collaboration tools to report issues and request services.

Expeditiously resolves reported issues or complete services requests independently or through stakeholder collaboration and track progress to completion/resolution.

Perform other job-related duties and special projects as assigned.

• Collaborates with various stakeholders and cross-functional IT teams to lead significant and/or complex business system analysis projects and initiatives.
• Provides expert analysis of complex business system challenges utilizing advanced data analysis and modeling.
• Develops and manages test plans and processes. Selects appropriate techniques and tools.
• Collaborates with other Business Systems Analysts to review their work, ensuring quality control according to the practices and procedures of the organization.
• Provides system demonstrations to campus users.
• Prepares reports and presentations to communicate project progress and findings, as requested.
• Under the direction of management, plans and implements the migration from outdated to new data systems and tools.
• Seeks and reviews examples of best practices at other universities and organizations to identify innovative approaches and drive transformative change.
• Develops sophisticated reports, dashboards, and visualizations to communicate complex data findings.
• Facilitates workshops, training sessions, and presentations to drive awareness of system usage, changes, and encourage adoption of changes.
• Provides lead work direction, training, and mentoring to professional, technical, and other staff.

• Thorough and advanced knowledge of business systems analysis concepts, principles, protocols, and best practices systems.
• Demonstrates competence in independently applying advanced judgment to resolve difficult and complex technical problems and issues.
• Ability to anticipate the impact of problems and solutions on other systems.
• Advanced analytical skills to investigate and research new systems and technologies and to develop complex information technology systems and solutions.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex projects and ensure successful delivery within scope, budget, and timelines.
• Advanced communication and interpersonal skills to build and foster strong relationships and drive change initiatives.
• Advanced skill in mentoring and overseeing the work of others.

Equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in a related field and four years of relevant experience.  Additional experience which demonstrates acquired and successfully applied knowledge and abilities shown above may be substituted for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

• All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check (including a criminal records check).
• The person holding this position will have a duty to report to the Campus Title IX Officer information pertaining to discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, and retaliation and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order EO 1095, EO 1096, and EO 1097 as a condition of employment.
• The person holding this position is considered a “mandated reporter” under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083  as a condition of employment. 
• This position is required to comply with confidentiality requirements outlined in the Department of Education’s Family Educational Rights and Privacy and California’s Educational Code Chapter 13 regarding sensitive student issues.
• This position will have responsibilities that require the employee to possess a license, credential or other certification in order to meet minimum job qualifications and/or to qualify for continued employment. Specify license, credential or certification required: Salesforce Certified Administrator.
• Must possess and maintain a valid license to drive in the State of California, pass the Defensive Training Class, and be insurable under the University's liability coverage.
• May require occasional evenings and/or weekend work.
• This position has been designated as a sensitive position with:
• access to and responsibility for detailed personally identifiable Level 1 confidential information about students, faculty, staff or alumni that is protected, personal or sensitive as defined in the CSU Information Security Data Classification Standards
• control over campus business processes, either through functional roles or system security access

Office environment with standard equipment and tasks. Position requires working at a computer and desk for extended periods of time.  May require travel between campus offices and off-campus locations.  Some lifting up to 20 pounds

The health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority. While on campus, students, faculty, staff, and the community will be expected to follow all campus safety mandates.  

To receive full consideration, applicants must complete and submit the required online application by the priority screening date listed on the Careers at CSUMB website. Applications received after this date may be reviewed at the University’s discretion. All submitted materials become the property of CSUMB and will not be returned.

Reasonable accommodations will be provided for qualified applicants with disabilities who self-disclose by contacting Human Resources at (831) 582-3389 or emailinghumanresources@csumb.edu

All employees must be eligible for employment in the U.S.

Education Code 89521 Requirements: Applicants will be required to disclose whether they have received a final administrative decision or final judicial decision determining that they have committed sexual harassment within the last 7 years only after a determination is made that they meet the minimum qualifications for the position, and before an offer of employment is extended. Applicants who reach the final stages of the application process must also sign a release form that authorizes the release of information by the applicant’s current and/or former employers to the CSU concerning any substantiated allegations of misconduct.

CSUMB hires only individuals lawfully authorized to work in the United States and is an E-Verify employer. In compliance with federal crime awareness and campus security legislation, including the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics, you can view the notice of availability and access the Cal State University, Monterey Bay annual security and fire safety reports at https://csumb.edu/clery/asr-and-fsr-notices-availability/.

CSUMB is a smoke and tobacco-free campus.

CSUMB is an Equal Opportunity employer seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. We value and celebrate diversity in all its forms and strive to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion. We consider qualified applicants for employment for their anticipated contributions and without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or disability.

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