Senior Project Manager

Job title: Senior Project Manager
Location: Parsippany, NJ- 4 days onsite
Duration: 12 Months

Our client is seeking a strong, senior-level Project Manager to join its PMO and manage a portfolio of approximately 2-3 projects. This is a true project management role. Engineering and Product teams operate in an Agile environment, but the Project Manager will not be responsible for running sprints or writing user stories. Instead, this person will own the overall budget, schedule, risks, stakeholder management, communications, dependencies, and project health.

Key Responsibilities

·         Manage 2-3 complex enterprise projects from planning through delivery.

·         Own project budgets, actuals, committed costs, forecasts, and variances.

·         Manage schedules, milestones, dependencies, and delivery commitments.

·         Create and maintain risk logs, mitigation plans, and escalation strategies.

·         Develop stakeholder and communication plans.

·         Present project status, financials, risks, and issues to senior and executive stakeholders.

·         Partner closely with dedicated Engineering and Product leaders.

·         Identify issues proactively and hold teams accountable for successful delivery.

·         Communicate difficult news regarding budget, scope, schedule, or risk in a professional and effective manner.

·         Bring strong PMBOK practices, discipline, and structure to the broader PMO.

Must-Have Qualifications

·         7+ years of project management experience within large and complex organizations.

·         Strong practical knowledge of PMBOK disciplines.

·         Deep cost management experience, including actuals, committed costs, forecasts, variances, and identifying potential overruns.

·         Strong risk management capabilities, including risk identification, logging, impact assessment, mitigation planning, ownership, and escalation.

·         Proven stakeholder management and executive communication skills.

·         Experience managing project schedules and cross-functional dependencies.

·         Experience partnering with Engineering and Product teams in Agile or hybrid environments.

·         Strong executive presence and ability to influence without direct authority.

·         Comfortable independently driving projects, not simply coordinating meetings and status updates.

·         Ability to work at least four days per week onsite in Parsippany, NJ.

Note: The client emphasized that practical application of project management disciplines is more important than simply holding a PMP certification.