Project Manager for Strategic Initiatives

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Job Profile:

Job Summary:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a pre-eminent center for discovery learning and engagement fostering an inclusive and empowered community while preparing current and future generations to lead meaningful and ethical partnership with the state and colleagues worldwide UW-Madison faculty staff and students address some of the most urgent and complex global challenges.

As one of the nations leading research institutions UW-Madison boasts a research enterprise exceeding $1.7 billion in annual expenditures. Ranked 6th among 920 public and private universities in the National Science Foundations annual ranking the university submits over 4000 proposals each year seeking more than $2.5 billion in funding and receives over $1.5 billion in sponsored project awards. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) manages approximately 15000 active projects valued at more than $4 billion.

The Project Manager for Strategic Initiatives provides leadership and coordination for a portfolio of strategic and operational initiatives within Research & Sponsored Programs (RSP). This role ensures that projects aligned with RSPs strategic plan and continuous improvement efforts are effectively scoped prioritized executed and delivered. Working across RSPs functional team and external partners the Project Manager brings structure transparency and accountability to complex cross-functional work. The position plays a key role in strengthening execution aligning efforts with organizational priorities and ensuring sustained progress in a dynamic and high-demand environment.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Manages the activities of outside contractors to ensure they are integrated into the project and that the organization receives satisfactory standards of service

• Facilitates the estimation of project costs resources and time required to complete the assigned phase of a project and monitors activities negotiates for resources and assigns tasks to ensure these targets are met. Follows established change control processes if targets can no longer be met

• Creates a project plan monitors progress and performance against the project plan and identifies resolves or escalates risks and issues

• Prepares regular reports to communicate the status of the project within and beyond the project team

• Sets priorities allocates tasks and collaborates with project staff to meet project targets and milestones

Department:

Office of Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) Administration

Compensation:

The starting salary for this position is $80000 but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

This position will receive a comprehensive benefits package including generous paid time off competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts and participation in the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund.

Required Qualifications:

-Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent projects with competing priorities

-Experience developing and maintaining project plans timelines and risk/issue tracking

-Strong organizational communication and stakeholder management skills

-Ability to facilitate meetings drive decision-making and hold teams accountable to deliverables

-Proficiency with project management tools (e.g. Smartsheet Asana MS Project Jira or similar)

Preferred Qualifications:

-3-5 years of project management experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives is strongly preferred

-Experience working in higher education research administration or similarly regulated environments with high operational complexity and ambiguity

-Familiarity with sponsored programs lifecycle (pre-award post-award compliance contracting)

-Experience supporting strategic planning execution or portfolio/program management

-Demonstrated analytical skills including use of data to inform decisions and track performance

-Experience building or improving project management frameworks tools or governance structures

-Experience working with or alongside IT data/reporting or system implementation teams (e.g. Workday CRM or enterprise systems)

Education:

Bachelors degree is required. Bachelors degree in business administration public administration project management or related field is strongly preferred.

Project Management certification (PMP CAPM Agile or similar) is preferred.

How to Apply:

To apply for this position please click on the I am a current employee button or I am not a current employee button under Apply Now.

You will be prompted to upload the following documents (required):
Cover Letter
Resume

Please note there is only one attachment field and you are able to upload multiple documents in the attachment field.

Your resume and cover letter should include all relevant education and/or work experience as it relates to this position where it was performed if applicable and should specifically address your experience in project management. Cover letters will be used as a writing sample and to determine the best qualified applicants.

A successful applicant will be responsible for ensuring eligibility for employment in the United States on or before the effective date of the appointment. University sponsorship is not available for this position.

Contact Information:

Kelly Marks

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength creativity and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity culture background experience status abilities and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching research outreach and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students faculty and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal OpportunityEmployer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to including but not limited to race color religion sex sexual orientation national origin age pregnancy disability or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgroundsand encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodationfor any step in the hiring process (e.g. application interview pre-employment testing etc.) please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR)in the division you are applying make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.