Senior Project Manager

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.   At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.    We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.    We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD. 

Job Summary

• The Senior Project Manager is the leader and owner of a portfolio of AHEAD's complex, highest-risk, and highest-visibility Client engagements — directly accountable for planning, executing, leading the project team, and finalizing each project according to Client timelines and budget constraints, serving as the single point of knowledge and control for the aggregate effort. This ownership is what shapes how the Senior Project Manager manages resources, coordinates the efforts of team members, both internal and external. The Senior Project Manager leads the engagement and drives the Client relationship — including at the executive level — rather than simply administering tasks, keeping everything moving toward the outcome the Client came to AHEAD for.
• The Senior Project Manager is expected to know the outcome of every engagement in their portfolio and to proactively identify what could get in the way of the project or the Client's outcome — heading it off before it becomes a problem rather than reacting after the fact — while tailoring communication and status reporting, from working-level detail to executive-level, to the target stakeholder audience.
• The Senior Project Manager is accountable for applying AHEAD's three Operating Pillars — World Class Customer Experience, Ensure Customer Outcomes, and Accelerate & Manage the AHEAD Business — across every project in their portfolio, from initiation through closure, and for coaching and mentoring less experienced Project Managers as needed.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Pillar 1: World Class Customer Experience

• Own the Client relationship for a portfolio of projects, maintaining a structured, ongoing communication cadence with every Client that is independent of project status updates, and surfacing concerns or unmet expectations before they become issues.
• Gather Client context from Sales beyond the Statement of Work ahead of kickoff, establish the Client's definition of success at kickoff, and maintain a documented record of Client alignment at every significant project stage and outcomes confirmation.
• Tailor all communication, status updates, and project summaries to the role and level of the Client stakeholder receiving them.
• Proactively address stakeholder concerns directly. Communicate with a plan and treat every escalation as a signal to identify and close the gap that allowed it.
• When a client has multiple projects in flight at once, coordinate with the other AHEAD Project Managers, practices, or Managed Services teams involved so the Client experiences one consistent AHEAD standard across every engagement, and surface and help resolve any inconsistency in delivery standards or communication across those accounts.
• Build and maintain a working relationship with Sales and Presales aligned to assigned accounts, and feed lessons learned from delivery back into future scoping and estimating.

Pillar 2: Ensure Customer Outcomes

• Be able to articulate the business outcome each engagement in the portfolio is delivering and the Client's own indicators of success.
• Anchor Client conversations in outcomes rather than status: what the Client is trying to achieve, how the engagement is moving them toward it, and what AHEAD needs to do to get them there.
• Proactively escalate to the Client and with AHEAD management when delivery indicates that the scoped approach will not achieve the intended outcome or that something critical is missing.
• Proactively identify and act on risks, issues, and early warning signs that could prevent projects from realizing customer success criteria and business objectives.
• Lead project teams to identify opportunities to further enhance the Client's outcome and translate those opportunities into terms the Client can act on.
• Maintain working knowledge of AHEAD's Unified Messaging Framework (UMF) and Unified Delivery Framework (UDF) and maintain and apply to deliver customer outcomes
• As a project approaches closure, confirm directly with the Client that the intended outcome was achieved. Capture lessons learned to feed back into future scoping, proposals, and delivery standards.

Pillar 3: Accelerate & Manage the AHEAD Business

• Owner the delivery of the scope of work defined in the Statement of Work as well as AHEAD business and margin.
• Utilize AHEAD systems and management tools (PSA and other tools) to maintain current and accurate project data across the portfolio — including RYG status, resource assignments, RAID log entries, project stage, revenue status, and other required fields.
• Define, develop, and execute project plans, scope, activities, schedules, financial budgets, and deliverables across a portfolio of related projects, identifying needed resources and defining major project roles, and serving as the single point of knowledge and control for projects.
• Review the margin, utilization, forecast, and RYG status of the full portfolio on an ongoing basis, act on what is found to drive AHEAD margin and business outcome.
• Have appropriate financial conversations with the aligned Practice(s) as shortfalls are identified.
• Manage and drive activities and tasks among project team members, other internal departments, and Client or vendor/subcontractor organizations to keep each project on schedule, within budget, and at the appropriate quality standard for its scope.
• Lead the project team and provide coaching and mentoring as required.
• Identify project management process or coordination gaps and recommend solutions and implement as assigned,
• Develop project change orders (PCRs) that reflect accurate scope and budget changes and route them for review and approval before work proceeds outside the approved baseline.
• When assigned, partner with Sales and Presales on statements of work and pursuits — including opportunity assessments, SOW development, and Client presentations — represent the appropriate level of effort, scope, cost, and risk assumptions.
• Present lessons learned from delivery back into future scoping so that SOW quality improves over time.
• Conduct project closeout activities, including client acceptance, completion of deliverables, handoff and transition documentation, open-item disposition, final financial or administrative updates, lessons learned, and archive requirements.

 

General Expectations:

• Pursue professional self-development opportunities on a regular basis, including progress toward relevant PM certifications and maintain or obtain technical familiarity with the solutions and technologies delivered against within assigned engagements
• Apply AHEAD project-management standards, templates, governance requirements, and quality practices consistently across assigned projects.
• Represent the organization with professionalism, sound judgment, and a strong commitment to client success.
• Build strong relationships with clients, sponsors, stakeholders, delivery teams, and vendors through clear, timely, and transparent communication.
• Lead effective project meetings, decision-making forums, and executive readouts that keep stakeholders informed and engaged.

Education & Experience:

Minimum

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, Engineering, Project Management, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
• 5 years of project management experience in client-facing, professional services, or technology delivery

Preferred

• PMP, Prince2, PMI-ACP, or Certified Scrum Master certification preferred.
• Experience in IT services, consulting, or technology delivery environments strongly preferred.
• Experience with the specific technologies and solutions delivered against within assigned engagements preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Ability to articulate the business outcome and success indicators of an engagement clearly and confidently to Clients and internal stakeholders, and to translate delivery activity into business value language.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present clear, concise updates to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Client-service mindset and professional presence, with the ability to build trust and manage routine client interactions.
• Interest in technology-enabled consulting and the ability to learn new tools, processes, and technical concepts quickly.
• Adaptable, resourceful, and comfortable adjusting plans and priorities as project needs change.
• Demonstrated ownership, curiosity, and commitment to continuous improvement.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to prioritize and maintain accurate information across multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong financial and operational discipline, including the ability to manage project budgets, margin, and resource assignments accurately and proactively.
• Working knowledge of Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid project-delivery approaches.
• Ability to facilitate meetings, document decisions and action items, follow through on commitments, and influence without formal authority.
• Practical problem-solving skills, including the ability to identify risks, issues, dependencies, and resource constraints; recommend next steps; and escalate appropriately.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 and the ability to learn AHEAD systems and project-management tools.
• Able to work both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment, leading cross-functional project teams that include internal departments, Clients, and vendor/subcontractor organizations.
• Technical familiarity with, or demonstrated ability to quickly acquire familiarity with, the solutions and technologies delivered across assigned engagements.

The compensation range indicated in this posting reflects the On-Target Earnings (“OTE”) for this role, which includes a base salary and any applicable target bonus amount. This OTE range may vary based on the candidate’s relevant experience, qualifications, and geographic location.     Why AHEAD:   Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.   We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.   USA Employment Benefits include:  - Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance  - 401(k)  - Paid company holidays  - Paid time off  - Paid parental and caregiver leave  - Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.    Use of AI: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, assessing responses, or to capture recordings and create transcriptions or summaries during interviews. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.   If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please refer to the Candidate Privacy Notice or contact us at [email protected].    You may opt-out of the review or analysis of your application and resume by AI tools by using the General Application. Please include the role you wish to apply for in the Additional Information field. You may also choose to opt-out of recording and transcription at any time, including after joining an interview.  Candidates will not be penalized for choosing to opt-out.