Sr Strategic Project Manager

Sr Project Manager
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA (Hybrid)
Contract: 8 months
Schedule: 40 Hours
Pay: $58-$60/hour, DOE

Sr Project Manager | Qualifications:

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification required.
• Five or more years of project management experience managing medium-to-large, complex projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing technology, software implementation, enterprise application, or technology-enabled business projects.
• Demonstrated experience leading projects through initiation, planning, execution, implementation, transition, and closeout.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams that include business, technology, project management, vendor, and operational stakeholders.

Preferred Experience

• Experience performing or leading business analysis, requirements discovery, business case development, feasibility assessment, solution evaluation, or project initiation activities.
• Experience establishing new projects through chartering, resource planning, governance preparation, scheduling, risk assessment, and mobilization.
• Experience developing executive-level recommendations, decision materials, project status reports, and presentations.
• Experience supporting enterprise work and asset management, utility operations, ERP, EAM, or other large-scale business and technology initiatives.
• Experience managing vendor-delivered solutions, contracts, Requests for Proposals, and third-party project resources.
• Experience working in a matrixed environment in which project resources report to multiple business or functional areas.

Sr Project Manager | Responsibilities:

Project Initiation and Business Analysis

• Partners with business and technology leaders to understand strategic priorities, operational needs, business challenges, and desired outcomes.
• Leads or supports business analysis activities to define the business need, clarify the problem or opportunity, identify impacted stakeholders, and document high-level business and functional requirements.
• Translates business needs and strategic objectives into clearly defined project concepts, business cases, charters, implementation approaches, and executable project plans.
• Facilitates discovery sessions, requirements discussions, planning workshops, and stakeholder alignment activities across business, technology, and project teams.
• Develops or supports business cases, funding requests, cost-benefit analyses, feasibility assessments, and executive decision materials for proposed initiatives.
• Defines measurable business outcomes, success criteria, performance measures, assumptions, dependencies, constraints, and value realization objectives.
• Evaluates solution and implementation alternatives in collaboration with business and technology stakeholders. Documents recommendations, tradeoffs, risks, costs, resource needs, and organizational impacts to support informed decision-making.
• Monitors technical and business developments that may affect an initiative and provides recommendations regarding project direction, sourcing approach, sequencing, continuation, modification, or termination.

Project Planning and Mobilization

• Leads project startup and mobilization activities to establish the structure, resources, governance, plans, and controls required for successful project delivery.
• Develops project plans, schedules, budgets, resource plans, risk management plans, communication plans, stakeholder engagement plans, and other required project documentation.
• Determines appropriate project resource requirements and staffing skill sets, including the level of business, technical, vendor, and project management expertise needed to successfully complete the project.
• Assesses organizational capacity, implementation readiness, project interdependencies, and resource constraints when recommending project timing and sequencing.
• Identifies and coordinates required governance, architecture, technology, security, sourcing, financial, operational, and leadership reviews.
• Establishes clear project roles, responsibilities, decision-making authority, escalation paths, and working agreements across business, technology, vendor, and project teams.
• Develops transition and mobilization plans that enable the project team to move effectively from initiation and planning into execution.

Project Execution and Delivery

• Understands and utilizes Alliant Energy project management methodologies and processes, based on Project Management Institute standards, to achieve scope, schedule, cost, quality, and business outcome objectives.
• May assume responsibility for managing approved projects from initiation through execution, monitoring and controlling, implementation, operational transition, and closeout.
• Leads cross-functional teams consisting of business, technology, project management, vendor, and other resources to deliver agreed-upon project outcomes.
• Establishes and manages project scope, costs, resources, performance measures, timelines, technical objectives, risks, issues, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Monitors project performance and takes appropriate action to address variances, barriers, resource constraints, delivery risks, or changes in business priorities.
• Facilitates timely project decisions and issue resolution. Escalates matters through the appropriate governance channels when decisions, risks, or issues cannot be resolved within the project team.
• Manages project dependencies and maintains awareness of the broader program and project portfolio to identify scheduling, resource, technology, and business impacts.
• Develops and executes communication and stakeholder management plans, including project status, risk, issue, financial, milestone, and progress reporting in the agreed-upon format, frequency, level of detail, and audience.
• Ensures project decisions, requirements, assumptions, risks, changes, and approvals are appropriately documented and traceable throughout the project lifecycle.

Financial, Vendor, and Contract Management

• Develops and manages project budgets, forecasts, financial performance, and cost estimates in accordance with applicable financial practices and controls.
• May perform cost-benefit and financial analyses to assess project feasibility and support investment decisions.
• Manages applicable project contracts in conjunction with sourcing personnel.
• Prepares or supports Requests for Proposals, evaluates vendor responses, participates in negotiations, interprets contract language, and manages vendor performance and project finances.
• Ensures vendor work is completed in accordance with contract requirements, project specifications, quality expectations, and approved schedules.

Change, Readiness, and Operational Transition

• Partners with business owners, operational teams, organizational change management resources, and technology teams to assess change impacts and implementation readiness.
• Ensures that communication, stakeholder engagement, training, adoption, and operational readiness needs are identified and incorporated into project plans.
• Ensures training needs are addressed for project team members, impacted stakeholders, and users of the implemented solution.
• Supports the development of transition plans that clearly define operational ownership, support responsibilities, process changes, documentation requirements, and post-implementation activities.
• Provides business consulting and organizational change management support within the context of program and project management to help achieve strategic objectives and expected business outcomes.

Project Closeout and Continuous Improvement

• Upon project completion, ensures operational teams are prepared to support the implemented solution and that an orderly transition of project deliverables occurs.
• Ensures project and financial activities are appropriately completed, including closing applicable work orders, addressing related financial charges, reassigning project resources, and organizing required documentation.
• Confirms that outstanding risks, issues, decisions, support needs, and follow-up activities have defined owners and appropriate transition plans.
• Facilitates project closeout, lessons learned, and post-implementation review activities.
• May provide support for the maintenance and continuous improvement of Program and Project Management department tools, templates, standards, methodologies, and processes.
• Provides guidance and mentoring to project team members and others in the effective use of project management, business analysis, organizational change management, and project mobilization practices.