IT Delivery Lead I

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan•Detroit, MI

About The Position

This role acts as the liaison between the project and infrastructure delivery teams, ensuring infrastructure delivery estimates accurately reflect the scope of work. The candidate will partner with affected teams to translate infrastructure scope into manageable tasks, manage this scope within project timelines and budgets, and utilize re-estimation and change control processes as needed. The position involves managing and mitigating infrastructure delivery-related issues and risks, ensuring PlanBlue accurately reflects infrastructure service delivery effort and cost, and communicating infrastructure scope, status, and related activities clearly. The IT Delivery Lead I will also provide approval of project deliverables as required by the BCBSM End-to-End Delivery Process Framework. This role involves planning, developing, and implementing project efforts that utilize information technology solutions, establishing project management standards, and developing project scope with sponsor approvals. The lead will manage multiple small-sized, moderately complex enterprise-wide projects, develop and update project plans and schedules, and work with Business Analysts and clients to define project scope. Facilitating information gathering for project cost, resource, time, and deliverable estimations, negotiating conflicts, and resolving issues are key responsibilities. The role includes conducting meetings, defining roles and expectations, ensuring team members have necessary tools and training, determining staffing requirements, developing budget requests, and aligning resources across projects. Providing work direction and leadership, evaluating project performance, and collaborating with functional areas on project personnel supervision are also part of the role. Managing project scope through change requests, overseeing day-to-day operational aspects, tracking milestones, reporting status, and reviewing deliverables are essential. The lead will establish and facilitate status meetings, identify effects on dependent projects, determine the need for external consultants, and provide advice on vendor relationships and contract development. Evaluating service provider performance, monitoring invoicing, approving invoices, and providing an issue escalation path for vendor disputes are also required. Identifying, analyzing, prioritizing, and mitigating project risks through risk plans and action plans is crucial. Maintaining an issue list, escalating issues proactively, and acting as a mediator between stakeholders and team members are also key functions. The role involves utilizing various tools for cost estimation, developing a cost baseline, refining estimates, monitoring actual costs against budget, reviewing bills, conducting root cause analysis of budget discrepancies, and developing productive working relationships with business owners, sponsors, vendors, and clients. Contributing to the communication plan for project scope, goals, milestones, budget, risk, status, change requests, and critical issues is necessary. Assessing interaction and communication effectiveness, developing and distributing delivery schedules, completing delivery packages, and coordinating transfers are also part of the responsibilities. Adherence to established project standards and procedures, contributing to metrics development, and providing constructive feedback on project performance are expected. Other duties may be assigned.

Requirements

One (1) year of project management and experience leading projects preferred.
Project management tool and methodology working knowledge required
Knowledge of project management tools and methodologies.
Proven skills in managing within a matrix organization.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly communicate vision, mission, and goals to both business and IT audiences.
Sound understanding of technology and its application to achieve business objectives.
Ability to work independently, or within a team environment.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in related field preferred.
Three (3) years of Information Technology experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Act as the liaison between the project and infrastructure delivery teams.
Ensure infrastructure delivery estimates accurately reflect scope of work.
Effectively partner with affected teams to translate infrastructure scope of work into manageable tasks to support project milestones.
Actively manage infrastructure scope of work within project timeline and budget throughout the project lifecycle.
Utilize re-estimation and change control processes as required to manage infrastructure delivery scope.
Manage and mitigate infrastructure delivery related issues and risks.
Ensure PlanBlue accurately reflects infrastructure service delivery effort and cost.
Communicate infrastructure scope, status and related activities in a clear, succinct manner relevant to audience.
Provide approval of project deliverables as required by the BCBSM End-to-End Delivery Process Framework.
Plan, develop and implement project efforts that utilize information technology solutions.
Develop, establish and maintain project management standards and procedures.
Develop the project scope, defining project guidelines, obtaining business and information technology sponsor approvals and coordinating the resources necessary to successfully complete the project.
Manage multiple small-sized, moderately complex enterprise-wide projects.
Develop and continually update project plans and schedules.
Work with the Business Analysts and the client to define/refine the project scope.
Facilitate the gathering of information required to estimate project cost, resources, time and deliverables.
Negotiate conflicts and resolve issues.
Conduct meetings, communicating individual roles and project expectations.
Ensure that all project team members have the tools and training required to perform effectively.
Determine staffing requirements and form project teams.
Develop budget requests for resources.
Work with resource managers in order to effectively align resources across projects.
Provide work direction and leadership to assigned projects, including scheduling, assignment of work and review of project efforts.
Evaluate project performance and makes recommendations for personnel actions.
Collaborate with functional areas in the supervision of project personnel, which includes work allocation, training, and problem resolution, as needed.
Manage project scope by ensuring any changes to scope are documented and approved with project change request form.
Manage day-to-day operational aspects of a project.
Track and report on project milestones and provide status reports to project sponsors.
Review deliverables prepared by team before passing to client.
Establish, schedule, and facilitate regular status meetings with project personnel.
Identify and coordinate any effects on dependent projects.
Determine if external consultants or contractors will be required to complete project plan.
Provide advice and counsel to the vendor relationship decision-making and contract development processes.
Evaluate service provider performance.
Monitor timely and accurate invoicing.
Approve invoices for payment.
Provide an issue escalation path and resolves vendor performance disputes.
Validate ongoing vendor activities.
Identify the elements of risk in a project.
Analyze and prioritize project risks and assesses its potential project impact.
Develop and maintain risk plans, processes and systems in order to mitigate risk, with assistance.
Create action plan for risks that occur and follows through on plan.
Maintain issue list, proactively escalating issues to project and departmental leadership to mitigate risk.
Negotiate conflicts and resolve issues that arise.
Act as a mediator between stakeholders and team member.
Resolve any issues and solves problems throughout the project lifecycle.
Utilize various tools and techniques for estimating costs associated with a project including physical, financial and human capital costs.
Develop a detailed cost baseline from cost estimations.
Refine project cost estimate.
Monitor the actual cost of a project versus the budget, continuously.
Review bills and evaluates factors that may potentially cause cost changes.
Conduct in-depth root cause analysis of project budget discrepancies.
Develop and maintain productive working relationships with business owners, project sponsors, vendors and key clients.
Contribute to the communication plan as required to convey project scope, goals, milestones, budget, risk, status, change requests and critical issues to the client and project team.
Assess the effectiveness of the interaction and communication with the client and project team.
Develop and distribute the schedule for delivery of product/service.
Complete the delivery package/documentation.
Coordinate the transfer of the product/service as needed.
Adhere to established project standards, procedures.
Contribute to the development of all metrics, as needed.
Provide the team with constructive feedback as it pertains to project performance.
Other duties may be assigned.