Project Manager (Finance Focus)

Universities of Wisconsin • Madison, WI

1d • $115,000 - $140,000

About The Position

Common: Provides advanced technical, analytical, and strategic guidance for information technology (IT) projects. Manages vendor workflow and deliverables for complex projects and facilitates project status communication to clients to support IT developments necessary for mission related functions. Unique: The Workday Enterprise Solutions Team (WEST) is responsible for the administration and optimization of Workday and related systems for Finance, Human Resources, and Research Administration across the Universities of Wisconsin System, while focusing on people, processes, and technology. This team will concentrate on continuous improvement and system maintenance, release enhancements, support, and strategic integration of the Workday ERP and related systems to achieve business objectives. The Project Manager plays a critical role within the WEST Project Management and Administrative Operations team, driving successful planning and execution of initiatives for the Workday Finance and Research Administration teams. This position will be aligned with the Workday Finance functional area, partnering closely with Finance and Research Administration Director to support the planning, coordination, and execution of finance-related initiatives across the WEST portfolio. The project manager role provides project leadership for efforts impacting Workday Financial Management, Adaptive Planning, Huron Research Suite (RAMP), and ChemManager/ShopUW+ to ensure alignment with institutional financial processes and priorities. Success in this role requires the ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives on behalf of WEST Finance with varying cross-functional domain impacts, including financial business processes, reporting and analytics, integrations, data warehousing, security, enterprise document management, and HCM partnership. This individual will serve as a liaison between WEST functional finance teams and WEST technical, translating business needs into coordinated project delivery. By fostering collaboration, managing governance and stakeholder engagement, and aligning project outcomes with institutional financial goals, this position ensures initiatives deliver measurable value and support the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of Workday Finance capabilities. The Project Manager is responsible for creating and managing project plans, coordinating resources, identifying and mitigating risks, and ensuring timely delivery of high-quality outcomes. This position also provides leadership in adopting best practices in project management, contributing to the overall success and consistency of WEST PM activities. To be successful in this position, you will need to intentionally collaborate with peers across WEST and work to actively foster a respectful, inclusive and safe team environment. Schedule will be determined with the selected finalist upon hire. Primary schedule will be during business hours Monday through Friday, beginning no later than 9:00AM CST and ending no earlier than 3:00PM CST, with an on-call or weekend rotation as required by the department.

Requirements

• Experience working with or supporting initiatives related to Workday or other ERP systems
• Proven track record of leading successful multi-unit, moderately complex projects, preferably in a higher education or public sector environment.
• Advanced proficiency in project management methodologies, including Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid approaches.
• Experience with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Jira, or Microsoft Project.
• Demonstrated ability to lead diverse, cross-functional teams and build strong relationships with stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• Excellent facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills, with a proven ability to anticipate challenges, resolve conflicts, build consensus, evaluate alternatives, and implement effective solutions.
• Skilled in aligning projects with organizational strategy and objectives, ensuring business value and impact.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to executive leadership and stakeholders.
• Proven experience supporting executive or director-level leadership in project delivery and operational initiatives.
• Experience working with stakeholders to understand needs, keep them engaged, and confirm alignment, along with strong skills in managing risks, allocating resources, and communicating effectively.
• Skilled in aligning projects with organizational strategy and objectives, assessing performance through KPIs and metrics, and translating technical and operational details into clear, actionable updates and visualizations for non-technical audiences.
• Experience working within structured governance frameworks.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Project Management, Information Systems, or a related field

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred in business administration, Project Management, Information Systems, or a related field.
• Certification in Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), or similar credentials is strongly preferred.
• 7+ years of experience managing complex, cross-functional projects in areas such as Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain, or IT systems.
• Experience with project management tools such as Smartsheet, Jira, or Microsoft Project.
• Experience working within structured governance frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a main point of contact for clients in the development and implementation of multi-unit, moderately complex projects
• Drafts and delivers project status communications and reports
• Schedules and facilitates communication for the integration of vendor workflow and tracks and reviews vendor deliverables for moderately complex, multi-unit projects
• Provides advanced technical and analytical guidance to project teams.
• Identifies and estimates tasks, applies established project management, process improvement, and budget and cost analysis methodologies to identify obstacles and drive project completion
• Works actively to foster a respectful, inclusive and safe team environment
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to align project goals with broader organizational priorities and requirements.

Benefits

• generous paid time off
• competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance
• tax-advantaged savings accounts
• participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees