Senior Director of Project Management Office (PMO)

City of New York•New York, NY

12h•$145,000 - $165,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the future of New York City, working to create thriving and dynamic neighborhoods with access to housing and jobs, resilient infrastructure, and a vibrant public realm. The Department engages communities to develop inclusive plans, expands housing access and economic opportunity, and plans for long-term sustainability. The Information Technology Division’s (ITD) vision is to become a dynamic and vibrant technology delivery organization of the New York City government that leads business transformations and technology innovations to enable citizen-centric smart urban planning, while promoting a culture of collaboration, talent development, and equity. ITD is responsible for developing technology solutions to support agency needs and citywide asks, including City Charter mandates, grant funding requirements, and citywide geospatial services, and maintaining systems infrastructure and endpoint assets, to optimize operational efficiency, promote innovation, and collaborate with other city agencies to enhance service accessibility to citizens. The division provides necessary computing infrastructure and productivity-enhancing technology tools in a hybrid mode (on premise and in the cloud), to support DCP’s interdisciplinary staff across five boroughs, including planners, urban designers, project managers, and executive management. The division is comprised of experienced and talented software engineers, geographic specialists, service engineers, and technology leaders who specialize in managing system infrastructure, cyber security, geospatial data engineering, application services, and portfolio management. ITD is seeking a PMP-certified Senior Director of Project Management Office (PMO) to lead and govern project, program, and portfolio management functions across ITD's software application development teams. Reporting to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), the Senior Director of PMO will work in close collaboration with the Senior Director of Enterprise Application Services and other ITD Directors to align delivery standards, application lifecycle management (ALM) practices, and organizational capacity toward DCP's strategic goals. This is a senior leadership role requiring a blend of technical acumen in software application development, deep expertise in project and portfolio management disciplines, and proven people management capabilities. The ideal candidate is an experienced PMO leader who can establish and mature governance frameworks, champion Agile and Scrum practices, manage complex vendor and procurement relationships, and provide executive-level visibility into IT portfolio health. ITD is at the forefront of shaping the city's future, building the digital infrastructure that powers land use review, neighborhood and urban planning, and community development decisions affecting millions of New Yorkers every day. The Senior Director of the Project Management Office will play a pivotal leadership role in driving the successful delivery of transformative technology initiatives across the agency, and is instrumental for the agency to rebuild a mission-driven team modernizing a dynamic application portfolio of critical systems like Geosupport, geospatial services, and new digital capabilities to enable and expedite reforms to deliver affordable housing.

Requirements

PMP-certified
Permanent Civil Service status in the Computer Systems Manager title, or reachable on the Computer Systems Manager list, or serving in a comparable civil service title.
A master's degree in computer science from an accredited college or university and three (3) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience in Information Technology (IT) including applications development, systems development, data communications and networking, database administration, data processing, or user services. At least eighteen (18) months of this experience must have been in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity in the areas of applications development, systems development, data communications and networking, database administration, data processing or in the supervision of staff performing these duties.
OR A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and four (4) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience as described in '1' above.
OR A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, and six (6) years of progressively more responsible, full-time, satisfactory experience as described in '1' above.
OR A satisfactory combination of education and experience equivalent to '1', '2' or '3' above. However, all candidates must have at least a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and must possess at least three (3) years of experience as described in '1' above, including the eighteen (18) months of administrative, managerial, executive or supervisory experience as described in '1' above.
In the absence of a baccalaureate degree, undergraduate credits may be substituted for a maximum of two (2) years of the required experience in IT on the basis of 30 semester credits for six (6) months of the required experience.
Graduate credits in computer science may be substituted for a maximum of one (1) year of the required experience in IT on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits in computer science for one (1) year of the required IT experience.
Undergraduate and/or graduate credits may not be substituted for the eighteen (18) months of experience in an administrative, managerial, executive, or supervisory capacity as described in '1' above.
Authorization to work in the United States is required.
Deep expertise in project and portfolio management disciplines.
Proven people management capabilities.
Experience establishing and maturing governance frameworks.
Experience managing complex vendor and procurement relationships.
Experience providing executive-level visibility into IT portfolio health.
Experience in application lifecycle management (ALM) practices.
Experience with Agile and Scrum practices.
Technical acumen in software application development.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub

Responsibilities

Perform strategic planning, governance and performance analysis of cross divisional technology programs and projects.
Translate organizational vision to strategic goals and tactical efforts to identify and prioritize IT engagements.
Lead inter-agency business process improvement and technology collaboration efforts.
Implement demand prioritization and governance for IT portfolio management.
Provide leadership to complex business process re-engineering and system transformation efforts.
Keep current on agency’s strategic objectives to identify potential opportunities for business process improvements and technology alignment.
Encourage cross-functional partnerships for business process reengineering.
Create and maintain strategic partnerships between business needs and technology delivery.
Benchmark industry best practices, methodologies, frameworks, processes, and tools for organizational adoption.
Lead multi-discipline solution teams of highly skilled IT professionals, including certified IT project managers, business analysts, architects, and software developers to plan, implement and support large-scale system implementations across DCP divisions, city agencies, and external stakeholders.
Lead project portfolio management, coordinate business process re-engineering and performance improvement initiatives, and participate in project execution.
Define project goals and deliverables that support business objectives in collaboration with stakeholders and senior management, while managing scope, schedule, cost and quality of DCP’s information technology projects as needed.
Oversee the full Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) process, ensuring consistent adherence to Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) standards across all teams.
Establish, govern, and continuously improve PMO frameworks, methodologies, standards, templates, and tools covering project, program, and portfolio management functions for software application development activities, system integrations, business process improvement initiatives, and IT infrastructure projects.
Develop and maintain a comprehensive portfolio dashboard providing real-time visibility into project status, schedule performance, budget utilization, risks, and issues for executive stakeholders.
Monitor and report on portfolio-level Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), milestones, and delivery metrics.
Proactively identify and quantify risks and interdependencies and implement effective risk management plans.
Ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope and budget, and in compliance with agency, city, and regulatory standards.
Establish demand management processes to evaluate, prioritize, and resource incoming project and work requests in alignment with ITD strategic priorities.
Develop and revise Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) pertaining to high availability, disaster recovery, and systems changes to ensure efficient and consistent operations.
Promote project management best practices and support adoption of agile principles to deliver iteratively with customer participation.
Champion Agile and Scrum methodologies across ITD development teams.
Define and enforce Agile governance standards including sprint planning, backlog management, velocity tracking, retrospectives, and release planning.
Collaborate with the ITD Enterprise Application Services (EAS) unit to align development standards, coding practices, and release management workflows with PMO governance and ALM frameworks.
Introduce and refine tools supporting Agile delivery (e.g., Azure DevOps, GitHub) and integrate them into portfolio reporting pipelines.
Drive continuous process improvement in software delivery through adoption of emerging project management methodologies, automation, and data-driven decision-making.
Partner with ITD EAS unit, other directors and technical leads to ensure PMO practices align with application development standards, architecture review processes, and software release practices.
Apply working knowledge of application development concepts, cloud computing, DevOps practices, and software engineering lifecycle to critically evaluate project plans, timelines, and technical risk.
Facilitate cross-functional technical working groups to address application architecture decisions, integration challenges, and platform roadmap alignment within the PMO governance structure.
Prepare and deliver high-quality executive status reports, briefings, and presentations on portfolio health, program performance, risks, and strategic priorities for the CIO, agency leadership, and external stakeholders.
Develop and maintain PMO dashboards and scorecards that provide actionable insights for decision-making.
Maintain strong working relationships with DCP Divisions, OTI, OMB, the NYC Law Department, DCAS, and other city oversight agencies.
Represent ITD in interagency governance forums, technology working groups, and oversight reviews as needed.
Prepare and maintain documentation for audits, compliance reviews, and city oversight requirements.
Lead and contribute to capital planning process to prepare OMB new need requests, estimates, and certificate-to-proceed (CP) requests.
Oversee multi-year capital/expense development budgets and grants in coordination with agency fiscal staff.
Prepare resource projections, timelines, and sequencing for large IT programs.
Develop and manage strategic vendor right-sourcing and public-private partnerships.
Lead and manage IT procurement activities, including vendor evaluations, contract negotiations, and ongoing contract performance oversight.
Leverage System Integration (SI), Office of General Services (OGS), General Services Administration (GSA), Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) contracts for IT projects through Requests for Proposal (RFP), Requests for Quote (RFQ), and Requests for Expressions of Interest (RFEI).
Manage relationships with technology vendors and system integrators to ensure quality outcomes and alignment with ITD standards.
Serve as a primary liaison with the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other city agencies on technology procurement, interagency agreements, and standards compliance.
Directly manage a team of IT project managers, business analysts, and QA/QC Analysts, including both City staff and contracted consultants as needed.
Coordinate deliverables and workstreams across project managers, business analysts, developers, and quality assurance teams to ensure integrated delivery.
Establish clear performance expectations, allocate resources effectively, provide constructive feedback, and develop individualized professional growth plans to enhance team capabilities.
Foster a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, inclusivity, collaboration, continuous learning, innovation, and knowledge sharing aligned with DCP’s organizational values.
Conduct formal performance evaluations in accordance with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies and Human Capital (HC) processes.
Drive recruitment, onboarding, and retention of high-performing PMO staff talent in a competitive market.
Provide coaching, mentoring, and professional development guidance to PMO staff.
Identify future agency leaders and provide the support and training needed to support succession planning.
Prepare strategy and prioritization for staff recognition that can be shared when opportunities are available for promotions, awards or other non-monetary support.
Comply with all NYC and DCP rules and regulations and standards of conduct.
Observe regulations and agency guidelines concerning work hours, leave, mandatory training, hiring, vendor engagement, and procurement process.
Team effectively with other ITD directors, managers, supervisors, and staff.
Provide timely and updated contributions for weekly/monthly/on-demand status reports.
Strive for and maintain professional certifications.