Sr. IT Project & Portfolio Manager

NOW Health Group INC•Bloomingdale, IL

3h•$121,500 - $152,000

About The Position

The Senior IT Project & Portfolio Manager is a senior individual contributor responsible for leading selected strategic and cross-functional technology projects while strengthening and operating a practical project and portfolio management framework for IT. The position provides portfolio visibility, governance, executive reporting, risk and dependency management, resource capacity insight, and project management coaching across IT. Success requires strong technical fluency, executive-level communication, disciplined follow-through, and the ability to influence leaders and project teams without direct authority.

Requirements

Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in IT project, program, portfolio, or PMO management; 10 or more years is preferred.
Demonstrated success leading multiple complex, cross-functional technology projects involving technical teams, business stakeholders, vendors, and senior leaders.
Technical background or strong technical fluency sufficient to credibly manage infrastructure, cybersecurity, data center, enterprise application, integration, and complex IT initiatives.
Experience leading complex IT projects and establishing or improving portfolio governance, executive reporting, integrated planning, risk management, and delivery standards.
Experience managing third-party vendors, contractors, consultants, and implementation partners is required.
Advanced skills in executive communication, facilitation, negotiation, organization, problem-solving, and influencing without direct authority.
Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical delivery information into concise executive-level status, risk, decision, and recommendation reporting.
Must be able to facilitate meetings, influence stakeholders, constructively challenge assumptions, document decisions, and communicate effectively with technical teams, business leaders, vendors, contractors, and executive audiences.
Must be able to work independently, manage competing priorities, and exercise sound judgment in ambiguous and changing situations.
Must be able to evaluate portfolio health, distinguish meaningful delivery risk from routine project activity, identify gaps and dependencies, assess resource constraints, develop practical response options, and escalate recommendations at the appropriate time.
Must demonstrate the persistence and diplomacy required to drive accountability and timely follow-through across a matrixed organization.

Nice To Haves

Experience with portfolio intake, prioritization, demand visibility, and resource capacity planning is strongly preferred.
Experience with ServiceNow project, demand, portfolio, or Strategic Portfolio Management capabilities is preferred; hands-on configuration is a plus but not required.
Experience in manufacturing, distribution, or another operationally complex environment is preferred; nutraceutical, dietary supplement, food, or pharmaceutical experience is highly desirable.
Knowledge of cGMP, validation, audit readiness, formal change control, or regulated documentation practices is a plus.
PMP or comparable project or program management certification is preferred but not required; Agile or organizational change management credentials are a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead selected complex IT projects from intake and initiation through implementation, operational transition, stakeholder acceptance, and closure.
Manage cross-functional initiatives involving infrastructure, cybersecurity, data center and facilities technology, enterprise applications, compliance, vendors, and business stakeholders.
Develop and maintain project charters, integrated delivery plans, schedules, budget tracking, milestones, and dependencies appropriate to project size and complexity.
Coordinate internal teams, business stakeholders, vendors, contractors, and implementation partners, including tracking ownership, statements of work, deliverables, commitments, and project financial status.
Lead project meetings, steering reviews, decision forums, implementation readiness activities, and post-project retrospectives as appropriate.
Proactively identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies, assumptions, decisions, resource constraints, and delivery trade-offs; escalate with clear options and recommendations.
Ensure required testing, change management, security, architecture, operational readiness, documentation, and support handoffs are incorporated into project plans.
Serve as the process owner for IT project and portfolio governance, including reporting standards, update cadence, minimum documentation, project health definitions, risk escalation, and closure requirements.
Create, maintain, and continuously improve the enterprise IT project portfolio dashboard, providing accurate visibility into project health, milestones, risks, dependencies, decisions, resource constraints, and financial status.
Prepare concise executive-level portfolio reports, presentations, dashboards, and decision materials.
Establish and facilitate a consistent portfolio review cadence to evaluate priorities, sequencing, delivery confidence, dependencies, and risks; validate reported project status; hold project owners accountable for timely and supportable updates; and identify corrective actions, recovery plans, or escalations when warranted.
Help establish a transparent project intake, evaluation, and prioritization process aligned with business value, strategic objectives, risk reduction, compliance requirements, cost, urgency, effort, and available capacity.
Partner with the Head of IT and IT leaders to establish project intake criteria, ownership, sponsorship, and appropriate governance requirements.
Develop practical resource capacity-planning tools and processes that provide visibility into availability, demand, competing commitments, and critical skill constraints.
Identify resource bottlenecks and delivery conflicts before they materially affect project outcomes.
Recommend project sequencing, scope adjustments, resource alternatives, or deferrals to support leadership prioritization and trade-off decisions.
Help prepare business cases by coordinating estimates and soliciting input regarding costs, benefits, risks, alternatives, resource needs, and expected outcomes.
Assess, strengthen, and evolve the existing IT project management framework to support Waterfall, Agile, hybrid, Kanban, and vendor-led delivery approaches.
Create and maintain practical project templates, standards, and guidance, including charters, project plans, status reports, risk, assumption, issue, and dependency (RAID) logs, implementation-readiness controls, and closure documentation.
Establish tiered governance, documentation requirements, stage gates, and quality checkpoints based on project complexity, risk, and organizational impact.
Develop RFP templates, evaluation tools, vendor-selection guidance, implementation governance practices, and related processes for the IT team.
Coach IT leaders, project owners, and technical leads on planning, estimation, risk management, stakeholder communication, documentation, and project management best practices.
Use lessons learned, retrospectives, and portfolio performance to improve delivery practices, tools, transparency, and accountability without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy.
Own the functional requirements, adoption, data quality, and continuous improvement of ServiceNow capabilities used for IT project and portfolio management.
Partner with ServiceNow administrators and implementation partners to enhance project intake, workflows, dashboards, reporting, demand, portfolio, and resource-management capabilities; limited hands-on configuration may be performed based on experience.
Participate as a member of the senior IT leadership team, providing objective insight into portfolio health, delivery risks, resource constraints, and organizational priorities.
Build trusted relationships across Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Applications, Service Desk, IT Operations, business functions, vendors, and implementation partners.
Lead through influence, sound judgment, facilitation, constructive challenge, and disciplined follow-through rather than direct organizational authority.
Partner with the Head of IT and senior IT leadership team to translate strategic priorities into actionable plans, monitor commitments, and provide timely visibility and recommendations regarding delivery risks, blockers, resource conflicts, and unresolved decisions.
Supports a culture of safety; follows all workplace health and safety procedures. Responsible for safety performance in respective area. Ensures the implementation of, adherence to, and enforcement of workplace health and safety requirements. Ensures activities are completed to promote and enforce safe behaviors by supervisors and employees. Ensures injury prevention efforts are effectively implemented. Fulfills responsibilities as outlined in the company safety management plan.