Technical Project Consultant

Educational Testing Service • Princeton, NJ

9d

About The Position

Under minimal direction from the Director or Executive Director, the Technical Project Consultant (TPC) is responsible for set up, planning, scheduling and controlling of project/initiative activities to achieve deliverables, performance, cost and time objectives and business benefits for a given scope of work, while using resources efficiently and effectively. The TPC assists their respective management in monitoring the quality of deliverables and staff productivity. This is a hands-on role that is deeply involved in the daily operations, goals, and troubleshooting activities of the system within the department. This role is committed to successful and timely delivery across the organization. The TPC may oversee and coordinate multiple projects and services, manage large-scale, multi-functional projects to completion. The TPC may also be responsible for managing day-to-day operational activities for any system.
The TPC is accountable for ensuring initiatives/projects assigned to them are successfully completed in a manner that meets business expectations and the success metrics established at the onset of the effort. The TPC is an important and highly visible role both within across ETS. The TPC will often require negotiating with multiple stakeholders to resolve issues related to project scope, schedule, budget and quality.
The TPC is accountable for successfully executing all aspects of the project or initiative including the overall plan, schedule and in negotiating/navigating the organization and ETS landscape. Projects are often complex and require exceptional management, issue identification, risk mitigation and negotiation skills. The TPC must lead their project teams and, at times other staff, in overcoming roadblocks and barriers that may impact project success. The TPC will be expected to work closely with their Project Owner to anticipate/identify and resolve gaps that may potentially impact the planning and execution of their projects. The TPC must manage project risk by performing roles of the Project Owner, Project Manager as necessary.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or the equivalent combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and abilities can be acquired is necessary.
• This position requires 10+ years of product or project management, software development management or management of progressively responsible program.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills.
• Comprehensive knowledge of -- and extensive experience in -- project management and SDLC methodologies.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Access, PowerPoint, Project and Excel) is essential.
• Knowledge of ETS policies and procedures is desired along with the ability to interpret, and\or explain policies and procedures.
• Ability to plan, initiates actions, establish and meet deadlines in an individual or team environment to complete projects.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail are essential.
• Understand relevant technologies and processes and be able to influence the work being done in the organization (e.g., team, group, vendor).
• Keep up with current technology trend and best practices and be able to introduce innovations.
• Know enough about technology to be able to challenge the work being done in the project.
• Understand solutions and the teams' work. Effective management of the work and budget as appropriate for the role.
• Lead, motivate, and set a vision for the project teams.
• Proactively manage the project and the people as it relates to the project so that it meets the desired outcome.
• Demonstrate domain expertise.
• Demonstrates expertise in Project Management principles and/or Agile/Waterfall SDLC methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Implement Technology and Research strategy consistent with individual business unit goals.
• Participate in the creation of technical project teams.
• Provide learning and development opportunities by sharing Subject Matter Expertise.
• Anticipate, assess, and mitigate issues, coordinating across teams as a single point of contact as necessary and escalate when necessary.
• Define, organize, guide, coordinate, monitor and execute the work effort to deliver new products, services and methods to business customers within defined constraints for time, cost, quality/scope
• Accurately forecast time, resource needs and work estimates for required work.
• Effectively collaborate across Coalition, ETS teams and Domains to mitigate risks and solve problems in order to meet business commitments.
• Regularly update leadership on progress and status of assigned projects and ensure production goals are successfully met.
• Oversee and manage the assignment and completion of staff projects, task, and duties.
• project management skills to perform ongoing review of program status; identify risks along with mitigation plans.Communicate effectively in writing and through verbal communications, face to face and through collaborative communication tools.
• Document project progress including implementation, timelines, issues, risks, and successes to maintain program course.
• Be able to communicate effectively to a wide range of people (including presentations/meetings), including effective and timely escalation when necessary.
• Identify and flag changes that need to be addressed. Changes may be internal to IT or broader outside of IT. Identify appropriate change owner/group and effectively communicate the change to the responsible individual or group.
• Client Management and project fulfillment while maintaining budget.
• Close the project, evaluate project success, document lessons learned and release project resources.
• Support UAT and OT.
• Adhere to ethical standards and comply with the laws and regulations applicable to your job function.

Benefits

• ETS offers multiple Business Resource Groups (BRG) for you to learn and advance your career growth!
• At ETS you may qualify for up to an additional 8 hours of PTO for volunteer work on causes that are important to you!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees