Staff whose work requires or potentially could require any in-person interaction with Save the Children colleagues, partners, or beneficiaries must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless otherwise required by law. Save the Children complies with federal, state, and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.

Summary

The Strategy and Transformation Delivery department within the Office of the President works across the Agency to align, enable and support the development and implementation of our strategy. We deliver large and complex transformational projects, building capacity to help our people lead and navigate change and focus our resources on the most important work. We partner with divisions and Save the Children International (SCI/A) to advance our breakthroughs and optimize SCUS’ contribution to the movement.

The Senior Advisor, Project Management will drive global transformation projects and/or SCUS transformation projects such as Coding, PMM PRIME, Global HRIS, and Source to Pay, ensuring successful project delivery across SCUS, resulting in operational efficiencies and the ability to deliver more and better quality programs for the children we serve. You will deliver projects yourself, and will guide and direct others in successful project deliveries. You will be responsible for a program or collection of projects (e.g. an ‘umbrella’ project containing related sub-projects, a multi-year roadmap, or all of the projects within a division), some of which you will lead, others of which you will support others as they lead. You will also be responsible for defining the required interventions and deploying the changes across our organization.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Project Management (50%)

• Responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of the project according to project plan and schedule. Monitor progress throughout to ensure that the project is delivered on time, within budget, and that it meets or exceeds business expectations
• Drive the delivery of the project, where appropriate, using agreed upon project management methodology.
• Review and assess all the data, design and implementation to date to define and validate the associated benefits and the feasibility of the plan.
• Review and define the structure of the project so that the objectives for each workstream are clear and resources can be identified for successful delivery.
• Establish and manage ambitious but achievable, committed plans for each workstream and for the overall project, taking into consideration business deadlines, dependencies, resources, and costs.
• Identify opportunities for consolidating activities across workstreams for economies of scale or simplified implementation.
• Monitor workstream activity, manage adherence to plan and resolving obstacles to delivery. Coach and support workstream leads (business SMEs) in driving the activities within a workstream.
• Execute on project controls such as the plan, resource spreadsheet identifying what resources required each month, risks/issue management, interdependencies and scope management in place.
• Maintain the project controls and use them to drive the delivery of the project, proactively identifying and managing project risks and issues, driving actions to mitigate or resolve.
• Set up and maintain the repository of documentation for each stage of project lifecycle, ensuring that all documentation has a clear purpose in driving the project forward.
• Work with Change Management assigned to the project to ensure all change activities are incorporated into the plan and that there is a communications plan that includes channels to stakeholders in geographically disperse locations.

Project Management Direction (20%)

• For the projects you indirectly manage, direct project managers towards the successful achievement of the project management duties noted above. The level of support needed will vary at any given time, from coaching to hands-on assistance.
• Actively manage dependencies between projects in the assigned program, including activities, decisions, risks & issues, and resources.
• Proactively balance resourcing/budget, adjust sequencing and mitigate risks across projects to ensure one project’s needs do not threaten the success of the overall program.

Stakeholder Management (20%)

• Manage stakeholder identification, mapping and engagement for the project.
• Facilitate the engagement of relevant SC staff and stakeholders, encouraging a culture of taking responsibility for both resolving issues and celebrating successes.
• Ensure communications developed are fit for purpose and meet the needs of the project.
• Provide regular status reports that support effective decision making with the project, at the Management Review Group (MRG) and across the portfolio of projects, with clear escalation and decision-making.
• At the Program level, manage not only the individual project view noted above but also manage a broader engagement strategy, e.g. sequencing of comms, managing escalations, understanding how the impact of the program may differ from the sum of project-specific impacts.

Capacity Building (10%)

• Implement best practices and procedures in project management within the project and contribute to the continuous improvement of the project management tools.
• Train and coach staff in the methodology for Project Management, Continuous Improvement, Change Management and Accelerated Delivery and Improvement.
• Perform other duties as may be required.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor Degree or equivalent, plus at least seven (7) years of relevant experience
• Proven and demonstrated experience leading complex enterprise projects
• Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to make independent decisions quickly and effectively with the ability to determine impact on project
• Experience directing others in how to lead their own projects
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English, with proven ability to effectively and accurately communicate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and staff
• Demonstrated success in self-directed and results-driven initiatives with a strong customer focus
• Proven success in handling multiple competing priorities and working well within tight timelines
• Proven ability to manage relationships and influence others without authority
• Demonstrated success in a hands-on working environment with excellent story-telling and problem solving and planning skills
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate successfully with individuals and teams at all levels
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining an environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging

Preferred Qualifications

• Continuous Improvement Green Belt
• Accelerated Delivery and Improvement certification
• PMP certification

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/careers to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.