Role Purpose:
The Customer Senior Project Manager is responsible for leading large customer facing Projects/programmes across multiple domains on behalf of Vodafone for our Enterprise Customers, leading complex multi-party teams, taking responsibility at board level
The Customer Senior Project Manager will have day to day accountability on project team leading Enterprise customer delivery with around a total of 50 million Euros TCV annually
The Customer Senior Project Manager will engage through contract negotiations and be responsible for translating often ambiguous requirements into operational plans, engaging buy-in across all stakeholder groups.
The Customer Senior Project Manager is responsible for setting the governance controls, ensuring these align to corporate, customer and local standards, with strong emphasis on assurance and gate reviews, defining costs, operational budgets, staffing requirements, resources and risks & change strategy.
The Customer Senior Project Manager is accountable for ensuing that programmes/projects dependencies, assumptions and risks are identified, stakeholder buy in achieved, stage plans created, managed and reported though the lifecycle of the project/ programme, emphasis on alignment to Time, Cost and Quality.
Accountable for ensuring that all projects/programmes and their component parts adhere to the mandated Vodafone best practice methodology and processes. Engage with and seek improvements to processes at all times. Ensure all projects’ team members are following methodology and processes. Provide leadership & contribution to all Vodafone Process & Methodology discussions/workshops that affect management of projects/programmes
Accountable for acceptance into live service, mitigating impact of risk to both the customers and Vodafone’s operational business.
The Customer Senior Project Manager support pre-sales activities in completing RFPs by managing all delivery requirements as well ensure competitive opportunity pricing through proper resourcing and opportunity structuring from delivery side.
What differentiates a Customer Facing Senior Project Manager:
• Gravitas, with the ability to operate at senior stakeholder level, demonstrating leadership and presenting at Executive & Steering board level
• Business sector experience
• Experience of delivering large transition & transformational programmes, understanding the operational impacts of bringing a large complex customer into the organisation maintaining service continuity
• Engagement in contractual negotiations with both customer and partner suppliers
• Revenue focused and generating
Key accountabilities and decision ownership:
• Vision, Planning and Control
o Communicates the High Level Vision for the project/ programme and the customers “desired” future state. Designs the delivery capability to deliver the programme
o Creates a detailed project/programme plan, using Transformational Flows, identifying the resources required, project interdependencies and critical path, including all the activities that the business need to do to prepare for new technical or business components identifying the projects within the Programme plan
o Create cost estimated for the business
o Ensure that all projects/programme work streams and project plans are integrated within the overall programme plan.
o Manage and control the performance of the project plan. Identify and embed measurable outcomes & critical success factors into the programme plan
o Formulate and manage stakeholder communications plans
o Plan & Manage the people utilisation, including recruitment, competency profiles and development for duration of the engagement
o Forecast and manage the resource supply and demand throughout the lifecycle of the project/programme (colleagues, technology, financial)
• Organisation & Leadership
o Clarifies the skills requirements of a project/program and builds a team capable of managing them.
o Manages the team in the successful delivery of the programme/project.
o Manages project planning and resourcing processes, balancing priorities
o Takes on a coaching and mentoring role, motivating others and boosting moral.
o Key influences within the customer environment during the lifecycle of the project/programme
o Initiate and influence relationships with and between key stakeholders, external and internal.
o Produce project/programme stakeholder map, conduct analysis to ensure stakeholder needs are understood and met.
o Support effective business change by building relationships with and between senior strategists, planners, designers, operations business partners and business change managers
o Work to improve relations and provide continuing support to open communications with and between stakeholders
• Quality Assurance and Reporting
o Ensures quality assurance standards are applied across the programme & project work streams.
o Ensure suitable Programme & Project Status Reporting mechanisms are put in place
o Produce regular, ad hoc and exception reports in line with the agreed communications plan.
o Ensure timely and accurate reporting, covering aspects (Budget, Timelines and Quality) of scope, outcomes and performance against agreed critical success factors, KPIs and benefits tracking.
o Maintain accurate financial reports. Maintain document library for project/programme, and produce project/Programme level Lessons Learned & Closure reports.
• Risk, Issue and Change Management
o Defines the project Risk & Change strategy. Maintaining regular risk management and mitigation planning, ensuring all stakeholders are fully informed of risks and potential impacts.
o Maintain effective change management process
• Financial Management – Benefits, Commercial , Partner & 3rd Party Management
o Ensure that strategic outcomes expected by the projects/ programme are aligned to benefits realization plan, and that benefits tracking process is in place and managed effectively.
o In the event of projects/programme scope changes materializing ensure that financial and investment plans are reviewed and adjusted accordingly
o Maintain the business case for funding the project/programme and confirm the continuing business viability of the project at regular intervals
o Be accountable for managing, forecasting and reporting on all related budget and expenditure.
Key performance indicators:
• Delivering business case expectations and contract obligations – demonstrating alignment to company Governance & Methodology.
• Visible and effective stakeholder management – ensuring the projects/Programmes deliver Vodafone operational acceptance criteria.
• Client evaluation scorecard =>9/10
Core competencies, knowledge and experience:
• Typically >5 years relevant experience in end to end managing for major complex projects delivery in ICT filed
• Flexible with the ability to maintain effectiveness in a changing environment
• Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement
o Able to adapt style and apply influencing skills to a range of complex relationships, the Senior Project Manager will be required to create & manage high performing cross functional teams to deliver against agreed plans to the customer.
o Maintain relationships at senior levels
o Able to respond positively and convincingly to constructive challenge from the team and overseas the management of any issues with poor performance
• Professional and Customer Centric
o Able to deliver confident and engaging presentations at the most senior level, drawing on a range of communications techniques to adapt to challenging situations and audiences
o Provides interface with other areas of business to ensure departmental knowledge is shared and obtained
• Business Skills
o Applies knowledge of business and markets to create intellectual property
o Has in-depth knowledge of multiple domains and understands the company’s position in the place.
• Business Case
o Supports the commercial team in the preparation of the business case, ensuring accurate forecasting and value for money
• Blueprint Delivery
o While the blueprint remains the ownership of the customer, the Vodafone Customer Senior Project Manager will work with the Customer Programme manager to ensure the Vodafone elements of the plan are delivered.
Must-have technical / professional qualifications:
• Prince 2 Practitioner or PMP
• MSP Foundation
• Proven experience of concurrently managing multiple projects or programmes of differing size and complexity to meet business expectations and deliver results.
• Proven ability to build relationships and influence at all levels internally and externally, including excellent customer facing skills (ability to communicate, effectively, with the customer account teams, in addition to end users and technical persons)
• Experience in programme and project budget management
• Understanding of financial accounting including capitalisation and profit and loss
• Strong cross-functional working capabilities
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to drive an effective project team
• Understanding and experience of working in a telecommunications environment