The Senior Specialist – Project Management, Information Communication and Technology (ICT), leads the planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of complex, cross-departmental and enterprise-wide ICT projects. The incumbent operates with a high degree of autonomy, applies independent judgment in ambiguous or high-risk situations, and advises senior leadership on project feasibility, prioritization, delivery risk and organizational impact. The role works closely with PMO colleagues, process owners, ICT delivery teams and business stakeholders to support transformational change, strengthen project governance and mentor junior project management staff.

KEY RESULT AREAS / RESPONSIBILITIES
• Lead the planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of enterprise-wide, high-complexity or high-visibility projects, including those spanning multiple departments or business units.
• Develop comprehensive project plans, including scope, schedule, budget, resourcing and risk strategy, for initiatives of significant organizational impact.
• Act as a senior escalation point for project-related issues, conflicts and cross-functional dependencies that cannot be resolved at the Specialist level, ensuring that unresolved matters are brought to the Head of PMO or relevant governance forum with clear options, recommendations and impact analysis.
• Advise the Head of PMO and senior stakeholders on project feasibility, trade-offs and recommended courses of action, using independent analytical judgment.
• Coordinate and collaborate with team members, department heads and external stakeholders to deliver project outcomes aligned to organizational strategy.
• Facilitate steering committee meetings and senior leadership presentations; prepare board- and leadership-level papers, business cases and approval documentation.
• Manage the interdependence of multiple concurrent initiatives; ensure effective governance, communication and stakeholder alignment across the portfolio.
• Manage resource planning and budget tracking for assigned initiatives, including coordinating required resources with relevant functional leads, monitoring spend and reporting variances against approved project budgets.
• Coordinate vendor engagement for assigned projects, including contract-related inputs, performance follow-up, issue resolution and negotiation support where required, in collaboration with Procurement, Legal and relevant ICT stakeholders.
• Support project governance and change control by ensuring that scope changes, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions and approvals are properly documented, assessed and escalated through the appropriate PMO or organizational governance process.
• Guide and review the work of junior project management staff assigned to shared or complex initiatives, including mentoring the direct report and providing functional coaching to other junior PMO team members where required.
• Ensure assigned projects have clearly defined outcomes, milestones, risks, dependencies, benefits and success measures, and provide regular reporting on delivery status, issues, decisions required and benefits realization progress.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of PMO governance, methodology, tools and templates.
• Any other responsibilities that may be assigned from time to time.

KEY COMPETENCIES
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, particularly impact analysis of enterprise-wide change and the ability to advise leadership on managing it.
• Excellent communication skills — able to influence and present to senior leadership, boards and large audiences, adapting vocabulary and style to the audience.
• Able to represent complex, ambiguous ideas through clear documents, visuals and business cases tailored to executive stakeholders.
• Demonstrated composure and sound judgment under pressure, including in high-stakes or politically sensitive situations.
• Strong, pragmatic real-world problem-solving skills, with the ability to operate independently on ill-defined problems.
• Advanced stakeholder management skills, including experience managing senior/executive stakeholders and cross-functional politics.
• Ability to lead and prioritize across multiple concurrent high-complexity initiatives simultaneously.
• Solid budgeting and financial management skills — able to build, monitor and defend project and portfolio-level budgets.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop junior project management talent.
• A good time manager with the ability to balance big-picture portfolio view with hands-on delivery detail.
• Strong understanding of the full project management lifecycle, PMO governance frameworks, and portfolio-level delivery practices, budgeting, vendor engagement, contract coordination and requirements management.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS
MINIMUM ACADEMIC/PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION
Relevant Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Technology or a related discipline. Professional certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, Agile, Scrum or an equivalent project management certification is strongly preferred and normally expected for appointment at Senior Specialist level.

RELATED EXPERIENCE
Minimum eight (8) years of work experience in project management, including at least 2–3 years leading enterprise-level, cross-functional or high-complexity projects. Prior experience in the education industry or a comparable complex service environment is desirable. Experience mentoring or guiding junior project staff is expected for appointment at Senior Specialist level.

COMPETENCIES (KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES)
• Proven experience delivering projects into enterprise-level companies or organizations.
• Experienced user of MS Project, MS Planner and MS Office toolset (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, MS Teams).
• Ability to deliver results within tight timelines, including under competing priorities.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including with executive-level stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with sound independent judgment.
• Strong written and spoken English, including experience preparing business cases, approval papers, steering committee materials and senior leadership or board-level documentation.
• Ability to pick up new skills and knowledge quickly.
• Demonstrated ability managing multiple complex projects concurrently at portfolio level.
• Experience with requirements management, including the ability to clarify incomplete business requirements, identify assumptions and work with stakeholders to develop sufficient context for project planning and delivery.
• Working knowledge of budgeting, vendor negotiation and contract management.

COMPETENCIES (BEHAVIOURAL)
• Mature, self-motivated and assertive.
• Dynamic, with strong initiative and ownership.
• Demonstrates team leadership, collaboration and a willingness to coach others to improve delivery quality and team capability.
• Demonstrates professionalism, sound judgment and a positive working attitude in all stakeholder interactions.
• Pro-active and results-oriented, with a drive to succeed and achieve goals.
• Professional, credible and able to engage confidently with senior stakeholders.
• Convincing and influential, able to build consensus across competing interests