Sr. Project Manager - Little Rock - SPP Corp

Description

Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is about more than power. We're about the power of relationships. Our employees have the opportunity to work together to ensure electricity is delivered reliably and affordably to the millions of people living in our service territory. We have been voted one of Arkansas' Best Places to work by Arkansas Business and we are looking for a member of our team who is passionate about our mission to keep the lights on

We have a core ideology here at SPP that we stand by: Do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way.

We believe in supporting our employees through a fantastic benefits package:

• Competitive pay with bonus opportunities
• Excellent insurance package including three great medical plans to choose from, employer-paid short term disability, long term disability, and life insurance
• Relocation assistance
• Flexible working environment for positions that are eligible where employees have the flexibility to work from home and come in where collaborative in person work is needed.
• Fantastic contributions to your retirement through a 401(k) savings plan with employer-match benefits and a defined benefit plan fully funded by SPP

PLEASE NOTE: SPP is not able to sponsor employment visas or student-work authorizations (STEM OPT) for this position. Please ensure you are eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship prior to applying.

COMPENSATION INFORMATIONThe salary range(s) represents our good faith estimate for the role at this time. While we strive to provide competitive and transparent compensation, there may be circumstances where an offer is above or outside of the listed range. We are open to discussing salary expectations with qualified candidates considering factors such as the candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies, experience and geographic location will all be considered during the hiring process.

Senior Project Manager | Pay Range: $97,580.00 - $126,795.00

Join Our Project Management Office as a Senior Project Manager

The Senior Project Manager will lead the delivery of large-scale, complex initiatives that are critical to Southwest Power Pool's operations, regulatory requirements, and strategic objectives. This role will lead the full project management lifecycle for enterprise system implementations, technology upgrades, and business process improvements that directly support the reliable operation of the bulk electric grid and deliver significant economic value to SPP and its member companies.

Senior Project Managers will be assigned high-priority projects requiring extensive cross-functional coordination, advanced project leadership, and strong functional integration across departments, vendors, and consultants. In addition to project delivery, this role will support program management, product group coordination, and PMO quality assurance activities, including alignment with SOC 1 control objectives and collaboration with Internal Audit. The Senior Project Manager will provide leadership to project teams, will develop subject matter expertise within assigned functional areas, will mentor junior PMO staff, and may represent SPP in member committees, stakeholder forums, and NERC-related working groups. Working with guidance from PMO leadership, this role will operate with a high degree of independence and professional judgment.

What You'll Do

Understand and comply with the SPP Project Management Office (PMO) Project Management Processes and Procedures when managing assigned projects, serving as program manager, or serving as product group manager, and when performing related efforts. Such efforts may include but are not necessarily limited to following:

Project Planning and Control:

• Lead and manage multiple medium to large complex projects requiring cross-functional coordination, stakeholder engagement, and vendor management to ensure alignment on project goals and objectives.
• Track progress and review project tasks to make certain deadlines are met appropriately
  • Identifying and documenting project scope, milestones, deliverables, and budget
• Oversee all aspects of project management, including scope, issues, risk, action items, dependencies, quality, cost, financial forecasting, change management, and scheduling, while ensuring adherence to budget and timelines.
• Direct a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, technical specialists, and vendors, ensuring successful execution of engineering tasks and design deliverables within established deadlines and quality standards.
• Facilitate effective communication and collaboration among project team members
• Maintain comprehensive project documentation and records
• Regularly maintain RAID logs so they can be referenced by any stakeholder
• Proactively identify, communicate and manage project status, risks and issues, escalating where necessary
• Conduct regular status meetings with all stakeholders and vendors, keeping the stakeholder's needs and requirements continuously in view.
• Ensure project deliverables are fit for purpose
• Manage project scope and use the Change Control process for new or changed scope
• Developing a project schedule based on project scope, deliverables, and resource plan
• Monitoring and controlling the project by, including but not limited to: 1) measuring project performance, 2) managing changes to project scope, schedule, and budget, 3) identifying and minimizing the impact of negative risk, 4) ensuring project deliverables conform to established quality standards/expectations, and 5) communicating project status to key stakeholders
• Ensuring the successful execution of project, i.e., achieving the project deliverables within budget and schedule. Unless otherwise waived by the PMO Manager, explanations for variances 25% or more shall be documented
• Collaborating with SPP Departments and project teams to identify, facilitate, and implement business process improvements, and documenting the benefits derived from the implemented business process improvements.
• Closing out the project by, including but not limited to, obtaining final acceptance of the project deliverables, collating lessons learned, and archiving project documents and other materials
• Managing the overall delivery of a group of projects (program management)
• Coordinating and prioritize changes to Integrated Marketplace major product group system (Markets, Settlements, or Internal IT system) resulting from the implementation of individual projects (product group management)
• Coordinating, maintaining, and overseeing changes to PMO processes, procedures and templates
• Follow SPP ePMO project management and methodology policies and procedures

Resource Management:

• Create project resource plan.
• Ensure that actual work matches the planned effort.
• Actively maintain resource requests and allocations.
• Identify and resolve resource overallocations and resource assignments.
• Review of all project resources and identify allocation issues
• Actively manage vendor resources and deliverables per the project SOW

Forecasting and Financial Control

• Maintain accurate project financial forecasts
• Cost control and budget transparency
• Ensure adherence to the approved project budget
• Monthly review of project invoices and purchase orders with stakeholders and vendors.

Vendor Management

• Understand and manage the different types of SOWs including Time and Material (T&M), fixed pricing or milestone-based payments.
• Review and understand project vendors SOWs. Identify project scope, SPP deliverables vs. Vendor deliverables, timelines, costs and compliance requirements.
• Ensure that applicable items in the SOW are reflected in the project schedule and/or RAID log.
• Ensure risk mitigation and compliance across all vendors
• Proactively identify and manage potential cost overruns and communicate to stakeholders
• Apply proficient decision making skills when confronted with ambiguity and less than desirable circumstances. Such skills include but are not necessarily limited to the ability to: make reasonable assumptions, identify issue(s), identify potential solution(s), and recommend a preferred solution
• Understand the business and business processes performed by the assigned functional area(s)
• Develop and manage processes that proactively support and promote compliance with the PMO's SOC1 control objectives
• Enhance overall effectiveness and productivity of SPP resources, and the PMO in particular, by providing leadership and direction to other PMO staff and assigned functional area(s) resources. Foster team-building within the PMO and provide coaching and mentoring to Project Managers and Project Analysts.
• Embrace and promote the SPP PMO's Mission, Vision, and long-term goals and strategic initiatives
• Embrace and promote SPP's Mission, Value Propositions, Core Ideology, Culture Drivers, and Core Values as documented in the SPP Business Model

To be successful as a Sr. Project Manager, we're looking for

Educations Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, Project Management, or related field; or Project Management Professional Certification plus two(2) years of project management experience may be considered in lieu of educational requirement

Experience Requirements:

• Six (6) years of project management experience or closely related discipline (in excess of educational requirements stated above)

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated excellent written, verbal and communication skills
• Maintain a professional attitude and appearance
• Demonstrated experience in managing large, complex, high priority projects
• Demonstrated experience with the Microsoft Office Suite software (i.e., SharePoint, MS Project, Word, Excel, Visio, PowerPoint), or other comparable software
• Strong organizational skills
• Understanding of and compliance with SPP Policies and Procedures

Preferred:

• Specific knowledge of existing SPP Technology and SPP business and operating procedures
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
• Experience with SPP Project Management methodologies, tools and systems
• Track record as Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master. Preferred 3+ years
• PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) or (PSM) + PSM II) or Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Master)

Work Environment:

• This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment.

Physical Demands:

The physical and mental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to make decisions, interpret data, and problem solve.
The employee frequently is required to stand or sit for extended periods; use hands to operate a computer keyboard and standard office equipment.
The employee must occasionally lift and move up to 10 pounds.
Requires the ability to work and collaborate with managers and employees at all levels to exchange ideas, information, and opinions to facilitate the task.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work:

• This is a full-time position. Days and hours of workweek are Monday through Friday; 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Working extended hours may be required. Participation in on-call rotation.

Travel Requirement:

• This position requires minimal travel (approximately 5%).

SPP is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer of individuals with disabilities and protected veterans and is committed to excellence. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us at HR@ and let us know the nature of your request. We will only respond to messages left that involve a request for a reasonable accommodation in the application process. We will accommodate the needs of any qualified candidate who requests a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

At SPP we believe in a culture of belonging. Learn more here: Culture of Belonging - Southwest Power Pool.

Full job descriptions will be made available to those selected for an interview.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.