Technical Project Manager at VASTech

Job description

Take on accountability and responsibility to direct and manage internal as well as customer facing projects. This requires initiation, planning, execution, control and closure of the end-to-end activities of small, medium or large projects.

Scope Definition

Participate in the definition of project scope, goals and objectives, work-breakdown structures, tasks, schedules, milestones, deliverables, etc. that support internal and/or external obligations, in collaboration with stakeholders.

Cross-functional/ Project planning

• Develop project plans and associated communication documents in support of integrated cross functional planning and execution.
• Identify and manage project dependencies and project critical paths.
• Plan and schedule project timelines and milestones using appropriate tools.
• Establish and manage cross-functional project teams.
• Ongoing prioritizing and guidance as per project and internal priorities.

Resource allocation & management

• Participate in the estimation of the resources and participants needed to achieve the project goals. Where required, negotiate with other division/department managers for the availability/allocation of required resources.
• Delegate tasks and responsibilities to appropriate resources.
• Identify and resolve issues and conflicts within the project team(s).
• Technical rollout planning & execution

Drive and participate in technical rollout planning, documentation, communication and execution.

Project financial control

• Draft and submit project budget forecasts and project financials on SAGE, including subsequent budget changes, where necessary.
• Ensure that project budgets are monitored, controlled and updated with actual expenditure on a monthly basis.

Risk and Issue management

• Identify and evaluate risks and issues associated with the project and put mitigation plans in place.
• Perform ongoing risk & issue management as per a risk register with risk mitigation strategies and plans.

Change management

• Project change management with appropriate change controls.
• Coordinate and manage the transition from project-mode to operational mode, following the acceptance by customer, ensuring conclusion of all outstanding documentation and effective handover to Product Support.

Stakeholder management

• Liaise with project stakeholders on an ongoing basis.
• Engagement and liaison with all internal divisions and departments, including Group Management when required.
• Project customer management including progress reporting and customer satisfaction feedback.
• Site visits to customer- and project implementation sites as and when required.

Communication management – Client & internal.

• Effectively communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion
• Measuring results through client satisfaction.
• Building customer relationships and gathering customer requirements and feature requests including feedback to the customer regarding bugs, issues and feature requests.
• Project progress reporting, coordination and delivery.

Technical assistance across the company

• Participate in cross-functional project teams from Order Fulfilment, Sales, Marketing, Solution Engineering, Software Architecture, Design and Implementation, R&TD & Production during all the phases of opportunities and contracts
• Review Sales Proposals and Technical Proposals from Sales and Solution Engineering during presales phases.

Technical project support

• Pre-deployment system & sub-system assembly, configuration & testing.
• Participate in deployment of solutions.
• Occasionally assist with onsite and remote support of deployed solutions.
• Participate in occasional onsite & back office application support, during maintenance and upgrade activities, especially with deployment of releases with new features, etc.
• Provide onsite project support during Customer Acceptance activities.
• Participate in trouble-shooting, log files, JIRA-cases, reporting, etc.
• Engage with vendors of 3rd party products during project life cycle.
• Logging and tracking of customer reported system faults and customer requests on official logging system.

Continuous improvement across the company

• Providing ideas, suggestions and input for product features and enhancements for the product development divisions.
• Giving input in the form of suggestions and advice for continuous improving of technology, products, policies, processes and procedures.
• Liaison with established, as well as potentially new technology partners and suppliers.

Training

• Provide input and participate in development of training documentation, presentations and other training material.
• Presenting of internal as well as customer training courses.
• Providing on-the-job training to internal and customer staff.

Testing

• Participate in hardware, software, sub-system and system testing and integration activities.
• Provide inputs and participate in application navigation and system walkthroughs.
• Participate in internal and customer acceptance tests.

Documentation

• Development of project related system and technical documentation.
• Preparation and distribution of monthly reports.
• Updating of site files and logs, especially during planning & implementation phases.
• Provide input for development of ATPs.

Consulting

• Provide advice and information to internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide recommendations and assist with decision-making.
• Provide specialist, high-level technical advice and support for implementation planning, integrated planning, etc.
• Knowledge transfer of domain knowledge and experience.

PERSON REQUIREMENTS

The person must have the following attributes:

• Proven knowledge and practical experience of working with technology systems preferably telecommunication transmission, switching/PABX, radio/RF/satellite communication, military or large scale IT infrastructure systems.
• Analytical thinking and ability to improvise and troubleshoot problems and challenges systematically.
• Be dynamic with adaptability to a fast-paced environment and a logical approach to problem-solving and a proven ability to solve problems.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to efficiently interact internally with marketing, sales, engineering, development, implementation and support staff, management at various levels, as well as interacting with different levels of customer’s staff.
• Team player and commitment to customer service, whilst maintaining a professional, friendly and helpful manner whilst dealing with customers.
• Self-starter, ability to multi-task and to work independently without direct supervision.
• Ability to travel internationally.
• Willingness to continue to study, learn and adapt to new technologies, techniques and processes in order to improve service delivery to internal and external customers.

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• Relevant degree (B,Eng, BSc Informatics, or alternative), or
• Well established experience in relevant specialist technical field/domain.
• Technical Project Management experience.
• VASTech Industry specific experience will be advantageous.
• Strong planning, documentation, communication and presentation skills.
• Strong proficiency in MS Project, Mind maps, Visio, OneNote, and PowerPoint.
• Experience in Change-, Baseline-, Configuration-, Incident/Problem-, Service-, and
• Delivery Management principles will be advantageous.