Project Manager

The State of Kansas Human Services Executive Branch Information Technology Services (HS EBIT) and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) is seeking to hire a Project Manager to manage multiple agency IT Projects. This position will be a contract-to-hire only position.

Please use the following parameters when presenting candidates:

US Citizenship Status

At this time the State of Kansas does not sponsor non-US citizens. Since this is contract-to-hire US citizenship is required.

Location

Remote, with in person as required. Local candidates preferred. Travel is at employee expense.

Brief Description of Job Duties:

A Project Manager is responsible for the initiation, planning, execution, and closure of projects. This includes developing project plans, coordinating with agency business and IT staff, ensuring compliance with standards, managing project resources, tracking progress, resolving issues, and providing oversight and reports to agency leadership. They also support the agency's Project Management Office in portfolio management and maintain project management tools and practices.

Specific Duties:

Project Planning and Development: Crafting and refining comprehensive project plans, including schedules, communication strategies, and quality controls, tailored to meet the project's objectives and align with organizational goals.

Initiating and Managing Project Tools: Implementing and overseeing project-specific tools like MS Project and SharePoint, guided by organizational standards, to enable efficient project tracking and collaboration.

Evaluating Project Compliance: Assessing project plans against established architectural standards and policies, ensuring all projects adhere to the required guidelines and methodologies.

Providing Oversight and Guidance: Offering strategic oversight and guidance to business and IT managers, emphasizing compliance with project planning standards and methodologies.

Tracking and Reporting Progress: Monitoring the project's progress against its timeline and budget, ensuring deliverables meet the predefined quality standards, and proactively addressing deviations.

Facilitating Issue and Risk Resolution: Identifying, documenting, and resolving project issues and risks, employing strategic problem-solving to mitigate impacts on project outcomes.

Supporting the Project Management Office: Contributing to the broader goals of the PMO through active participation in portfolio management, enhancing project management practices, and ensuring effective communication with stakeholders.

Skills required:

Proficiency in project planning, execution, monitoring, and closure techniques, including the use of project management software tools like MS Project and SharePoint, is essential for effectively overseeing project timelines, resources, and deliverables.

The ability to evaluate project compliance, identify issues and risks, and develop effective mitigation strategies requires strong analytical thinking and creative problem-solving capabilities.

Exceptional communication skills are critical for coordinating with agency business and IT staff, facilitating meetings, and ensuring clear, concise reporting to stakeholders. Collaboration skills are necessary for working effectively with team members, vendors, and other project stakeholders.

Strong leadership abilities to provide guidance and oversight, influence project outcomes positively, and motivate team members towards achieving project objectives. This includes the capacity to negotiate and manage vendor contracts effectively.

The ability to adapt plans in response to evolving project needs, organizational changes, or unexpected challenges. Skills in change management are vital for introducing new processes or tools and ensuring stakeholder buy-in and compliance with established standards and methodologies.

Experience required:

Degree and three years' experience with IT related project management or five years' experience with IT related project management. Additional experience in IT project management may be substituted for the required education.

Education required:

A bachelor's degree or higher is preferred.

Physical requirements (lifting, repetitive motion, etc):

Normal office equipment: personal computers (75% frequency of use); copiers, printers, and scanners (5% frequency of use); and, fax machines (1% frequency of use).