Project Manager

The Project Manager will be responsible for managing enterprise-level projects and initiatives within the Disney Enterprise Technology portfolio. This individual will work closely with various project owners to define the project team and assign responsibilities. The Project Manager will also be responsible for developing a consolidated view of the project, and for project deliverables including calendars, cross-project dependencies, risk analysis, stakeholder coordination, and regular communication of status.   

Primary responsibilities include guiding process development at a project team level and managing high-risk, high-impact, strategic projects across a multi-disciplinary, multi-function group of technologists and business professionals. This requires experience communicating across audiences, effectively defining and utilizing escalation paths, and updating technology or business leaders.  

The Project Manager works in a dynamic, collaborative environment and reports to Enterprise Technology, Sr. Manager, Program Management and may support technology projects across from ETech Digital Experience Platforms, Core Systems, and Platforms, Network Infrastructure, Cloud or Operations portfolios. 

 JOB RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES 

Project Management Delivery 

• Accountable for driving execution and delivery of projects or support programs from start to finish 

• Demonstrates a clear understanding of the project/program’s vision, objectives, scale and scope of work, expected outcomes, business value and impact, timelines, roadmaps, resource level requirements 

• Establishes strong partnerships and engagement with project stakeholders 

• Create full-scale master project schedules and communication plans consisting of multiple teams or components 

• Supports governance practices and protocols to control and monitor the program/projects  

• Ensure proactive scheduling of key deliverables, milestones, and deliverable tasks 

• Establish project financial forecasts including resource plans and other expense plans 

• Actively participates in process and practice improvements in the project management environment and serves as a catalyst for project management excellence 

• Establishes strong partnerships and engagement with project stakeholders 

• Provides oversight to ensure critical day-to-day program/project deliverables progress forward to deliver specified requirements, objectives, and value 

• Identifies gaps in the project team’s accountability and ownership of deliverables 

• Foster a team environment of self-organization, retrospect to learn and adapt with the goal of delivering the highest value to our guests and cast 

 Vendor and International Team Management 

• Support and align with 3rd party vendors and international team’s PM to ensure deliverables are complete in a timely manner 

• Demonstrate flexibility to align with international time zones as necessary  

• Evaluates and harmonize vendor’s timelines/schedules and cross-project dependencies to ensure alignment with overall project/program objectives  

• Escalates to remediate risks/blockers impeding vendor’s forward progression, as necessary 

Financial Management 

• Responsible for finance/budget responsibilities for projects and budgets (<$1M). 

• Analyzes, measures and recognizes the financial impact of various project actions, participate in analyzing and using financial data to identify key project issues, and maintains budget tracking and monitors budget expenditures 

Status Reporting 

• Prepares program/project status reports to demonstrate project overall health, key performance indicator (KPI),  risk, issues, accomplishments, next steps, and escalation requests 

• Identifies and facilitates resolution of issues and risks on projects to meet commitments 

• Maintains data visualization elements to provide a graphic demonstration of project analytics and metrics 

Communication  

• Leads with a win/win attitude with competing priorities and adapts to diverse personalities. Operates as an independent and dynamic project leader. Demonstrates influencing without direct authority 

• Facilitates project team meetings effectively, ensuring the desired outcomes are achieved 

• Distributes timely and effective project meeting updates and call to action updates across project teams 

• Demonstrates effective communication skills to facilitate project-related conversations with technology senior leaders/managers/directors and service owners alike, and driving tasks and project dependencies to completion across multiple supporting teams 

• Escalates the need for guidance and support to direct manager effectively   

 Project Management Lifecycle Disciplines  

• Exposure to integrated systems lifecycle development utilizing different – and sometimes – multiple development models (e.g., agile, waterfall, hybrid, etc.) 

• Exposure to product and software development lifecycle processes, procedures, and tools and/or thorough understanding of network infrastructure deployment. 

• Exposure to technical project delivery with a focus on Agile delivery and Agile delivery tools such as Jira, Rally, VersionOne, etc. 

• Supports projects in the enterprise software space (SaaS, PaaS, and On-Prem) with integrations across diverse environments. 

• Exposure to using modern work management and collaboration tools (Smartsheet, JIRA, MS Project on the Web, Confluence, SharePoint/Teams, Slack) 

• Ensures project document repositories are maintained and updated 

Technical Depth  

• Technical services working knowledge in one or more domains including workplaces services platforms and services, on-prem and SaaS/PaaS content and collaboration tools, websites & portals, application delivery, email/messaging platforms, video and voice solutions deployed at scale, workplace devices, support, and authentication; Network and Infrastructure working knowledge: Datacenter migration, wireless refresh, network segmentation, Cloud migration. 

 Guidance in Program Management Discipline 

• Participates in guiding the team to think Lean and be Agile 

• Participates in program management/peer mentorship 

 Work Experience  

• 2+ years of applicable project management experience in a technology environment, preferably for a large company.  

• Proven experience with at least 1 year of experience in leading technology, multidisciplinary efforts across a large-scale matrix organization  

Skills / Specialized Knowledge/ Competencies   

• Experience in leading technology projects or multi-threaded efforts 

• Able to lead project meetings and workshops driving commitments, accountability, and deliverables 

• Demonstrated critical thinking, and planning skills   

• Demonstrated experience developing and managing software development project plans 

• Exposure to software development lifecycle methodologies (focused on Agile, Lean) 

• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills to achieve business results 

• Strong interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills and the ability to work effectively across a wide range of constituencies in a diverse corporate and client environment 

• Proven ability to deliver projects on time and on budget while communicating with teams and leadership 

• Ability to inspire, motivate and lead a team to produce quality work 

• Demonstrated inclusive leadership that embraces diversity 

• Ability to communicate effectively to technology and business leaders 

• Excellent organizational, communication, and time management skills 

• Exposure to modern software development and infrastructure tools, processes, and practices, including Jira/Confluence, Agile Development, Cloud, DevOps, Data Management, and SaaS/PaaS. 

• End-user experience in the use of modern program and project management tools, such as ServiceNow, PPM, Clarity, Smartsheet, MS Project Online, etc.  

• Communicates a clear understanding of Agile ceremonies, e.g. product backlog refinement, preplanning, planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. 

• Exposure to a wide range of productivity tools, including collaboration software (e.g., Slack, MS Teams), and standard MS Office tools (e.g., Outlook Online, OneDrive). 

Required Education 

BS in Computer Science, Engineering or related discipline (STEM degree)

Licenses / Training (e.g. professional certifications) 

PMI or Scrum Alliance (or similar) certifications in Program Manager, Project Manager, or Scrum Master competencies are preferred 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Prior Disney experience is preferred. 

• 1+ year’s experience serving in a Scrum Master role for a software or product development team that was diligently applying Scrum principles and practices. 

DISNEYTECH

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