Sr Tech Project Mgr

“We Power the Magic!” That’s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX) Tech & Digital. Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands. We deliver experiences to consumers through our Disney’s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Lines, and Disney Vacation Club. We are responsible for the end-to-end digital and physical Guest experience for all technology & digitally led initiatives across the Attractions & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Resorts & Transportation and Merchandise lines of business, as well as other initiatives such as Hey, Disney!

The Senior Technical Project Manager is charged with the delivery of complex software development projects across multiple disciplines and Lines of Business for the Retail Technology organization. You will blend program management, project delivery,  along with financial and product experience.  You will concurrently manage multiple, medium to large technology and digital projects across web and mobile applications, and/or one or more specific tracks within much larger scale programs, with oversight from a Delivery Lead. You will ensure on-time and on-schedule delivery for their projects working closely with Product, Technology, Operations and Design. You will report to the Manager, Technical Program and Project Management 
 
What You'll Do:

• Support Leadership with a delivery mindset 

• Facilitate scope definition, and high-level planning, discovery, and estimation workshops for projects with cross-functional teams 

• Quantify cost factors to deliver project deliverables including resources, project oversight, objective risk and related contingency 

• Document key assumptions and dependencies established through estimation activities 

• Prepare and present high-level plan with estimates for executives and cross-functional leaders based on estimate outcomes Project Planning 

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

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

• Develop the project plan and schedule with cross discipline functional leads 

• Ensure necessary steps and dependencies to deliver projects and components are established 

• Validate that scope can be completed within timeline and budget 

• Estimate resource needs with help from functional leads Project Delivery 

• Confidently lead and drive cross-functional projects, and individual project tracks of large programs through full delivery life-cycle ensuring project is delivered on-time and on-budget 

• Manage resource assignment, budget, scheduling, and scope prioritization, and change control 

• Work with cross discipline team members to validate project assumptions and review project plans with leadership 

• Ensure proper documentation of scope of work with help from cross discipline functional leads 

• Serve as primary liaison among multiple teams, including Product Management, Design, Technology, Operations/Continuous Delivery, Release Management, vendors and other key functional delivery teams for the project (when appropriate) 

• Communicate regular updates to project and executive leadership team on delivery progress, plan updates and budget spend and forecast, including status report updates, financial/budget/variance reports, and other reporting as required 

• Monitor adherence to schedule and milestone commitments 

• Escalate key issues and risks to ensure timely resolution and mitigation 

• Prevent scope creep, record causes of change, and facilitate change requests to ensure impacts to schedule or budget, as well as forecasts, are approved and communicated in a timely manner 

• Use metrics, including burn-down charts, to drive performance, efficiency and forecast improvements 

• Ensure proper project closure including retroactives/lessons learned, transition and hand-off to production operations support, and final financial reporting.

 
Required Qualifications & Skills:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in project management (Agile, Waterfall, Kanban, hybrid delivery experience), vendor management experience, 1-2 years mobile application (iOS, Android) delivery experience 

• Tell a compelling story when communicating to Leadership 

• Have knowledge of multi-channel e-commerce and have managed large-scale efforts 

• Adapt to frequent changes in direction and priority 

• Have experience working with and integrating delivery methods across teams with multiple disciplines represented (including product management/strategy, technology, design, SEO, and analytics) 

• Have experience working in a matrix organization 

• Expert knowledge and experience with the software development life cycle, ideally in eCommerce, marketing, merchandising, or operations 

• Experience assisting with backlog refinement and prioritization 

• Direct management and accountability for single project budgets of $2-5M in labor 

• Strong experience facilitating the gathering and development of requirements for complex solutions 

• Proven accomplishment as a driver of multiple projects running concurrently 

• Proven track record managing individual project budgets and budget roll-up of multiple projects 

• Demonstrated analysis/assessment capabilities 

• Be able to confidently lead teams to a successful delivery approach 

• Be able to work both collaboratively and independently while maintaining a high level of productivity 

• Be able to work under tight timetables and high -pressure situations 

• Must be detail-oriented, self-organized, capable of tracking multiple issues simultaneously while possessing excellent time management skills 

• Thrive in a fast-paced environment and able to juggle, shift gears, and maintain a sense of humor; deliver under extreme deadlines and intense business environment 

• Must possess excellent business communication, writing, and interpersonal skills 

• Proactive and solution-oriented when managing issues 

• Comfortable when communicating with executive level (Directors, VPs) in presentations, working sessions, and 1-on-1 interactions 

• Practiced in negotiating with others in ways that result in win/win agreements and outcomes 

• Must be open to coaching and guidance 

• Exhibit good judgment skills on when to seek guidance and when to escalate risks and issues

Required Education

• Bachelor’s degree and/or equivalent work experience