Sr. Project Manager at Fidelity & Guaranty Life Business Services

Job Description

Sr. Project Manager at Fidelity & Guaranty Life Business Services

The Sr. Project Manager will manage the IT work related to the Product Implementation process. They will partner closely with the Project Manager for the Product Implementation Team on projects involving new and enhanced Life & Annuity products and index additions. 

This position reports to the Manager, IT Retail Product Delivery. This position will interact and collaborate with business executives, project sponsors, stakeholders, core project team, and users, both technical and non-technical staff, as appropriate to accomplish the project’s outcome(s). This position will also be required to interact with 3rd party providers applicable to delivering product solutions.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Execute overall project management and program management duties using industry standard project management principles and practices to support all project sponsors, users, stakeholders, and the project team. Support the product business case creation and project management best practices to complete the following deliverables:

• Impact assessment

• Project objectives

• Project benefits and cost estimates

• Project constraints, risks, and dependencies

• Project key milestones

• Technical Project Plan, including resources, dependencies and critical path

• Responsible for developing and executing Technical Project Plan that encompasses the end-to-end solution of F&G’s Scope, as well as incorporating vendor development project plans

• Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives, involving all relevant stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility

• Manage projects through all phases of the project life cycle, including project planning, requirements, design, development, testing, implementation, and post-production review

• Understand and document project scope and objectives, resource requirements, budgets, timelines, deliverables, and milestones; evaluate courses of action on an ongoing basis and selects the best alternative to attain project outcomes

• Ensure that all assigned projects are delivered on-time, within scope and within budget

• Establish and maintain relationships with third parties/vendors

• Direct and coordinate internal and external project resource availability from all business units to ensure program and project deadlines and deliverables are met to ensure effective project launches

• Acts a project point of contact for all impacted technical teams (internal & external)

• Delegate program tasks based on project managers individual strengths, skill sets and experience levels

• Work closely with QA Lead to understand and track QA testing for Integrations and Development (internal & external)

• When applicable, partners with Scrum Masters to translate waterfall-to-agile (and vice versa) process & communication

• Develop and execute communication plans and a cadence for status reporting

• Monitor the status of specific project dependencies related to the overall project incorporating such constraints into the overall plan

• Drive, track and share overall progress of technical solution across all teams (internal & external)

• Facilitate team and client meetings effectively. This includes the scheduling of all IT Delivery Meetings

• Provide F&G IT Updates for Executive Update Deck

• Apply project knowledge and experience to facilitate risk identification and identify action plans for mitigation

• Report and escalate risks to scope, timeline and/or budget for the project to IT and Product Implementation leadership as needed

• Manage changes to the project scope, project schedule, and project costs using appropriate verification techniques

• Works with the technical teams to develop sound contingency plans within a risk mitigation plan

Experience and Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required

• Minimum of 7 years of experience as a Project Manager with experience managing IT focused projects

• Insurance and/or Life & Annuity industry experience preferred

• Experience coordinating many IT teams, business areas and vendors

• Experience working in a Program Management Office (PMO) or Implementation Delivery Team environment

• Program Management experience preferred

• Project Management managing life insurance and annuity product implementation on third party platforms (i.e., SAAS platforms) preferred

• Experience with Waterfall, Agile and Iterative methodologies—certifications preferred

• PMP Certification preferred

• Six Sigma or Lean experience a plus

• Experience with WorkOtter, JIRA, and/or other project management software preferred

• Strong Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) experience

• Experience managing multiple simultaneous projects involving cross functional project teams within budgetary and schedule constraints

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to run high complexity and high risk projects and programs

• Demonstrated knowledge of project and business management principles, methods and techniques and identifying critical paths

• Strong interpersonal skills including Teamwork, Responsibility, Dependability, Flexibility, Leadership, and Motivation

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including facilitation and presentation tailored to the specific audience

• Ability to interact successfully with personnel at all levels of the organization in both technical and business areas with minimal guidance

• Ability to perform at a high level in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple projects and responsibilities

• Effectively coach less senior Project Managers on the team or within assigned Programs

• Excellent leadership, negotiation, and problem-solving skills

• Team player with demonstrated ability to proactively identify issues and to influence key project and program decisions to achieve desired outcomes with minimal guidance

• Self-starter who demonstrates strong initiative and can operate efficiently in unpredictable and challenging project environments with minimal guidance

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, MS Project)

• Must be able to work independently and be able to operate efficiently in unpredictable and challenging project environments

Other Requirements

• Perform other functions, duties and projects as assigned

• Regular and punctual attendance

• Some travel may be required (less than 10%)