Project Manager

"All candidates must be directly contracted by ASK Consulting on their payroll and cannot be subcontracted. We are unable to provide sponsorship at this moment".Job Title: Project Manager - ITLocation: Redwood City, CA 94063Duration: 12 Months (with potential to extend)Schedule: Hybrid work schedule (at least 2 days per week onsite)Min. Years Exp. Required: 8 to 10 yearsMinimum Education Level: Bachelor's DegreePR Range: $58/hr. - $62/hr. on W2Hiring Managers Call Notes:About Team Schedule:Team location: Redwood City office; hybrid schedule with a required on-site day on Wednesdays.Local to the Bay Area and able to be on-site Wednesdays + one additional negotiable day per candidate/project portfolio.Team and environment overview:IT PMO: a team of 15 to 18 senior project managers within a 700-person University IT organization.PMO supports both internal technical projects and a larger share of external-facing projects for academic and operational units (examples: budget system replacements, ERP upgrades, integrations, data migrations).Common technology footprint: PeopleSoft, Oracle, ServiceNow. Other relevant systems: Salesforce, Workday, general ERP, and integration experience.Role summary and expectations:Role label on requisition: IT Project Manager 1 (labeling may be conservative); actual expectation: senior technical project manager with significant experience.Target experience: Minimum 8+ years of proven technical project management experience (prefers 8 to 10+). Program managers are acceptable and often more senior.Project types: SaaS/vendor implementations, ERP upgrades, integrations, backend and data migration projects; projects typically last 8 months to 2 years.Workload: PMs typically manage 34 active projects concurrently, requiring strong prioritization and context switching.Responsibilities: end-to-end project leadership (beginning-to-end accountability), facilitation, stakeholder and sponsor engagement, cross-functional coordination with technical teams, vendors, and business units.Required and preferred skills:Must-haves:Proven depth of leading projects (not just project-related tasks or inflated titles).Strong communication and presentation skills.Technical mindset: able to understand technology, integrations, and project impacts beyond status reporting.PMP certification (PMI PMP) preferred; in progress acceptable, but completed preferred.Polished, consultant-like presence for external-facing projects.Environment is primarily hybrid/traditional waterfall; pure Agile-embedded PMs may not be a good fit.Tools: primarily Google Workspace; Microsoft is also available.Consulting backgrounds, ERP/ServiceNow/Oracle/PeopleSoft experience, integrations/migrations, and use of Google Workspace.Preferred:Experience with ERP implementations (PeopleSoft, Oracle), ServiceNow, integrations, and data migrations.Consulting background (e.g., Deloitte, Accenture) is a plus.Familiarity with Google Workspace (Sheets, Docs, Slides) since the team uses Google tools heavily.Curiosity/continuous learning and some familiarity or interest in AI usage.Key Takeaways:Role seniority: Label may read PM 1, but expectation is for senior-level PMs with 8+ years.Agile preference: Not required; hybrid/waterfall experience preferred for better fit.Systems exposure: Oracle, PeopleSoft, ServiceNow preferred; Salesforce/Workday acceptable but lower priority.Interview and selection process:Resume screening by managers and the sourcing team.30-minute phone/Zoom screening with focus on communication, project leadership, specific project accountability, and fit to likely assignments.60-minute live exercise (no prep) via Zoom using a real past PM deliverable (collaborative Google Sheet exercise) to assess practical project leadership and problem-solving.On-site panel interview to assess professional presence and scenario-based responses; candidates see the office environment.If successful, meet-and-greets and formalities before offer/engagement.Screening emphasis: live exercise quickly reveals depth vs. buzzwords; managers look for those who led projects end-to-end rather than relied on others.Job Description:As a major Bay Area employer, it seeks people committed to excellence and to improving our world. In turn, the university is committed to supporting its employees as they develop their careers and enrich their lives. University IT (UIT), part of the Business Affairs organization, is dedicated to delivering world-class service and technological solutions to advance research, teaching, and learning, administration, and healthcare.This IT Project Manager position reports to the UIT Project Management Office (UIT PMO), working with a group of technical project managers assembled into multidisciplinary teams to complete a broad range of critical University-wide technology projects, including Discovery and Implementation projects for enterprise applications and system integrations across domain areas like collaboration or content management, cloud services, data analytics and reporting, research computing, or information security or privacy. The project manager is responsible for managing multiple large and complex technical projects, leveraging project management best practices to drive continuous improvement and ensure consistent, high-quality outcomes. The project manager is expected to weigh the interests of multiple stakeholders, act with the highest professionalism, and exercise independent judgment and decision-making.Desired experience includes a proven track record of motivating a diverse team, partnering effectively with sponsors and decision-makers, and identifying and efficiently managing project issues and risks, while successfully managing projects to timely delivery and within budgetary expectations. The position typically focused 80% on project leadership and 20% on technical contribution. The project manager is expected to manage multiple projects, such as vendor selection and implementation, SaaS projects, development, IT infrastructure projects, and application upgrades simultaneously.Education and Experience:Bachelor's degree in a related field and eight to ten years of related experience in the management of projects with extensive size/complexity and moderate performance risk, including project planning, scheduling, tracking, and budgeting, or a combination of education and relevant experience.Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:Highly effective written and oral communication skills to address a wide variety of audiences.Ability to productively assemble, engage, and lead cross-functional teams.Demonstrated project management ability to employ integration, scope, time management, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement components.Ability to balance customer expectations with project reality.Demonstrated resilience, diplomacy, influence, relationship-building, and problem-solving skills in a variety of situations.Keen grasp of interpersonal and impact awareness.Depth of knowledge in the technical discipline/domain needed to deliver projects.Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:Proven experience with Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid project management methodologies strongly desired.Knowledge of project management tools and software development lifecycle (SDLC) strongly desired.Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.Proven experience in developing and maintaining complex and integrated project plans with a proper work breakdown structure (WBS) is strongly desired.Proven experience in people, change, risk, and conflict management is strongly desired.Proven ability to build relationships and motivate cross-functional teams to achieve results in a consensus-driven environment is strongly desired.Ability to lead and direct a team of internal and external technical and business staff, and align technical needs with business goals, is strongly desired.Solid leadership, negotiation, persuasion, and facilitation skills strongly desired.Ability to navigate stressful situations and make/negotiate decisions on complex problems is strongly desired.Solid experience with MS Office tools (Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint, Visio), Smartsheet, ServiceNow Project Portfolio Manager (PPM), Zoom, and Slack is strongly desired.Experience with Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle HCM, PeopleSoft Student, and HR Administration is desired.Experience with managing IT technical infrastructure, applications, and system integrationsKnowledge of quality assurance and testing practices is desired.Knowledge of data integration across different technical platforms is desired.Understanding of Web application architecture and the technology tiers that support them, system architectures, application integration, and object-oriented languages is desired.Certifications and Licenses:Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is strongly desired.Working Conditions:This is a hybrid position. Candidates are generally required to be on the campus two days a week or more, based on the project and/or organization requirements.Travel locally and cross-university. May be required to attend meetings on campuses, the Healthcare Hospital, and the Children's HospitalAbout ASK: ASK Consulting is an award-winning technology and professional services recruiting firm servicing Fortune 500 organizations nationally. With 5 nationwide offices, two global delivery centers, and employees in 42 states-ASK Consulting connects people with amazing opportunitiesASK Consulting is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all associates.