Project Manager

For over two decades, NIC Partners (Employee built/Employee owned) has dedicated our expertise and commitment towards enhancing the digital and physical security of K-12 educational campuses in Southern California. NIC Partners offers a great benefit package that includes medical, dental, vision, 401k,11 paid holidays, and vacation.

Job Purpose:

The role of the Project Manager is to plan, execute, and deliver projects according to strict deadlines and within budget. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of team members and third-party contractors or consultants in order to deliver projects according to plan. The Project Manager will also drive the project’s objectives, plans and quality throughout its life cycle. For assigned project(s), the Project Manager will act as the primary contact with the customer and will inspire customer confidence in NIC Partners ability to satisfy their goals.

The Project Manager MUST:

• Provide a positive “Can-Do” attitude and show positivity through teamwork.
• Respond to employee inquires in-person, over the phone and via email.
• Exhibit extraordinary discretion, confidentiality, flexibility, and willingness to work closely with our team.

Essential Job Functions:

• Takes project ownership to confidently direct and manage projects from beginning to end.
• Define project scope, goals and deliverables that support business goals in collaboration with senior management and stakeholders. Projects involve IT Technologies (networking, voice/data wiring, MDF/IDF) and the like. This is not a software PM position.
• Develop and communicate full-scale project plans, which may incorporate vendor and sub-contractor milestones where applicable.
• Proactively works with Project Accounting to ensure timely project procurement, billing, and project cost vs. revenue tracking. Owns and manages the project finances to meet defined targets.
• Develop and deliver professional, complete and accurate progress reports, proposals, requirements documentation, project documentation and presentations.
• Proactively manage and communicate changes in project scope/schedule/cost, identify potential risks, and devise contingency plans. Where required, work with Account Management to present Change Orders to the customer.
• Estimate the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals. Collaborate with Resource Managers for the acquisition of required personnel from within the company.
• Coach, motivate and communicate expectations to project team members and contractors, and influence them to take positive action and accountability for their assigned work. If applicable, escalate work deficiencies to Resource Management and PMO Manager.
• Build, develop, and grow any business relationships vital to the success of the project as well as potential future business.
• Conduct project post mortems and create a recommendations report in order to identify successful and unsuccessful project elements.

Responsibilities/Duties

• Strong customer service and interpersonal skills is mandatory. Inspires confidence in our customers that NIC Partners is the right company to do business with.
• Demonstrated experience in leading project teams. Is persuasive, encouraging, and motivating.
• Reacts to customer changes, shifting priorities, project adjustments and alterations professionally, promptly and efficiently. Is flexible during times of change.
• Ability to elicit cooperation and defuse tension among project teams and stakeholders, should it arise, and to remain calm and professional under pressure.
• Ability to bring project to successful completion through political sensitivity and tact.
• Strong professional written and oral communication skills.

Experience/Education:

• University degree or college diploma preferably in a technology field (IT, engineering), or project management. Relevant work experience may be substituted for this requirement.
• Certification(s) in PMP, Prince2, ITIL and/or Cisco is a huge plus.
• Direct work experience in a project management capacity, including all aspects of project development and execution of IT infrastructure and networking projects. Must have understanding of project management principles (managing) as well as a lifecycle methodology (process to do the work).
• Must have previous hands-on or project delivery experience in some of these IT network technologies: voice / data wiring, MDF/IDF builds, installation of routers, servers, access points, IP phone systems, IP security devices, CUCM, Cloud VOIP, Telepresence and the like.
• Experience managing project budgets, tracking project revenue, cost and margins.
• Past experience working for or with the following industries is a plus: Education K-12, Construction or Healthcare with a focus on IT hardware technologies in these industries.
• Strong familiarity with project management software, such as Microsoft Project or similar.
• Competent and proficient experience of general office systems such as Microsoft Office especially Excel, Visio and internet.
• Comfortable with virtual technologies such as group voice conferencing, web conferencing (e.g. WebEx) and the like.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment is crucial.
• Adept at conducting research into project-related issues and products.
• Must enjoy working in a small company atmosphere (less than 100 employees).

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

General: Ability to multi-task, prioritize, organize, solve problems, and complete tasks independently with little supervision required; ability to follow verbal and written instructions; ability to maintain confidentiality related to sensitive company and employee information.

Technical: Excellent understanding of PC and standard Office software and hardware.

Personal: Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills; ability to present ideas in business-friendly and user-friendly language; ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.

Communication: Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos. Ability to write simple correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other employees of the organization.

Reasoning: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

Mathematical: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry.

Computer: Ability to proficiently use computer software programs and related computer applications, Outlook, Excel and other Microsoft Office applications and other industry-specific technology tools used within the organization. Willingness to learn additional software applications.

Physical and Environmental Elements:

Physical demands: Ability to sit continuously for over 2/3 of normal work shift. Ability to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl on a regular basis. Ability to talk and to hear continuously. Ability to lift up to 10 pounds occasionally. Finger dexterity is required frequently for over 2/3 of the normal work shift.

Vision: Ability to see at close range (20 inches or less), at a distance (clear vision at 20 feet or more), ability to identify and distinguish colors, ability to observe an area that can be seen up and down or to the left and right while eyes are fixed on a given point, three-dimensional vision, ability to judge distances and spatial relationships, and ability to adjust the eye to bring an object into sharp focus.

Work Environment: Employees work in an office environment. Noise levels are moderate (such as computers and printers) and temperature conditions are usually controlled.

Salary commensurate with experience - range $75,000 to 115,000.00