Job Description

Project Manager III

Pearson is an international media company with market-leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing. Pearson's education business represents about two-thirds of the company, and Penguin publishing and the Financial Times make up the balance. With more than 30,000 employees based in 60 countries, we are a family of businesses that draws on common assets, processes and shares a common purpose: to help our customers live and learn.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D, and a member of E-Verify.

For the past 11 years, eCollege has been improving educational delivery methods by providing enterprise eLearning solutions with innovative technology and high-touch services. eCollege provides an on demand, or Software as a Service (SaaS) learning platform to growing colleges, universities and educational institutions across the globe. eCollege has been recognized as a proven leader in the use of educational technology. Our Course Management System (CMS) was ranked first in customer satisfaction in 2007 in independent research conducted by the IMS Global Learning Consortium.

According to leading IT researchers, more than 40% of all software will be deployed with on demand, or Software as a Service (SaaS) models by 2012. If you want to make a contribution to the future of learning and prefer an open-minded approach to work, join the eCollege team! As a Pearson company, eCollege offers competitive benefits in a challenging work environment, steeped in a supporting IT culture.

SUMMARY

The primary responsibilities of this position is project management for software development initiatives. Projects include new product development, internal development, implementation and/or integration of third party applications.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Organizes, conducts, and attends meetings with project team to facilitate all levels of agile planning

Removes obstacles blocking or slowing down the teams, promotes a collaborative team environment that fosters creativity and innovation

Provides visibility to team status and issues to senior management, plan and track release milestones for software releases and work closely with Product Management

Creates project charter and schedule documents

Communicates and helps facilitate risk analysis for projects

Manage multiple projects at one time

Provides detailed weekly status reports on all active projects and monthly metrics to senior management

Implements lessons learned

Manage third-party partner and vendor relationships as necessary

Acts as resource for project team members on the eCollege,project process

Facilitates project approval process with management, project documents and other related materials

Coordinates and resolves issues escalated from the offshore development group

Manages internal client expectations

Creates and maintains relationships across the organization

Works with team leaders to manage both dedicated and matrixed resources

Coaches other project managers on project management and communication skills

Other duties as assigned

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
Bachelors Degree and five to seven (5 - 7)+ years of project management experience in IT and/or software development. Project management experience relevant to agile and full life-cycle software development, implementing IT projects, and managing related integration projects required; OR equivalent education and experience to successfully perform the essential duties of the job.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Basic experience or knowledge required in the following areas: technical writing

Ability to foster and maintain a positive and creative project team

Advanced experience or knowledge required in the following areas: MS Project (User); requirements analysis; project management

Strong knowledge of Internet technologies, concepts and applied background in Software Development Methodologies

Strong knowledge of full life-cycle development

Intermediate knowledge in agile methodologies

Ability to perform multiple tasks concurrently

Understanding of resource allocation

Excellent customer service attitude, communication skills, and interpersonal skills

Ability to resolve conflict within a project team

Excellent organizational and time management skills

Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills

Strong PC skills including thorough knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite

Ability to make timely and sound decisions

Ability to work efficiently in a fast paced environment

Ability to work independently

NOTE: This position is subject to a background check and verification of experience and salary