Project Leader, IT

Job Summary

Lead and successfully deliver Infrastructure Services projects to deploy new infrastructure technologies, perform application upgrades and for the life-cycle replacement of equipment in the Data Centres.  The IT Project Leader is responsible for the management and successful delivery of multiple IT Projects, solutions and initiatives that supports the City’s Strategic Plan and the Infrastructure Services work plan and road map.  The IT Project Leader is responsible for planning, time schedules, budget/cost controls, quality assurance, resource management, communications, risk assessment, workflow process, business analysis and change management. This position will be required to work in a hybrid work arrangement (work from home and some work in the office).  Our offices are located at Mississauga City Hall, 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Accountable for the full project life-cycle of multiple concurrent IT infrastructure technology related projects (including initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing) in adherence with industry best practices and City adopted project management standards.
• Develop and maintain project charters, project plans and schedules, resource plans, work packages, stakeholder registers, communication plans, risk and issue logs, change management plans, project status reports and other artifacts required for the successful delivery of technology related projects.
• Collaborate and communicate regularly with senior management, executive sponsors, business stakeholders, internal resources, and outside vendors to coordinate the delivery of project deliverables while ensuring all parties remain engaged and proactively informed throughout the course of the project.
• Work on the procurement of complex technology solutions (including hardware, software, and professional services) in accordance with City’s Procurement Policy. Compose statements of work, requirements documents, technical specifications and other artifacts required to support a competitive procurement process. Assist in the evaluation and scoring of bid proposals and participate in the negotiation of agreements with vendors.
• Manage project budgets by controlling costs, forecasting project expenditures, reviewing vendor invoices in accordance with the applicable contract.
• Monitor the performance of vendors to ensure they are fulfilling all contractual obligations and providing high quality services and deliverables for projects.
• Work with Program Managers and vendors to implement change requests for project deliverables and scope changes as required.
• Co-ordinate work from cross-functional project teams.
• Work with internal business clients to understand their business problems and translates that knowledge into possible technical solutions and process improvements which are presented back to the client for consideration.
• Develop a functional understanding of Data Center components, new technologies, servers, storage and networking systems to develop project scope of work with technical resources.
• Proactively identify project risks and collaborate with stakeholders to come up with options for mitigation.
• Ensure project execution follows standard Date Centre processes and standard operating procedures to design, provision, configure, migrate and decommission infrastructure
• Understand existing business process and future state to facilitate adoption and manage change as part of new system implementations.
• Ensure all project related implementations, migrations and/or cutovers are planned with minimal business interruption and are implemented through current change management processes.
• Create presentations and present them to stakeholders, steering committees, Change Advisory Board (CAB), Architecture Review Board (ARB) and IT Management.
• Lead project steering committee meetings to provide project updates and to obtain project decisions and direction.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills and Qualifications

• Post secondary education in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other technology related discipline combined with a minimum of 3 years Project Management work experience with IT solution implementation is required
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in good standing is preferred; any other project management related certifications would be considered an asset
• Additional technology or vendor related certifications including ITIL, COBIT, LEAN/Six Sigma, PROSCI, Microsoft, or Cisco would be considered an asset
• Knowledge of Cisco Networks, Switches, Firewalls, VPN, and F5 Load Balancers is highly desirable
• Knowledge of Data Centre infrastructure such as Servers, SAN Storage and virtualization is highly desirable
• Previous experience in leading Windows Server Operating Systems upgrades is an asset
• Knowledge and experience in Microsoft technologies such as Active Directory, Windows Server Operating Systems, Systems Centre Orchestrator is an asset
• Familiarity with cloud networking, virtual firewalls, cloud-based load balancing, and storage solutions
• Understanding of cloud automation tools and infrastructure-as-code technologies considered an asset
• Previous experience with Microsoft Project, Visio and SharePoint is preferred

The successful candidate will have;

• Outstanding project management, analytical, risk management, implementation, vendor management, organizational, communication (both oral & written) and customer service skills
• Strong technical knowledge and hands on experience with documenting business requirements, producing technical specifications, data modelling and data migration, system implementations, integrations, testing, and maintenance of existing infrastructure technology solutions
• Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, and negotiation skills with a proven ability to successfully deal with complex issues working within a matrix organization and cross-functional project teams
• Excellent time management and organizational skills adept at effectively dealing with multiple competing priorities while consistently meeting deadlines