Job Opportunity for Project Management Consultant at Water.org

Background

Water.org is looking for a seasoned Project Management Consultant to guide the establishment of a Project Management Office (PMO). Working with Water.org staff, the consultant will establish governing project roles, develop project plan templates, streamline, and scale efficient processes, create standards and methods that allow for completion of project goals, thus building staff capacity in each functional team to execute on key initiatives.

Objectives

Establish a streamlined, scalable enterprise PMO function that is:

• Adaptive, agile, and intelligent in its governance and processes
• Operates under a well-defined strategy execution measurement framework
• Support the establishment of a project operations function for the Global Impact (GI) department that is integrated with the PMO.

Assistthe Senior Manager, PMO to build internal staff capacity to fully manage and maintain PMO and GI program operations functions by the completion of the contract. Key stakeholder teams will include:

• Office of the COO
• GI Global Operations
• GI Regional Operations
• Asset Origination Alliance Operations

Increase the level of project management capability and maturity throughout the organization through educational efforts, including project scoping, planning, execution, and monitoring skills.

Scope of Work

In Scope

• Designing and establishing an enterprise PMO and Global Impact (GI) project management function (integrated with PMO).
• Guiding PMO team on change management efforts to integrate PMO operations across the organization, including buy-in/participation from internal stakeholders
• Building internal staff capacity to manage PMO operations by the completion of this project.
• Recommending tools and processes to support project management across the organization, including cross-departmental priority projects
• Support PMO team to carry out project management education across the organization via workshops and trainings, to ensure new project management practices are fully adopted and practiced consistently

Out of Scope

• Selecting and implementing an operations management tool (OMT) or any other digital tools or systems. (However, Consultant may provide recommendations and insight into tools or systems.)

Assumptions

• Consultant will have a point of contact – the Senior Manager, PMO (the project lead) and partner with the COO (project sponsor) to provide necessary approvals throughout the project life cycle.
• COO will deputize the Senior Manager, PMO, to work with the Consultant on a day-to-day basis to execute the project.
• Additional staff from the GI program operations and regional operations team will be available to coordinate with the PMO on building out the GI project management function.

Risks + Constraints

• PMO expertise not resident in current Water.org staff.
• OMT may or may not be developed in parallel to the establishment of PMO.
• Some Regional Directors and Regional Operations Leads are new to their positions in the Global Impact department.
• Ongoing projects and limited access to subject matter experts in various departments will need to be factored into the timeline.
• The proposed timeline of 12 months to complete the establishment of the PMO may not be sufficient.

Core Deliverables

• Diagnosis of the current state of project operations, identification of where PMO can deliver business value, and articulation of the PMO’s mandate.
• Project charter and workplan for the development of enterprise project management office (PMO) and Global Impact (GI) project management function (integrated with PMO), including project timeline, team roles/responsibilities, estimated costs, and key outputs.
• Establishment of key governance, standards, tools and processes of enterprise PMO and GI project management function, including integration across other Water.org departments and teams and change management plan.
• Development of a PMO / project management performance measurement framework and reporting function.
• Implementation of a change management model to develop the right mindset internally and integrate proposed changes into strategy execution and project management processes.
• Identification of and learning and development plan for key team capabilities required to develop and maintain project management functions.
• Learning and development plan executed in partnership with the Human Resources Learning and Development Manager.

Competencies and Skills Needed

Proven track record of establishing and/or running successful PMO in a project/program management-driven organization(s):

• Proven approach to establishing an enterprise PMO, including a step-by-step process for learning the organization, assessing the pain points and opportunities, and building a PMO that suits the organization’ specific needs.
• Experience working in a PMO in a non-profit/NGO, a social enterprise, and/or another international development organization is preferred.
• Expertise in effective change management practices.
• Ability to go beyond traditional project management methodology to design for agility and simplicity.

Significant operational experience, with a track record of leading strategic execution, organization redesign, continuous process improvements, and change management implementation.

Willingness and ability to build Water.org staff capability to take over the PMO function and run it independent of the consultant.

PMP, PRINCE2, or Six Sigma Green Belt / LEAN Six Sigma or higher certification(s).

Submission Process 

Interested consultants are welcome to submit their expression of interest to Margarita Salasyuk, msalasyuk@water.org, including examples of the following:

• Expression of Interest
• Examples of 2-3 relevant projects completed in the past, with your reference’s contact information for each
• Availability (for example, provide an estimated number of hours available per month)
• Daily rate or compensation expectations