Contract - Project Manager

At Honda we embrace inclusion in our various policies, so whilst our contracts state that the hours are as required to fulfil the role with a minimum of 35 hours per week, we offer flexibility for when you work.  The regular office hours are 08:00 – 16:00 Monday to Thursday with a half hour lunch break & 08:00 – 13:00 on a Friday.  However, we offer flexibility of when you work with our daily flex-time start of between 07:00 and 11:00 providing that there is no business requirement.

Whilst there is no contractual right to work from home, the flexibility we offer is that you can request to work from home for a maximum of 50% of the working days in any one month, again providing there is no business requirement to attend the office.

Role:
Plans and manages project activities on European scale to ensure that goals and objectives of projects are accomplished within the approved baseline of scope, time and budget.
These projects can be both software development projects and infrastructure implementation projects.

Main Responsibilities:

• Has overall responsibility for planning, directing and coordinating activities pertaining to technology and business projects for a given business unit.
• Is responsible for managing the international team that implements the projects during the different phases of the project lifecycle.
• Manages a dynamic team of individuals who constantly search for creative ways to elevate the capabilities of technology systems to meet business needs, partly by capitalizing on emerging technologies and partly by adapting technologies to the needs of the customer.
• Manage internal and external systems/application development projects within assigned areas from inception to successful implementation.
• Responsible for managing project stakeholders, scope, cost, schedule, procurement, risk, communication and quality (see below for more detailed description).

Stakeholder management

• Stakeholder mapping and management across the impacted business organizations and other involved internal/external parties within scope of the project.
• Keep close, direct contact with key end-user representatives to ensure technologies are providing valuable information-sharing capabilities to customers.
• Work closely with end users, business technologists and others to understand and prioritize business goals and information needs.

Scope management

• Ensures that project goals are accomplished and in line with business objectives, scope and level of effort.
• Manage the project scope by applying the prescribed Change Management process.
• Coordinate and respond to requests for changes from original specifications.
• Review project proposals or plans to determine time frame, funding limitations, procedures for accomplishing projects, staffing requirements and allotment of available departmental resources to various project phases.

Cost management

• Estimate workload based on the scope and activities defined in the Work Breakdown Structure.
• Monitor the budget using Earned Value Management Technique.
• Define actions when applicable to stay within the approved cost baseline.

Schedule management

• Develop project strategies and plans, and identify the methods and tools required for the project.
• Establish work plan and staffing for each phase of projects and arrange for recruitment or assignment of project personnel.
• Responsible for assembling project plans and teamwork assignments, directing and monitoring work efforts on a daily base, performing quality review; and escalating functional, quality, timeline issues appropriately. Monitor progress against plan.
• Identify and schedule project deliverables, milestones and required tasks.
• Confer with project staff to outline work plan.
• Assign duties, responsibilities and scope of authority to project personnel.
• Direct and coordinate activities of project personnel to ensure project progresses on schedule and within budget.

Procurement management

• Coordinate the procurement activities to define the Procurement Management Plan.
• Conduct Procurement to make the appropriate decision on vendor and/or solution.
• Execute Control Procurement activities to assess whether vendor is delivering according to contract terms and conditions.

Risk management

• Perform risk management in order to minimize their impact on the project through risk identification, mitigation and control.

Communication management

• Develop communication plan defining the communication strategy with the different stakeholders.
• Review status reports prepared by project personnel and modify schedules or plans as required.
• Confer with project personnel to provide technical advice and to resolve problems.
• Get projects off the ground, keep them on track and on budget, and resolve issues with customers.
• Track project performance by analysing KPI’s related to time and budget using Earned Value Management technique.
• Monitors project activities, ensuring the accuracy, quality, and integrity of the information, while providing consistency in content and "look and feel" across the enterprise. Assures this is aligned with the PMO expectations and requirements.
• Assures requirements are met as put forward by the PMO regarding project management and methodologies, gates, documentation, reporting, ...
• Responsible for overall coordination, status reporting and stability of project-oriented work efforts.
• Prepare project reports for management, clients or others.
• Coordinate project activities with activities of business units.

Quality management

• Develop quality assurance test plans.
• Direct quality assurance testing.
• Provide leadership and motivation to project team members throughout the project life cycle.
• Lead the effort in creative approaches to problem solving and quality deliverables supporting business needs. 
• Ensure easy access to information that is useful to users.
• Understands how to leverage applications for competitive advantage

KPI’s

• Projects delivered on committed date.
• Projects delivered within budget.
• Projects delivered according to scope and (functional and non-functional) requirements.
• Projects with formal release approval / cancelled prior to implementation.
• Projects that adhere to a common / standardized delivery methodology and defined estimating model and have agreed project/quality/risk plans.
• Time allocation (Project Mgt / Analyze / Design / Build / Test / Deploy; Direct / Value-add / Administrative).

Qualifications, skills and experience required:
Mandatory

• Ability to manage internal and external development projects from inception to successful implementation.
• Solid understanding of the software development process, including requirement gathering, analysis/design, development tools/technologies, release/version control, contemporary testing methodologies and deployment management.
• Strong analysis, design and implementation experience with technologies.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; expertise in setting and managing customer expectations.
• Skill in conceptualizing creative solutions, as well as documenting them and presenting/selling them to senior management.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of business needs, with the ability to establish and maintain a high level of customer trust and confidence.
• Strong customer focus and ability to manage client expectations.
• Ability to communicate needs and schedules to IT and clients, as well as ensure that plans are in place and standards are adhered to.
• Solid project management skills with ability to multitask and manage multiple small to large projects in a cross-functional environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and motivate staff and to apply skills and techniques to solve dynamic problems (Conflict management).
• Ability to present and explain technical information in a way that establishes rapport, persuades others and gains understanding.
• Strong teamwork and interpersonal skills at all management levels.
• Ability to apply PMI practices to manage the project.
• Ability to operate under a dual reporting relationship (IT, customers).
• Ability to manage projects in parallel.
• Ability to travel to meet different stakeholders.
• Ability to lead project related meetings with IT and business members.

Desirable

• Solid understanding of current technologies, including Web enterprise servers, Java, JavaScript, HTML, Unix, Perl, TCP/IP, SQL, Oracle, various Web tools and Common Gateway Interface (CGI), as well as exposure to three-tier client/server development.
• Solid understanding of project methods including Waterfall, Agile.
• Understanding of how to leverage business applications for competitive advantage.
• Technical proficiency in hardware and systems software, as well as experience implementing packages and working with vendors.
• Ability to develop and deliver projects using leading-edge technology.
• Ability to blend creative, problem-solving and technical skills for refining existing theories or developing new system approaches to seize opportunities and sustain business success.

Honda is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in the workplace for all employees, temporary workers, contractors, applicants and visitors. Honda also encourages respect for the individual differences and talents of others while making full use of one's own abilities, based on Honda's philosophy of respect for the individual.

At Honda, we value and celebrate diversity and are committed to being a fair, non-discriminatory company that promotes and welcomes the uniqueness and differences of people around the world. We recognise that a diverse workforce allows for different ideas and perspectives, and we encourage everyone to share them. We strive to foster a culture of belonging that is consistent with Honda's core values and lived out in the way we work and respect each other. For us at Honda, diversifying our workforce means increasing its overall strength by providing people with equal opportunities - regardless of personal characteristics or previous careers.

This commitment flows directly from the Honda philosophy and the belief that we are all working towards a common goal. Honda recruits, hires, trains and promotes the most qualified/experienced individuals at all levels without regard to race, origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other protected characteristic.