Senior Project Manager

Career Area:
Technology, Digital and Data

Job Description:
Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do - but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here - we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Updated: 06/20/2024

Role Definition
Oversees the planning, organization and implementation of multiple and complex digital projects.

Responsibilities
- Managing the day-to-day activities of projects, including overseeing project responsibilities and schedules. Developing contingency plans for potential risks.
- Directing and motivating project team.
- Evaluating and managing deliverables to ensure that service expectations are achievable, developed, and met.
- Monitoring project results for significant deviations. Ensuring adherence to quality standards and processes.

Degree Requirement
Degree or equivalent experience desired

Skill Descriptors
Planning: Tactical, Strategic: Knowledge of effective planning techniques and ability to contribute to operational (short term), tactical (1-2 years) and strategic (3-5 years) planning in support of the overall business plan.
Level Extensive Experience:

- Develops, refines, and communicates tactical plans for own responsibilities.
- Provides the right level of detail as input for strategic plan development.
- Demonstrates the value and necessity of linking tactical plans to overall strategic plan.
- Ensures attention to the detail and dependencies of existing departmental-level plans.
- Plans for allocation of resources in line with unit goals, technical and business objectives.
- Ensures the planning process is integrated with the overall business plan.

Project Administration: Knowledge of project administration best practices and ability to use organizational strategies, practices and tools for administering projects.
Level Extensive Experience:

- Reports dependencies, conflicts, and completion date status to project management team.
- Develops cost-benefit analysis; tracks and reviews actual costs vs. planned.
- Helps others to develop in-depth knowledge of project administration software.
- Implements planned and ad-hoc communications to and from affected parties.
- Monitors progress and generates project variance analysis reports.
- Makes sure project problems are surfaced and reported to appropriate project team members.

Decision Making and Critical Thinking: Knowledge of the decision-making process and associated tools and techniques; ability to accurately analyze situations and reach productive decisions based on informed judgment.
Level Extensive Experience:

- Differentiates assumptions, perspectives, and historical frameworks.
- Evaluates past decisions for insights to improve decision-making process.
- Assesses and validates decision options and points and predicts their potential impact.
- Advises others in analyzing and synthesizing relevant data and assessing alternatives.
- Uses effective decision-making approaches such as consultative, command, or consensus.
- Ensures that assumptions and received wisdom are objectively analyzed in decisions.

Data Gathering and Reporting: Knowledge of tools, techniques and processes for gathering and reporting data; ability to practice them in a particular department or division of a company.
Level Extensive Experience:

- Prepares cost-benefit analyses of alternative approaches.
- Analyzes complex reports as revealed by the data.
- Teaches others the calculations necessary to capture data and develop more complex reports.
- Oversees multiple data-gathering and analysis initiatives.
- Participates in developing criteria for selecting data gathering and reporting tools and techniques for various projects.
- Reviews and verifies data and reports for accuracy.

Level Working Knowledge:
IT Project Control and Reporting: Knowledge of project control and reporting; ability to monitor the vital signs of an IT project while managing its progress and delivery schedule.
Level Working Knowledge:

- Tracks issues and potential problems to ensure maximum preparedness for IT projects.
- Uses Gantt and PERT/CPM charts to report IT project progress to management and clients.
- Revisits and reworks individual work plans to ensure intermediate deadlines are attainable.
- Conducts regular ad-hoc progress meetings with IT project teams.
- Tracks and reports on the progress made in an IT project team.

IT Project Management: Knowledge of project management; ability to plan, organize, monitor and control IT projects using appropriate technical resources.
Level Extensive Experience:

- Controls quality standards and budgeting in an ongoing IT project.
- Estimates and appropriately addresses p