Director, Project Management

About The National Hockey League

Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL) is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

With more than 1500 employees across the US and Canada, the NHL is a global sports and entertainment organization committed to building healthy and vibrant communities using the sport of hockey to celebrate fans of every race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.

At the NHL, we are looking for dynamic, energetic and impactful individuals who are committed to doing the same by sharing in our philosophy that Hockey is for Everyone – and inclusion belongs on the ice, in the locker rooms, boardrooms and stands.

Summary

WHAT WE EXPECT OF YOU

This individual’s primary responsibility will be managing the development and delivery of new features, enhancements, and bug fixes for the League’s electronic medical records system (EMR), developed by a third party vendor. They will serve as an advocate for stakeholders, and will work closely with the third party product, project and engineering teams to provide guidance and recommendations as needed to ensure timely delivery of software releases that meet the requirements of the stakeholders.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

Project Management

Project Governance:

1. Support overall strategic governance for projects by adhering to standards, processes, and tools used for effective project delivery.
2. Ensure League security policies are communicated to internal and external project team members and are considered in the software development lifecycle; identify and escalate potential risks to the business and Cybersecurity teams for evaluation and remediation.
3. Educate project team members on governance and security policies relevant to project.

Initiation:

1. Guide the business through the project approval process starting with demand. Demonstrate clear understanding of business objectives and how they may impact overall League strategic goals.
2. Manage assessments by legal and SecOps groups and ensure any concerns or issues are escalated appropriately.
3. Confirm project scope and business requirements are clear, complete and support business objectives.
4. Lead vendor selection process by identifying key requirements, scheduling demonstrations, and documenting feedback for vendor evaluation.
5. Develop and manage business unit and project level budgets.
6. Identify project resources needed and define roles and responsibilities. Forecast project resources needs and adjust resourcing as needed.
7. Educate project resources on business objectives and processes needed to design and develop successful implementation.

Planning:

1. Review and complete project plans focused on attaining scope and business objectives consistent with the strategic goals of the League.
2. Manage the process to interview business owners and subject matter experts and document detailed business requirements and process flows (As Is & To Be).

Execution:

1. Manage collection of project documentation and ensure documentation is complete and updated throughout project life cycle.
2. Provide project updates on a consistent basis to various stakeholders and resource groups about strategy, adjustments, and progress.
3. Continuously confirm project deliverables are on schedule to meet business objects and lead team in removing obstacles that cause delays.
4. Confirm decisions are sound and documented with clear business and technical rationale.
5. Present stakeholders with any change to design and articulate how the change impact’s original objective.
6. Lead the project team(s) by building and motivating team members to meet project goals, fulfill their responsibilities and meet project milestones.
7. Manage members of the project management team in project methodology.
8. Proactively communicate and resolve risks/issues that may impede project delivery.
9. Obtain stakeholder sign-off / approval on specifications, testing, and deployments.
10. Collaborate with technical teams and solution architects in designing optimal solution that meets business objective.
11. Ensure technical team members have a clear understanding of business needs and processes.

Closure:

1. Perform organizational change management analysis and align necessary communication to various audiences and needs.
2. Execute against the organizational change management plan to increase speed of user adoption.
3. Provide project implementation support and post-implementation support through successful handoffs to business owners.
4. Review and approve all operational documentation to handover to the ServiceDesk to ensure appropriate post-launch support is available.
5. Manage development of DR/BC process definition and develop SLAs and target recovery times to ensure performance meeting business expectations.

Business Relationship Management / Service Management:

1. Develop and maintain strong partnerships with one or more business units, serving as point of contact for issue escalation and service management.
2. Review health of business service(s) with owner by providing frequent metric updates on incidents, requests, demands and projects.
3. Ensure service levels are continuously met by reviewing updates from IT Application Owner(s) for business unit applications.

Other Key Responsibilities:

1. Lead the development of strategic IT roadmaps for business units.
2. Review business unit portfolio plans with business owner(s), confirm the demand is captured with all relevant details and aligned to business unit strategic goals.
3. Provide input to project team assignments based on skills, bandwidth, and career interests.
4. Collaborate with leadership on approval and prioritization of incoming project requests.
5. Support overall strategic governance for projects by adhering to standards, processes, and tools used for effective project delivery.
6. Mentor others by being a role model and providing support and direction on their work.
7. Promote professional growth of direct report(s) through coaching.
8. Develop and maintain partnerships with third-party resources, including vendors and consultants.

Qualifications

Knowledge Areas/Experience

Required

1. 8+ years of hands-on experience as a Project Manager or Project Lead.
2. Proven ability to multi-task and determine priority with little to no direction from management/executive teams across multiple projects.
3. Ability to lead and work collaboratively in a cross-disciplinary team.
4. Demonstrated drive for results and holds oneself accountable for meeting the needs of the business.
5. Solid understanding of technical concepts with demonstrated ability to learn and embrace new and changing technologies, applications, and solutions.
6. Highly organized and detailed oriented; ability to understand the big picture and work on projects with diverse goals.
7. Able to apply an effective set of decision-making processes and analytical tools to guide group and individual decision making.
8. Excellent verbal and written communication skills a must, with the ability to communicate with all levels of stakeholders across the organization and across technical and non-technical disciplines.
9. Demonstrate decisiveness in resolving business problems, making decisions, and identifying priorities.
10. Develop and maintain effective relationships business owners and project team members.

Education/Certifications

1. Bachelor’s degree from 4-year university or equivalent experience.

Required Skills

1. Proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Project.
2. Proficiency with Visio or other workflow/process mapping tools.
3. Experience with JIRA, Gitlab issues, or other development and project planning tools.
4. Proven ability to work in an ambiguous environment and collaborate across multiple areas to achieve a common business objective.
5. Ability to be comfortable with details and complexities without losing sight of the big picture.
6. Strong analytical skills with demonstrated ability to think critically and develop creative solutions to complex business issues.
7. Strong leadership skills with ability to manage and influence people who are not direct reports.

CORE COMPETENCIES

These core competencies reflect the underlying values that are necessary to represent the National Hockey League:

1. Accountability
2. Adaptability
3. Communication
4. Critical Thinking
5. Inclusion
6. Professionalism
7. Teamwork & Collaboration

The NHL offers U.S. regular, full-time employees:

1. Time to Recharge : Utilize our generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to focus on your well-being and ensure a healthy work/life balance. PTO includes paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick days, plus an extra day off for your birthday.
2. Ability to Focus on your Health: Along with competitive salaries, the NHL offers comprehensive health benefits to employees and their eligible dependents effective on their first day with us – there is no waiting period. The NHL subsidizes a large portion of the health benefits costs, therefore your cost for medical, dental and vision coverage is minimal.
3. Childcare Leave: Because your family is the NHL family, employees are offered comprehensive Childcare Leave to welcome your new addition. The primary caregiver to the child is entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.
4. Employees that are not the primary caregiver to the child are entitled to up to 6 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, which must be taken within the first 6 months following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.
5. Confidence in your Retirement Goals: Participate in the NHL’s Savings Plan which includes a 401K (pre-tax and Roth options) plus non-elective (employer) contributions to keep your retirement goals on track.
6. A Hybrid Work Schedule : The NHL recognizes the value of flexibility in work locations/schedules to help our employees balance work/life priorities. Hybrid work schedules are available for a majority of our roles.
7. Our New Headquarters: Our new, state of the art, offices are located at One Manhattan West in Hudson Yards. When you’re in the office, you can conduct meetings in one of our high-tech conference rooms, have lunch with a view or play in the game room. Employees can also enjoy New York’s newest neighborhood that is home to more than 100 shops, culinary experiences, and public artwork.
8. A Savings for Commuting: Participate in the NHL’s pre-tax commuter benefit plan which helps offset the financial cost of traveling to and from our office.
9. NHL Partner Rates: Unlock exclusive pricing from our Partners that include savings on travel, consumer goods and services, plus the NHL Store.
10. Life at the NHL: In your first few days, you meet with your new teammates and the HR Team. You have the opportunity to learn more about the NHL and our workplace culture. Employees are invited to play hockey during our Tuesday Night Skate at Chelsea Piers, join our Employee Resource Groups and more. You are a part of our team and we encourage you to be your authentic self, adding to our dynamic workplace culture.
11. SALARY RANGE: $140-170K. Actual base pay for a successful candidate will be determined based on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to: experience/training, market demands, and geographic location.

When applying, please be sure to include a cover letter with your salary expectations for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity, however only qualified candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. NO EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.