Project Manager/Business Analyst

The Project Manager/Business Analyst (hybrid role) will demonstrate team leadership skills and use industry best practices throughout the project life cycle to manage the project scope, resources and schedule. This individual will identify and monitor project risks and issues as well as the project budget. They will serve as the liaison to third party vendors and suppliers and manage vendor contracts to track adherence to project deliverables and timelines. They will elicit and document business requirements, write user stories and develop process diagrams as well as develop test plans and work with the team to lead them through UAT. They will document lessons learned at project closure and identify opportunities for continuous improvement. This individual must possess excellent communication and relationship building skills.

Responsibilities

Essential functions and responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Project Management

• Leadership/industry best practices
  • Use industry best practices, techniques and standards to lead teams throughout the entire project life cycle. (Recognized project management and business analysis organizations include PMI, Scrum Alliance, IIBA.)
• Relationship building/communication
  • Build and maintain relationships with key project stakeholders and vendors.
  • Provide project updates on a consistent basis to appropriate stakeholders about timeline, issues and progress.
• Scope management
  • Define and manage project scope and objectives.
• Resource management
  • Identify resources needed to reach objectives and manage resources in an effective and efficient manner to accomplish the work of the project.
• Project plan/schedule management
  • Develop and manage a detailed project schedule and work plan. Monitor progress and make adjustments as needed.
• Project budget management
  • Work with key stakeholder(s) to manage a budget based on scope of work and resource requirements. Track project costs in order to meet budget.
• Vendor liaison/contract management
  • Serve as liaison to 3rd party vendors. Manage contracts, statements of work, and/or change orders with vendors and suppliers.  Monitor tasks and communicate and track expected deliverables. This is an auditable activity.
• Project performance/continuous improvement
  • Document Lessons Learned at project closure.
  • Survey the project team to understand project performance and identify areas for continuous improvement.

Business Analysis

• Needs and Requirements
  • Elicit, analyze, specify, and validate the business needs of stakeholders/end users.
  • Conduct interviews to gather user requirements via workshops, questionnaires, surveys, site visits, workflow storyboards, use cases, scenarios, and other methods.
  • Translate conceptual customer requirements into functional requirements in a clear manner that is comprehensible to developers/project team.
• Documentation
  • Use standard templates to document and obtain stakeholder approval for:
    • business requirements and
    • reports and visualizations specifications.
  • Assist with the development of user stories, use cases and test cases.
  • Create process and specification models, diagrams, and charts as necessary.
• Quality Assurance
  • Manage and track the status of requirements throughout the project lifecycle; enforce and redefine as necessary.
  • Participate in QA of software or other project solutions to ensure the features and functions have been enabled and developed to meet business needs and requirements.

As part of the validation of needs and requirements:

• Establish the testing approach and coordinate and lead UAT testing with appropriate SMEs & stakeholders.
• Monitor and track any issues to resolution.

Qualifications

• Required Education: Bachelor’s degree. Preferred Education: Master’s degree in IT related disciplines.
• Proficient in Google Docs, Drive and/or Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Project.
• Required Years of Experience: At least three (3) years of project management and business analysis experience. Preferred Years of Experience: Four (4) or more years of project management experience. PMP® (Project Management Professional) and/or PMI-ACP® (PMI Agile Certified Practitioner) preferred
• IIBA business analyst certifications
• Preferred previous technical consulting experience.
• Nonprofit experience preferred

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to demonstrate leadership and teamwork skills to complete projects successfully.
• High degree of organization; detail-oriented.
• Ability to prioritize and manage competing project tasks in order to manage timelines and schedules for successful project completion.
• Ability to make effective decisions under pressure.
• Ability to research, analyze and make recommendations to resolve issues or project challenges.
• Ability to communicate effectively, in writing or verbally, with technical and non-technical end-users.

Title:  Project Manager/Business Analyst

Position Location: Chicago, IL (Hybrid)

Full time based on 37.5 hours per week minimum

Position Grade: 509 Exempt

Reports To: Sr. Director, Project Management

Who We Are:

The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Our mission is to lead the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia- by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support.

At the Alzheimer’s Association, our employees are at the core of all we do. Our network of more than 1,900 employees across the United States makes a difference each and every day for those impacted by Alzheimer’s and those at risk for the disease.

We warmly invite qualified applicants to consider this opportunity to make a life-changing impact on the millions living with Alzheimer’s, their caregivers and those that may develop the disease in the future. Read on to learn more about the role, then visit our website www.alz.org/jobs to explore who we are and why we've been recognized as a Best Place to Work for the last twelve years in a row.

At the Alzheimer's Association®, we believe that diverse perspectives are critical to achieving health equity - meaning that all communities have a fair and just opportunity for early diagnosis and access to risk reduction and quality care. The Association is committed to engaging underrepresented and underserved communities and responding with resources and education to address the disproportionate impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The Alzheimer’s Association is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Employees working 24 hours/week or more are eligible for a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, flex accounts, short and long-term disability, life insurance, long term care insurance, tuition reimbursement, generous Paid Time Off, 12 annual holidays and Paid Family Leave, as well as an annual Cultural & Heritage Day and Volunteer Day of their choosing. They are also eligible for our gold standard 401(k) retirement plan.

Full time employees (37.5 hours/week), will enjoy all of the above plus an annual School Visitation Day and an Elder Care Facility Day of their choosing.