The Opportunity:
Mesirow is an independent, employee-owned firm founded in 1937. As specialists in investment, risk management and advisory services, we are committed to helping our institutional, corporate, and individual clients achieve their objectives. We are proud of Mesirow's culture of fostering team member engagement, entrepreneurship, and empowerment. Our positive culture, volunteerism, and opportunity for advancement makes Mesirow one of the few employers to be included in both Chicago Tribune's Top Places to Work and Crain's Best Places to Work in Chicago.
Come join a team that is modernizing all aspects of technology. The Head of Project Management drives end-to-end project management and will be accountable for the overall planning, execution and success of complex, fast-paced, deadline driven projects and programs in an agile-centric environment. This technology leader will own our project portfolios across multiple business lines, including budget forecasting and resource forecasting.
The successful candidate will be self-motivated and energized by working amongst a diverse group of thoughtful, smart, fast-paced and successful colleagues. The candidate will enjoy being a part of an organization focused on excellence, be a strong team player with a proactive approach, and have the ability to take initiative with discretion and judgment.
Responsibilities:
Leadership

• Proven ability to lead, manage, and execute projects on time and under budget constraints.
• Manage our project lifecycle, including a culture of a Project Management Office (PMO).
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement initiatives within the product management function, leveraging industry best practices and emerging technologies.
• Responsible for enforcing project governance, documentation, and artifacts.
• Responsible for maintaining and managing multiple projects using modern frameworks and tools.

Business Partnership

• Proven ability to meet with business leaders and project stakeholders to build business requirements for high-impact strategic project initiatives.
• Partner with business stakeholders to understand and outline projects and business challenges.
• Establish strong working relationships with business members and associated vendor partners.
• Act as a trusted partner to executive leadership, providing strategic guidance and insights to inform key business decisions.

Technical Requirements

• Create, manage, and maintain portfolios, programs and projects, in partnership with our business objectives and driven by well documented project charters.
• Management and maintenance of budget forecasting, project plans, and resource allocation projections across all projects.
• Complete understanding of the project management frameworks and artifacts (e.g., charter, blueprint phase, execution, go-live support, operational handoff, etc).
• Develop high level detailed design documents and project plans to meet business requirements.
• Maintain clear project tracking, status, and risk assessments in an organized format.
• Manage cross-functional initiatives and resources in an agile-centric manner.
• Host meetings and standups, driving outcomes, and share recaps and next steps.
• Maintain open lines of communication with execution leadership, peers, and project resources.
• Align senior leadership on progress updates and tracking high-level goals.
• Foster product partnerships with external vendors and partners and understand key dependencies.
• This role requires strong communication and relationship building skills to effectively manage projects and programs with diverse teams, key stakeholders, and senior executives.
• Contribute and help evolve project management standards and capabilities.
• Drive the adoption of cutting - edge technologies and methodologies to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of product management process

Requirements: The ideal experience and critical competencies for the assignment include the following:

• Graduate Degree with 10 years of experience in managing medium-sized cross-functional teams (Preferred: Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science or other relevant field of study).
• Minimum Requirements: 7 years IT experience involving project management, product management, and business analysis.
• Minimum 5 years of experience working through design, development, release cycle and delivering software products to external or internal customers.
• Experience in financial management, budget oversight, regulatory compliance with understanding of relevant industry standards and regulations
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, ability to effectively communicate and interact with users on all levels.
• Strong relationship-building skills, flexible, patient; able to collaborate and influence at all levels (internal/external).
• Adaptable, flexible, and able to change gears quickly and nimbly when changes happen to processes and projects.
• Capable of working independently and handling a variety of initiatives/opportunities simultaneously.
• Proficient in Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.

EOE