Company :
Highmark Health
Job Description :
JOB SUMMARY
JOB SUMMARY
The Senior Project Manager is a critical leadership role within the Human Resources Project Management Office (HR PMO), responsible for leading the planning and delivery of the organization's most strategic and complex HR initiatives. This role partners across Human Resources, HR Technology, Operations, Finance, Information Technology, vendors, and business stakeholders to successfully deliver initiatives that drive measurable business outcomes.
While this position does not have direct people-management responsibilities, the incumbent serves as the functional leader of cross-functional project teams and is accountable for influencing, aligning, and driving execution across diverse stakeholder groups. The Senior Project Manager must effectively balance competing priorities, navigate organizational complexity, identify and mitigate risks, and escalate issues appropriately to ensure successful project delivery.
This role is responsible for managing multiple highly visible initiatives simultaneously, often involving executive leadership priorities, organizational transformation, HR technology implementations, mergers and acquisitions, process improvements, regulatory requirements, and enterprise-wide change initiatives.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Serve as a project leader for the definition, planning, and delivery of multiple large-scale product and technology projects, working with the executive sponsor (Director or higher) and other management as required to ensure achievement of the defined project goals. Receive high risk, visible efforts, must take a lead role in the successful delivery and implementation of cross-functional activities to achieve the desired results for a defined program and/or strategic initiative.
- Drive the day-to-day operation of projects (including budgetary oversight and staffing) ensuring that all projects are reliably delivered on time, on budget and with a consistently high standard of quality.
- Collaborate with all project stakeholders to proactively identify and mitigate project risks with frequent reevaluation and reprioritization of the risk register. Determine communication strategies and execute those to provide accurate and timely project information. Efficiently summarize and present complex ideas and/or data into a format that can be understood by all levels of the organization.
- Cultivate a customer-first attitude by forging relationships with stakeholders to better understand their needs and goals, and seek to discern what the customer impact will be for each project decision and/or action taken.
- Other duties as assigned or requested
EDUCATION
Required
- Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, Management Information Science or closely related field
Substitutions
Preferred
- Master's Degree in Business Administration, or Management Information Science
EXPERIENCE
Required
- 5 years in Project Management
- 5 years delivering business solutions using information technology
Preferred
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent project management training.
- Experience managing enterprise-wide HR, operations, technology, or transformation initiatives.
- Experience supporting executive leadership priorities and strategic organizational initiatives.
- Experience with mergers, acquisitions, integrations, divestitures, or workforce transitions.
- Understanding of project management methodologies including Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid delivery approaches.
- Experience managing vendor relationships and third-party implementation partners.
- Strong business acumen with demonstrated ability to connect project execution to organizational strategy and business outcomes.
Experience managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholder groups, significant dependencies, and organizational impact. - Experience leading matrixed teams without direct supervisory authority.
- Strong executive presence with the ability to communicate effectively with leaders at all levels of the organization.
- Ability to identify risks, manage ambiguity, and make sound recommendations in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience developing and presenting executive-level project updates, business cases, and risk assessments.
- Strong facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously while maintaining focus on strategic outcomes.
LICENSES OR CERTIFICATIONS
Required
Preferred
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
SKILLS
- Customer-first mindset. Skilled at anticipating customers' needs and the ability to build relationships that enable collaboration among all stakeholders and vendors
- Ability to drive change and thrive in ambiguity
- Can successfully manage scope, people and budgets through strategic planning of multiple projects not only for current phases, but for the future as well
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; Is articulate and can communicate succinctly to multiple levels within a matrixed organization; Must be comfortable presenting to large and diverse audiences
- Assertive leader who can analyze complex problems and works proactively to overcome obstacles by identifying risk and planning out mitigation and contingency strategies
- Strong leadership and interpersonal skills including experience with conflict resolution. Ability to pull together a group of people with diverse skills and make a functional team
- Passion for leading projects and interacting with people to drive technical solutions to a successful completion
- Proven ability to influence change and negotiate solutions
- Ability to lead others who will be running smaller sub-projects and provide mentorship/coaching to less experienced staff
Language (Other than English):
None
Travel Requirement
0% - 25%
PHYSICAL, MENTAL DEMANDS and WORKING CONDITIONS
Position Type
Office-based
Teaches / trains others regularly
Occasionally
Travel regularly from the office to various work sites or from site-to-site
Rarely
Works primarily out-of-the office selling products/services (sales employees)
Never
Physical work site required
Yes
Lifting: up to 10 pounds
Constantly
Lifting: 10 to 25 pounds
Occasionally
Lifting: 25 to 50 pounds
Rarely
Disclaimer: The job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this job title. It may not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to do this job.
Compliance Requirement: This job adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies.
As a component of job responsibilities, employees may have access to covered information, cardholder data, or other confidential customer information that must be protected at all times. In connection with this, all employees must comply with both the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices and Privacy Policies and Procedures as well as all data security guidelines established within the Company’s Handbook of Privacy Policies and Practices and Information Security Policy.
Furthermore, it is every employee’s responsibility to comply with the company’s Code of Business Conduct. This includes but is not limited to adherence to applicable federal and state laws, rules, and regulations as well as company policies and training requirements.
Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on any category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
California Consumer Privacy Act Employees, Contractors, and Applicants Notice