Project Manager, Operations - REMOTE from any US based location

Washington National Insurance Company is a leading insurance and financial services company focused on securing the future of middle-income America. They are seeking a Project Manager, Operations to lead and manage multiple large complex projects, drive business value, and collaborate across departments to deliver significant outcomes.

Responsibilities:

• Manages multiple large, complex, and generally unrelated projects simultaneously, with budgets up to $2M
• Leads projects using various PPM approaches, including Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid SDLC, with specialized expertise in one or more
• Defines and refines project scope, budget, objectives, resources, tools, success metrics, and key milestones
• Conducts planning to set realistic targets for the project team
• Negotiates and delivers resource commitments across departments and teams
• Acts as liaison between Consumer Operations PMO (CO-PMO), other PMOs, and the Project Competency Center (PCC)
• Possesses strong understanding of business areas to recommend solutions for complex issues
• Conducts complex process mapping, recommends and executes process improvements, and manages Agile/sprint-based implementations
• Develop plans to address complex risks and issues; recommend PMO best practices
• Reviews quality management methods and plans accordingly
• Uses creative problem-solving to modify processes and procedures, providing significant input into overall project management for Operations
• Identifies, recommends, reviews, and approves changes to process documentation, tools, templates, ensuring proper use by CO-PMO team
• Leads in securing tools and information to enable optimal team performance
• Works within high authority limits to deliver and execute on resource commitments
• Manages large internal and external resources with competing demands and cross-functional intersections on large projects
• Conducts recurring stakeholder analyses to formulate communication and change management plans
• Ensures successful implementation of projects and processes
• Recognizes and eliminates process waste
• Manages closing activities, including final documentation and lessons learned
• Develops and utilizes governance methodology, tools, and templates as defined by IT-PCC and CO-PMO
• Overseas, monitors, and develops risk strategies for issues, risks, and action logs
• Build consensus among competing business goals with strong business knowledge
• Demonstrates good commercial awareness and understanding of CNO
• Presents business cases, project updates, and status reports to all impacted levels of the organization
• Persuades and influences others, especially at senior levels within the function
• Solves complex problems and plays a significant role in decision making
• Draws from professional and technical expertise to influence decisions and deliver on strategic goals
• Provides input to technical consultants for process upgrades, re-builds, or re-designs
• Mentors, coaches, and trains team members; facilitates training delivery and develops materials
• May supervise one or two direct reports assisting with project efforts
• Demonstrates mastery in at least one project management methodology and solid experience with all, including Agile, Lean (PDCA, DMAIC, Kaizen), Six Sigma, Waterfall

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in management operations or 8 years related field or equivalent experience required
• 7 years' experience of related experience, with increasing responsibilities
• Requires one or more of the following certifications and will acquire additional certifications within two years in this role: PMP, Lean, Six Sigma Green Belt, and/or Agile/Scrum Master preferred
• Solid knowledge of data visualization tools such as Tableau
• Extensive experience with Innotas/Project Server or similar tools
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio, and other business-related software
• Master's degree or equivalent 12 years' experience in related field preferred
• Advanced knowledge with sales technology tools and processes preferred
• Strong problem-solving and prioritization abilities with open phones lines
• The ability to show strong customer service and etiquette over the phone, email and teams' chat
• Excellent relationship management and teamwork skills
• Proficient conflict and issue resolution capabilities
• Collaborative and partnership-oriented mindset
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated customer focus, including handling escalated issues
• Exceptional project management skills, able to deliver on large and complex projects simultaneously and adapt quickly to changing or competing priorities
• Possesses strong verbal and written communication skills for effective interaction with the business, third-party vendors, and managed service providers
• Demonstrates mastery in at least one project management methodology and solid experience with all, including Agile, Lean (PDCA, DMAIC, Kaizen), Six Sigma, Waterfall, etc
• Has a good understanding of the insurance industry and is aware of the latest market developments and changes