Project Manager for Noodle | Remote SA

Noodle is higher education’s leading strategy, services, and technology partner. We develop infrastructure, provide life-changing learning experiences, and grow the awareness of and the enrollment in some of the best academic institutions in the world. Our vision is “to empower universities to change the world.” We achieve this vision by offering our university partners various products and services that help them be more resilient, responsive, efficient, and interconnected.

The Learning Project Manager (PM) is part of a larger team tasked with creating exceptional learning experiences for learners. They support Noodle’s vision for exceptional online learning by managing program design and course build projects for our clients. The PM collaborates with Noodle’s Learning team to manage course builds ensuring they are completed on time and on budget providing the internal the team with seamless support.

As our Learning Project Manager you will:

• Ensure we deliver quality work against the Statement of Work meeting scope, schedule, cost, and quality metrics for the engagement.
• Ensure that all the relevant project stakeholders are aware of the timeline, budget, time allocation, and dependencies and are working toward common goals.
• Create and monitor project schedules in the project management software (Wrike) for use by the Learning team to ensure that the scope is completed on time and on budget.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to ensure a smooth experience and process.
• Manage invoicing, billing and budget so that courses do not exceed the budgeted amount allocated for development.
• Maintain documentation on assigned portfolios including the project plans, contracts, and artifact repositories.
• Manage project access to assigned project schedules, folders and artifacts.
• Coordinate client reviews and update client-facing schedules.
• Monitor and flag project risks and escalate to the appropriate stakeholders and support the team to overcome these.
• Provide weekly status reporting on the progress of your projects.
• Coordinate resource allocations and workload amongst the various projects based on business priorities both for short term and long-term planning.
• Assign resources and people to projects as needed.
• Track and communicate the teams whereabouts when on leave and update it in the project management system and address impact on projects accordingly.
• Identify and communicate opportunities to the Learning Department Leads/Vice President, PMO.
• Meet with Account Managers to manage and flag potential issues, pressure points, and/or non-deliverables.
• Lead meetings with project team members to set priorities and deadlines.

Project Management Competencies:

• Define project scope, budget, goals and deliverables and be able to update and adapt to changes as needed;
• Develop, manage and communicate project expectations internally and externally with clients; 
• Prioritize requests and escalate as required to your manager and account managers;
• Monitor, identify, flag, and troubleshoot project risks promptly. Escalate issues to the appropriate stakeholders and implementing risk mitigation strategies.
• Conduct project pre and post mortems and create recommendation reports.

Stakeholder Management Competencies:

• Effectively build and manage relationships with internal Program Design Teams and act as the relationship manager for Learning Operations on your assigned projects and leverage the relationship to assist with maintaining efficient operational processes;
• Matrix manage internal partners responsible for other operational areas associated with the projects;
• Effectively represent Noodle and the Learning team in meetings with clients.

Reporting, Budgeting & Revenue/Invoice Reconciliation Competencies:

• Compile various reports, presentations and other materials for reporting program information to the Head of Learning Operations and/or Finance as needed;
• Provide financial oversight in the tracking of project budgets, including but not limited to reconciliation, reporting, and understanding of variances.
• Report project status updates to the client. 

The ideal candidate will have:

• Certified Associate Project Management (CAPM) or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred and/or experience in general operations management
• Bachelor’s (required)
• Project management: 3 years (required)
• Budgeting and scope of work development: 3 years (preferred)
• Vendor management: 1 year (preferred)
• Curricular instruction or development: 1 year (preferred)
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Self starter, able to work autonomously and within ambiguity 
• Strong problem solving skills and analytical ability 
• Demonstrated attention to detail e.g. quality assurance
• Flexibility, versatility and comfort with change management
• Strong facilitation skills
• Strong project management and planning skills 
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously 
• Demonstrated proficiency in managing cross-functional departments to include solutions architecture, marketing, and student affairs
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Must be based in South Africa

Noodle Africa Benefits:

• The position will be located in South Africa and travel is expected periodically for company/team events.
• This is a full-time position.
• Remote working (within South Africa).
• Yearly education allowance for lifelong learning.
• Internet Allowance.
• Contribution to either Medical Aid or Retirement Annuity.

At Noodle, we hire people who will help us change the future of online education. Even if you don’t think you check off every bullet point on this list, we still encourage you to apply! We value both current experience and future potential.