Description
Reporting to the Chief Advancement Officer, with dual accountability to the Director, Information Services, the Project Manager (PM) plays a pivotal leadership role in delivering a multi-year Advancement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) transformation. Advancement encompasses the University’s fundraising, alumni engagement, and donor relations functions. This initiative represents both a technology implementation and a broader business transformation.
The PM provides day-to-day leadership for the CRM transformation initiative and is accountable for successful project delivery, including scope, schedule, milestones, budget, quality, and transition to operations, in alignment with the strategic direction established by the Chief Advancement Officer. Working within a joint execution model, the PM partners closely with the selected CRM vendor, internal technology teams, and Advancement leadership to ensure coordinated, transparent, and disciplined execution.
A self-motivated professional with strong communication and constituent engagement skills, the PM champions collaborative relationships with internal and external partners, including Advancement, Enterprise IT Services, and third-party vendors. The PM provides project management expertise to cross-functional teams and ensures alignment between technology delivery and business process redesign to support long-term institutional capability.
The PM ensures best practices are applied throughout the systems development lifecycle by actively coordinating project management deliverables, risk and issue management, change enablement activities, and transition planning. The role carefully monitors all aspects of project performance to ensure successful implementation, adoption, and long-term sustainability.
KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Leads the planning and execution of the Advancement CRM transformation, coordinating human and financial resources to develop technology and business process solutions within a well-defined scope, committed resources, clearly defined milestones, and approved budgets, ensuring on-time delivery and achieving defined business outcomes.
Oversees vendor performance and deliverables to ensure contractual obligations, timelines, and quality standards are met.
Collaborates with IT professionals and key business owners to define operational objectives and provide leadership for successful execution; oversees project schedule, timelines, and milestones, monitoring performance for alignment with project goals.
Leads diverse, cross-functional project teams using effective and efficient communication methods to provide work direction, and technical and functional guidance. Manages schedules, assigns work, oversees completion of deliverables, and coordinates the workflow of project team members, committees, and other constituents.
Partners with cross-functional constituents to coordinate change management and operational readiness activities, ensuring effective transition of the CRM system into sustained operations.
Encourages effective collaboration to mitigate team conflicts and communication challenges; fosters a positive team environment, recognizes contributions, and facilitates regular meetings to ensure project deliverables remain on track.
Creates and maintains comprehensive project documentation; ensures transparency and timely dissemination of information; coordinates interrelated project activities across internal teams and external partners. Contributes to the strategic direction, resource allocation planning, and operational planning related to the CRM initiative. Provides strategic and tactical advice, as well as guidance and coaching to project team members and contributing resources.
Performs risk management activities to identify, assess, and mitigate project risks.
Measures project performance using appropriate systems, techniques and tools; collects, compiles and analyzes data to assess effectiveness and adjusts project plans as needed.
Adapts to changing priorities quickly and works with the project team to identify/overcome challenges while maintaining momentum to meet milestones.
Uses effective influencing strategies to persuade, build consensus, and gain commitment from key constituents.
Ensures appropriate quality assurance processes are applied to key project deliverables.
Conducts post-implementation reviews to identify lessons learned and opportunities for improvement; creates summary report of findings and recommendations to share with key constituents.
Prepares and delivers regular project status reports and presentations to executive sponsors and key constituents; escalates risks and issues as required.
Supports identification and tracking of operational and strategic outcomes, as well as success metrics, to ensure the CRM solution delivers process improvements, efficiency gains, and enables Advancement’s strategic objectives.
Promotes an inclusive and respectful team environment that values diversity and collaboration.
Applies knowledge of IT industry best practices, standards, and resources to support continuous improvement and optimization of IT delivery effectiveness.
Undertakes other duties as assigned in support of the CRM initiative and/or department.
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Embodies Advancement’s core values of integrity, inclusivity, accountability, collaboration, and service.
Demonstrates commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment where there is mutual respect. Ability to work effectively and collaboratively at all levels across the university.
Builds strong, trusted relationships with internal and external constituents, by exercising sound judgment, demonstrating accountability and integrity, and focusing on outcomes that advance both constituent and organizational objectives.
Fosters a high-performing project environment by providing guidance, facilitating collaboration, and motivating cross-functional teams to achieve shared objectives.
Champions change and guides teams through transitions, maintaining momentum and client-focused outcomes. Communicates confidently and clearly with diverse audiences, translating technical concepts into actionable information for constituents and leadership. Utilizes excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Relies on experience, thinking several steps ahead in deciding the best course of current/future actions to develop, recommend policy framework based on analysis of emerging trends.
Maintains accountability for results by setting clear objectives aligned with organizational goals, executing plans within established timelines, and proactively developing and integrating long-term initiatives. Develops creative ideas that provide solutions to all types of CRM challenges.
Demonstrates a commitment to continuous learning and professional growth to enhance project effectiveness and drive successful outcomes.
DECISION MAKING:
Plans, implements, and evaluates project objectives and determines action plans to meet goals and priorities; makes recommendations regarding the overall functionality of the project in conjunction with Advancement leadership, IT Services, and external vendors to ensure alignment with institutional objectives.
Proactively develops and recommends modifications to the master project schedule to enhance effectiveness and ensure alignment with CRM program outcomes and institutional goals.
In consultation with the Chief Advancement Officer, makes financial decisions such as approval of project expenditures and ensures that the project-related procurement activity complies with the Queen's policies.
Exercises good judgement in overseeing the development and implementation of solutions and remedies to operational challenges.
Develops processes and systems that are consistent with organizational goals.
Determines project priorities and decides on the utilization of staffing resources and the assignment of work to achieve optimum efficiencies and productivity while considering peak periods and project assignments.
Determines the most appropriate and efficient communication methods to ensure team members and constituents receive timely, actionable project updates.
Handles operational incidents so that service levels are maintained at a reasonable level and organizational responsibilities are met.
Assesses risks and issues affecting project delivery and determines appropriate actions to mitigate impact and ensure successful outcomes.
Makes decisions to guide change management and operational readiness activities, ensuring smooth adoption and sustainable implementation of the CRM system.
Requirements
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
University degree with a concentration in business, project management, IT management, computer science or related field.
Minimum five years of experience managing complex, cross-functional technology projects in a decentralized environment, preferably including CRM implementations or other large scale business system initiatives that integrate with platforms, data environments, and third-party applications; demonstrated experience implementing Salesforce-based or comparable cloud CRM solutions is considered a strong asset.
Demonstrated experience in strategy development and implementation, project planning and tracking, and program analysis, including the preparation and management of project documentation, status reports, governance reports, technical materials, and presentations. Experience leading change management initiatives, operational transitions, and risk management to ensure objectives are achieved.
Understands and applies ethical standards and relevant legislation related to donor, alumni, and constituent information, ensuring that project decisions and system design maintain privacy, security, and compliance.
Proven successful experience leading diversified teams, combined with facilitation and conflict identification/resolutions skills.
Certification in PMP, PRINCE2 or Master’s program is an asset.
Organizational Change Management certification considered an asset.
Consideration may be given to an equivalent combination of education and experience.
