Two of the most trusted names in educational publishing, Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, have joined to become Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Together, these companies will be able to offer more choices in educational publishing, with integrated and customized educational solutions as well as award-winning trade and reference materials from the industry's most distinguished list of authors. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will continue to support all of the products and programs their customers value and rely upon while, at the same time, investing in new product development and services. To learn more about Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt, visit www.hmco.com and www.harcourt.com. We are currently looking to hire a Sr. World Languages Program Manager (Project Manager) to report to the Vice President, Director of Program Management Office at our Holt McDougal Division. OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES: This position is responsible for the leadership, management, and oversight of product development projects for World Languages programs. Programs will consist of multiple product development projects of varying size and complexity. This position involves end-to-end management of programs to ensure that Holt McDougal delivers products to the market according to customer expectations, aligned with product line goals, on time, and profitably. This position maintains a consolidated view of project management activities over the life cycle of a program. This role will include direct interaction with a broad range of senior, technical, and functional management personnel. PRIMARY ACCOUNTABILITIES: Oversight and Program Planning Keep an objective, data-driven scorecard of key performance indicators over the life cycle of a program. Facilitate and oversee the project proposal process at each stage of development. Prepare scope documents for programs. Develop an end-to-end, realistic work plan in support of the program/project goals. Resolve project interdependencies, clarify roles and time allocations, and mesh the efforts of all functional areas (including outside vendors, customization, technology, global supply chain, or any other corporate shared services). Exhibit strong understanding of project and program requirements and critical success factors through interaction with key stakeholders. Communication and Reporting Serve as an independent, neutral voice to facilitate problem solving and develop recommendations for action. Compile and analyze reports from functional area management to inform program status and provide a consolidated status report to key stakeholders. Identify, address, and resolve key issues, risks, points of confusion, and disagreements Escalate project issues to appropriate managers. Facilitate program/project steering committees. Report on project schedule and budget performance, scope change, and quality. Organize and gather data for semi-annual World Languages product line reviews. Scheduling Develop milestone schedules and ensure that batch and internal schedules align with key due dates. Analyze schedules and workflows to anticipate unsupportable overlap of workload. Ensure that project teams have identified all interdependencies (e.g., print and technology) and have accounted for interdependencies in planning. Analyze schedule variances and facilitate problem solving with key stakeholders. Budget and Risk Monitoring Monitor and report financial key performance indicators and track against project plan. Coordinate the creation of full project budgets, including specifications. Analyze budget variance and facilitate problem solving with key stakeholders. Track program market performance to plan for program changes, ROI risk, and opportunity costs. Coordinate gathering of financial and other data for the development of Change Orders. Resource Management Compile and analyze resource key performance indicators and track against project resource plan. Determine project/program staffing requirements and form project team or staff programs. Demonstrate strong awareness of competing projects and initiatives and negotiate effectively to ensure maximum utilization of company resources. Require compliance to time reporting by all team members.
SKILLS/COMPETENCIES REQUIRED: Conceptual & analytical thinking; leadership & management; prioritization; collaboration; decision-making. Inter-personal / written / verbal communication; negotiation problem-solving; tactical execution; product & market knowledge; functional & computer proficiency. EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Required: College Degree; 3 - 5 years experience in project management or educational publishing product development. Preferred: Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. To apply for this position, please search on the career section of www.hmhpub.com. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is an Equal Opportunity Employer.