Principal Project Manager

About the role

The Principal Project Manager provides strategic leadership for Enterprise Technology's most complex and high-impact technology initiatives, helping shape how transformational programs are planned, governed, and delivered across the university.

Responsibilities

• Serve as program or project lead for the organization’s most complex, multi-year technology initiatives, including major enterprise system implementations, institutional transformation programs, and cross-functional modernization efforts.
• Maintain end-to-end accountability for program outcomes including scope, schedule, budget, quality, risk, and benefits realization across the full program lifecycle.
• Establish comprehensive program governance structures ensuring appropriate oversight and decision-making at each level.
• Drive resolution of escalated risks, issues, and strategic decisions by coordinating across institutional units, technical teams, and senior leadership.
• Ensure all program reporting and documentation meet institutional governance, compliance, and audit requirements throughout the program lifecycle.
• Serve as a central point of contact for project updates, status reporting, and key stakeholder communication.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as a trusted advisor to university leadership on program strategy, delivery risk, and institutional technology priorities, providing expert guidance on complex program decisions and trade-offs.
• Contribute to Enterprise Technology’s long-range planning and portfolio prioritization processes.
• Support governance bodies ensuring sound oversight of major initiatives and clear documentation of institutional decisions.
• Advise stakeholders across academic and administrative units on the delivery implications of strategic decisions, recommending approaches that balance institutional priorities with program integrity.

Team & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Oversee coordination across the broadest organizational scope, spanning academic units, administrative departments, external implementation partners, and technology vendors for the university’s most complex programs.
• Identify and manage strategic-level dependencies across concurrent institutional initiatives, proactively surfacing conflicts, capacity constraints, and integration risks to senior leadership.
• Design and facilitate governance structures and cross-institutional working groups that enable effective decision-making and accountability at the enterprise level.

Change Management & Institutional Readiness

• Lead change management efforts for enterprise-scale technology transformations, applying structured methodologies such as PROSCI ADKAR or equivalent to plan and execute comprehensive change strategies.
• Partner with academic and administrative unit leaders to assess organizational readiness, tailor change approaches to institutional culture and operating context, and address resistance effectively.
• Build long-term institutional capability for managing change and sustaining adoption, evaluating and reporting on change effectiveness throughout each program.

PM Practice & Standards Development

• Define, maintain, and continuously improve the organization’s project management standards, frameworks, tools, templates, and governance processes, ensuring alignment with industry best practices, higher education norms, and institutional requirements.
• Establish and facilitate communities of practice that promote knowledge sharing, methodological consistency, and professional development across all Enterprise Technology project managers.
• Audit organizational PM maturity and develop improvement roadmaps covering tooling, training, process changes, and governance enhancements.
• Identify, evaluate, and implement automation opportunities across the project management lifecycle including AI-assisted drafting of project charters, status reports, meeting summaries, risk logs, and other recurring deliverables to reduce manual effort and increase team capacity for strategic work.
• Continuously evaluate emerging technologies and methodologies for their applicability to program delivery, piloting and scaling those that improve outcomes for the team and its stakeholders.

Resource and Budget Management

• Work with Engagement and Experience leaders and other Enterprise Technology leadership to identify and allocate necessary resources to support project execution.
• Provide input on resource planning and staffing needs.
• Perform other related functions as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Business Administration, Project Management, or a related field.
• 12+ years of progressive project and program management experience, including 5+ years in enterprise-level roles.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-scale, multi-year technology programs with cross-institutional impact.
• Recognized expertise in multiple project management methodologies (Agile, SAFe, waterfall, hybrid) and change management frameworks.
• Experience establishing or significantly contributing to PM organizations, centers of excellence, or communities of practice.
• Proficiency with project tracking tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Jira).
• Strong executive-level communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Deep understanding of IT governance, portfolio management, and benefits realization frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a higher education, research university, or academic medical center environment.
• PMP or equivalent advanced certification.
• SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or equivalent scaled Agile certification.
• PROSCI Change Management Practitioner or equivalent.
• Master’s degree in a related field.

Benefits

• Competitive health benefits (employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%)
• Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options
• Generous paid vacation, sick time, and holidays
• Texas Teachers Retirement System (TRS) - a defined benefit retirement plan
• Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b)
• Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses
• Royalty-free access to LinkedIn Learning plus professional conference opportunities
• Tuition assistance
• Expansive employee discount program including athletic tickets
• Free access to UT Austin's libraries and museums with staff ID card
• Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Austin CapMetro buses with staff ID card

Pay

$124,968.00 + depending on qualifications

Schedule

Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm; Occasional nights and weekends may be required.