Senior Project Manager - Innovation

About the role

The Senior Project Manager – Innovation will join the Technology, Data & Innovation Project Management Office within the Chief Technology and Digital Officer Project Management Department. This department leads complex, strategic, and innovation-focused technology initiatives that support enterprise priorities, enable emerging capabilities, and ensure disciplined project delivery across technology and business partners. The Senior Project Manager plays a critical role in advancing institutional innovation by independently managing large, complex programs and projects that align technology, data, and innovation efforts with organizational strategy. Serving as the agent for project sponsors, the Senior Project Manager leads cross-functional teams, mentors project resources, and ensures delivery excellence through established PMO standards. Through strong leadership, business acumen, and technical insight, the Senior Project Manager – Innovation helps translate innovation into measurable outcomes. The ideal candidate brings extensive experience leading large-scale, healthcare technology-driven innovation initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Leadership & Strategic Alignment
  • Lead large, complex, and strategic programs and projects as the agent for the project sponsor.
  • Motivate, inspire, and guide cross-functional teams toward shared goals and outcomes.
  • Demonstrate strong facilitation, negotiation, problem-solving, critical thinking, and conflict resolution skills.
  • Coach and mentor Technology, Data & Innovation Project Managers and contract project resources.
  • Align project execution with business strategy and organizational priorities.
• Stakeholder & Business Management
  • Engage leaders and stakeholders to demonstrate value and manage expectations.
  • Establish and manage expectations for sponsors, steering teams, customers, users, and project teams.
  • Collaborate with sponsors, owners, and key stakeholders to ensure requirements are fully documented.
  • Participate in customer meetings to maintain awareness of institutional operations and needs.
• Project Delivery & Methodology
  • Apply project management frameworks and best practices supporting portfolio, resource, governance, and quality management.
  • Adhere to Technology, Data & Innovation PMO guiding principles and standards across all deliverables.
  • Initiate, plan, execute, control, and close projects following PMO methodology.
  • Develop, maintain, and present comprehensive project documentation including scope, schedules, timelines, budgets, risk logs, status reports, test plans, training plans, and transition to operations.
  • Ensure timely, accurate updates within PMO platforms and obtain customer approvals at all key milestones.
• Financial, Resource & Risk Management
  • Oversee allocation of human and financial resources to support project success.
  • Manage budgets, forecasts, cost analysis, and invoices to maintain financial control.
  • Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate project risks and issues.
• Technical & Operational Execution
  • Translate business goals into actionable strategies and tactical plans.
  • Partner with technical teams to document requirements, specifications, and system designs.
  • Drive quality of deliverables against defined metrics and outcomes.
  • Coordinate end-user training, production support models, and go-live readiness activities.

Requirements

• Education
  • Required: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Management Information Systems, Healthcare Administration, or a related field.
  • Preferred: Master’s degree.
  • May substitute required education degree with additional years of equivalent experience on a one-to-one basis.
• Work Experience
  • Option 1: 6 years of experience, including five years in project management and five years in application and/or infrastructure services.
  • Option 2: 4 years of experience, including three years in project management and three years in application and/or infrastructure services; preferred degree required.
• Preferred Experience
  • Extensive experience leading healthcare technology-driven product or system innovation projects, ideally involving hardware, embedded systems, or integrated platforms.
  • Proven track record leading innovation, R&D, or emerging-tech initiatives (e.g., AI/ML, automation, cloud modernization, IoT, data platforms).
  • Experience delivering enterprise-scale IT solutions with measurable business outcomes.
  • Familiarity with innovation frameworks such as design thinking, lean experimentation, rapid prototyping, or venture incubation.
• Technical & Domain Skills
  • Strong understanding of modern IT architectures: cloud services, APIs, microservices, data pipelines, security fundamentals.
  • Ability to evaluate and translate emerging technologies into practical use cases.
  • Comfortable partnering with engineering teams to define technical feasibility, constraints, and solution approaches.
  • Ability to interpret data analytics, user research, and technical metrics to guide decisions.
• Strategic & Business Capabilities
  • Ability to define innovation roadmaps, opportunity assessments, and business cases.
  • Skilled at identifying high-value problems and validating assumptions through experimentation.
  • Experience managing portfolio-level prioritization and balancing short-term wins with long-term bets.
  • Strong financial acumen: ROI modeling, cost/benefit analysis, and value realization tracking.
  • Comfortable running pilot programs, proof-of-concepts, and phased rollouts.
• Work Location

  Hybrid work schedule with onsite presence twice per month; preference for candidates located in or near Houston, Texas.

• Licenses and Certifications

  Preferred: Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) – PMI.

Pay

Minimum: $123,000 | Midpoint: $154,000 | Maximum: $185,000

Benefits

• Employer-paid medical coverage starting day one for employees working 30+ hours/week.
• Optional group dental, vision, life, AD&D, and disability insurance.
• Accruals for PTO and Extended Illness Bank, plus paid holidays.
• Wellness, childcare, and other leave options.
• Tuition Assistance Program after six months of service.
• Access to extensive wellness, fitness, and employee resource groups.
• Defined-benefit pension through the Teachers Retirement System.
• Voluntary retirement plans and employer-paid life and reduced salary protection programs.