Senior Project Manager

Farah Experiences LLC; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 320,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Masarra DMC seeks a Senior Project Manager to lead governance, business analysis, planning, coordination, and delivery of strategic initiatives. You will work with stakeholders, technology teams, vendors, and sponsors to define requirements and ensure successful delivery from initiation through closure.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree and at least seven years of project management experience in complex environments; PMP/PRINCE2 is desirable.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in project management, business administration, or related field.
• Minimum seven years' experience managing projects or programmes within complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional project teams and managing project budgets.
• Experience establishing or improving PMO functions.
• Strong PMO governance, demand management, prioritisation, portfolio reporting, and budget/resource tracking.
• Experience in business requirements gathering, process mapping, gap analysis, stakeholder workshops, and User Acceptance Testing.
• Previous experience in tourism, hospitality, destination management, or a related sector.
• Desirable Master's degree in project management, business management, or related discipline.
• Professional certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, or Agile (Desirable).

Responsibilities

• Lead PMO governance and portfolio management activities, ensuring standards, templates, and tools are applied.
• Oversee demand intake, prioritisation based on business value, cost, capacity, risks, and dependencies.
• Maintain portfolio visibility with status, milestones, budgets, resources, risks, and dependencies.
• Coordinate budget forecasting, resource planning, and capacity tracking across the portfolio.
• Lead stakeholder workshops and coordinate cross-functional teams across business, technology, finance, procurement, operations, and vendors.
• Manage UAT, test scenarios, defect resolution, retesting, and sign-off.
• Define project scope, plans, milestones, budgets, resources, deliverables, and dependencies.
• Coordinate testing, implementation readiness, cutover, transition to operations, and project closure.
• Document lessons learned and ensure outstanding actions are tracked.

Skills

PMO governance

Portfolio management

Budget tracking

Stakeholder management

Business analysis

Vendor management

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

UAT coordination

Delivery methods

Education

Bachelor's degree in PM / Business / related field

Master's degree in PM / Business (Desirable)

Job description

Job description

Masarra DMC is looking for an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead the governance, business analysis, planning, coordination, and delivery of strategic, technology, and operational initiatives. Reporting to the D&T Business Partner Director, the role will support the effective management of the project portfolio through structured demand intake, prioritization, portfolio reporting, budget and capacity tracking, and governance.

The Senior Project Manager will work closely with business stakeholders, technology teams, vendors, and project sponsors to define requirements and ensure projects are successfully delivered from initiation through implementation, cutover, and closure.

Key Responsibilities

PMO Governance and Portfolio Management

• Establish and maintain project governance standards, processes, templates, and PMO tools.
• Manage demand intake, assessment, and prioritisation based on business value, strategic alignment, cost, capacity, dependencies, and risk.
• Maintain portfolio visibility across project status, milestones, budgets, resources, risks, and dependencies.
• Support portfolio budget, forecast, resource, and capacity tracking.
• Coordinate project reviews, portfolio reviews, steering committees, and escalations.
• Ensure projects have clearly defined scope, sponsorship, ownership, objectives, benefits, budgets, and success measures.
• Prepare portfolio dashboards and management reports to support leadership decision-making.

Business Analysis

• Gather, analyse, document, and validate business and functional requirements.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops involving business, technology, and vendor teams.
• Develop process maps, gap analyses, business requirements documents, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Maintain requirements traceability throughout design, delivery, testing, and implementation.
• Coordinate User Acceptance Testing, including test scenarios, business participation, defect resolution, retesting, and sign-off.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement, simplification, standardisation, and automation.

Project and Programme Management

• Lead strategic, technology, transformation, and operational projects through the full delivery lifecycle.
• Define and manage project scope, plans, milestones, budgets, resources, deliverables, and dependencies.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams across business, technology, finance, procurement, operations, and external vendors.
• Maintain and actively manage risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies, with timely escalation of material concerns.
• Manage scope changes through appropriate change-control and impact-assessment processes.
• Manage vendors and implementation partners against agreed deliverables, milestones, and commitments.
• Coordinate testing, implementation readiness, cutover, transition to operations, and project closure.
• Document lessons learned and ensure outstanding actions are appropriately managed.

Performance and Stakeholder Management

• Monitor delivery against agreed scope, schedule, budget, quality standards, risks, and KPIs.
• Provide leadership with clear reporting on project health, milestones, budgets, dependencies, risks, and required decisions.
• Act as the primary coordination point between project sponsors, business teams, technology teams, and vendors.
• Lead project reviews and steering committees, ensuring actions and decisions have clear owners and target dates.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and support the resolution of cross-functional issues and competing priorities.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Bachelor's degree in project management, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Minimum of seven years' experience managing projects or programmes within complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional project teams and managing project budgets.
• Experience establishing or improving project management or PMO functions.
• Strong experience in PMO governance, demand management, prioritisation, portfolio reporting, and budget and resource tracking.
• Experience in business requirements gathering, process mapping, gap analysis, stakeholder workshops, and User Acceptance Testing.
• Previous experience in tourism, hospitality, destination management, or a related sector.

Desirable

• Master's degree in project management, Business Management, or a related discipline.
• Professional certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, or Agile.

Skills and Capabilities

• Strong project and programme management capability.
• Strong PMO governance and portfolio management knowledge.
• Strong business analysis and requirements-management skills.
• Experience in planning, budgeting, RAID management, change control, vendor management, and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience coordinating UAT, implementation readiness, cutover, and operational transition.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, facilitation, and communication skills.
• Ability to translate complex business and technology matters into clear executive-level reporting.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Visio, and project or portfolio management tools.
• Good understanding of Waterfall, Agile, and hybrid delivery approaches.
• Highly organised, results-oriented, and capable of managing multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Professional work ethic and resilience when working under pressure.
• Innovative and adaptable approach to process improvement and change management.