Project Manager

AccelerComm Ltd; Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

AccelerComm Ltd. is seeking a Project Manager to lead hardware and software IP development projects from our Southampton office on a hybrid basis. You will manage delivery, align with senior engineering leadership, and balance agile and waterfall approaches to meet commitments.

You will work with customers and internal teams, create detailed plans, manage risks and costs, and contribute to PM processes as the company grows. Strong technical understanding and communication skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Years of experience in project management in software, hardware or firmware.
• Experience with cross-functional teams.
• Experience in customer calls reporting engineering status.
• Understanding planning and estimation techniques.
• Knowledge of Agile and Waterfall delivery methodologies.
• Understanding of semiconductor IP and embedded software IP development.
• Experience with system-of-systems integration, testing and acceptance.
• Familiarity with scope and change control.
• Knowledge of risk management and financial planning.
• Experience with CI/CD principles.
• Strong documentation and requirements gathering skills.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Programme and Engineering leadership teams to align the overall programme with strategic objectives.
• Agree a brief for each project with clear requirements, deliverables and goals.
• Plan, monitor, coordinate and report on projects within programmes involving multiple developments.
• Engage with customers on projects as necessary and provide status reports to stakeholders.
• Contribute to the definition and regular review of Programme and Project Priorities.
• Contribute to Change Control and ensure project scope is managed.
• Determine resources, headcount, equipment and budgets to execute the project.
• Create detailed plans and schedules; ensure supplier SOWs meet objectives.
• Maintain a Project Risk Register and RAID; track risks and mitigations.
• Track financial performance and provide updates per reporting process.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional teams

Customer communication

Planning & estimation

Agile & Waterfall

Semiconductor IP

Embedded software IP

System-of-systems

Change control

Risk management

CI/CD

Financial planning

Documentation skills

Stakeholder influence

Tools

Microsoft Project

JIRA

Job description

Project Manager

Department: Operations

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Southampton, UK

Reporting To: Peter Hammer

Description

Are you looking for a Project Manager job where you have a real influence on the successful delivery of cutting-edge products and IP? Where you can develop your skills and experience and see real results? AccelerComm is a growing start-up. We develop IP that supercharges wireless networks - increasing throughput and reducing latency, whilst consuming fewer hardware resources and less power. This role will suit you if you are a Project Manager who is keen to work in hardware and software IP development for communication systems. You will learn about our technology and the exciting space that is Satellite Communications. An understanding of basic technical concepts will put you in good stead for learning about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it, and will be a benefit in the management of projects. This role is about supporting and managing project delivery, we excel at meeting our delivery commitments.

If you have an engineering background and have worked as a design engineer in hardware, firmware, or software, in an ASIC or FPGA or embedded environment, then that will be a bonus. We don’t need you to be an expert, but it will help if you understand or appreciate the processes and principles of working in these areas as we actively encourage open dialogue between everyone in a project team. As we grow as a business we need to make sure our project management processes are developing as quickly as our products. You're going to be actively contributing to our PM processes and utilising the skills and experience you develop to help us be better at what we do.

We use a suite of tools to help us estimate, plan, track and report project progress, such as Microsoft Project and JIRA, combining agile and waterfall processes in an innovative way. We operate in an agile environment, using sprints to manage and track our work, and there are opportunities to be a scrum master. This is an opportunity for you to learn about and try new approaches and ideas in a company that is based on innovation. You will be working from our Southampton office on a hybrid basis, managing one or more major customer or internal development projects, so you need to be able to attend here regularly a number of days each week as the interactions that happen in the office are fundamental to the success of the project, the company, and yourself.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the Programme and Engineering leadership teams to ensure that the overall programme of work is clearly aligned to strategic objectives
• Agree a brief for each project, ensuring that there is a clear definition of requirements, deliverables, and goals
• Plan, monitor, coordinate and report on projects within programmes which involve multiple developments with different engineering teams
• Get involved with the Customer interface on projects as necessary
• Work and engage with stakeholders, providing progress and status reports
• Proactively contribute to the definition and regular review of Programme and Project Priorities
• Be a contributor to the Change Control process for the review and approval of any additions or removals to agreed project scope
• Contribute to recommendations for project management tools and processes, balancing value for money/affordability with the need for high standards and governance/compliance
• Work with Engineering leaders to determine the resources (competences/skills, headcount, equipment, licences) required to execute the Project, including the cost profile. Contribute to maintaining the model for resource demand versus capacity and manage issues/escalations through collaboration with leadership and resource/budget holders
• Generate detailed plans and schedules based on clear requirements. Work with Engineering to ensure that supplier SOWs meet project objectives. Identify critical paths, key dependencies, gaps and overlaps. Ensure that plans are optimised and account for risk and the unexpected. Identify and manage key dependencies and interfaces between the work streams within the projects, resolving any issues escalated
• Work with Engineering leaders to establish the cross functional teams required to deliver the projects and to agree allocation of activities
• Contribute to Project Reporting requirements with the Programme and Engineering leadership team. Generate appropriate status reports using a range of techniques to ensure transparency of progress versus plan, blocking issues, and risks to project objectives
• Create and maintain a Project Risk Register, running regular risk reviews and reporting on risk budgets and risk mitigation activities, supporting reviews with senior stakeholders as required and ensuring agreed actions and issues are completed and resolved in a timely manner
• Create and maintain a Project RAID, ensuring that the RAID is aligned with the Programme RAID, supporting reviews with senior stakeholders as required and ensuring agreed actions and issues are completed and resolved in a timely manner
• Track and control the financial performance of the projects, providing financial updates at the frequency and level of detail as required by the Project Reporting process

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

Essential

• A number of years of experience in project management in a software, hardware or firmware development/technology industry

Desirable:

• Experience interacting with cross-functional teams
• Experience in customer calls reporting engineering status
• Experience of delivery of complex or challenging customer requirements
• Understanding of planning and estimation techniques

• Understanding of delivery methodologies, including Agile and Waterfall
• Understanding of semiconductor IP development
• Understanding of embedded software IP development
• Understanding of system-of-systems integration, test & acceptance
• Understanding of scope and change control, including requirements management
• Understanding of Risk methodologies
• Understanding of Project Financial planning and tracking methodologies
• Understanding of Continual Integration Continual Delivery (CI/CD) principles
• Demonstrable documentation and requirements gathering skills

Personal Attributes

• Must be personable, highly capable, motivated, enthusiastic, with an attention to detail
• Should be able to demonstrate a range of communication styles, engage and challenge when required
• Strong analytical skills and ability to understand and explain complex problems
• Should be a team player, able to work collaboratively with senior management, customers and engineers at all levels
• Should understand the need and techniques for influencing stakeholders and be an advocate for project management

• Committed to building long term relationships
• Able to offer positive perspectives and solutions in difficult situations
• Open to new ideas and new ways of working to support productivity and continuous improvement