Project Manager -1

The Judge Group; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 96,000 - 138,000; Full time

Job summary

The Judge Group is seeking a hands-on Project Manager to drive a large transformation initiative in Buffalo, NY. This 6-month contract role focuses on planning, governance, reporting, risk management, and cross-workstream coordination to deliver program milestones.

The ideal candidate will synthesize information from diverse teams, manage RAIDD logs, and produce executive-level status reports. Experience with Jira, ServiceNow SPM, and Microsoft Planner is preferred.

Qualifications

• Experience supporting or leading project management activities within large, complex programs or transformation initiatives.
• Strong project planning, tracking, governance, and reporting capabilities.
• Experience managing RAIDD logs, milestones, dependencies, and action tracking.
• Ability to produce executive-ready communications and status reporting.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating across multiple stakeholders and workstreams.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and manage RAIDD logs, integrated project plans, milestones, and cross-workstream dependencies.
• Ensure action owners, due dates, and deliverables are documented, tracked, and completed.
• Support governance activities, including steering committee materials and stakeholder coordination.
• Document decisions, actions, and outcomes; drive follow-up and accountability.
• Develop concise executive status reports with program insights and progress updates.
• Consolidate information across workstreams to aid decision-making.
• Identify risks, issues, dependencies, and schedule impacts; escalate as needed.
• Support integrated planning and baseline updates across workstreams.
• Track vendor/consultant commitments and milestones; address at-risk items promptly.
• Collaborate with business, technology, and external vendors to enable execution.
• Utilize Jira, ServiceNow SPM, and Microsoft Planner for planning and execution.

Skills

RAIDD logs

Jira

ServiceNow SPM

Microsoft Planner

Governance

Reporting

Stakeholder coordination

Risk management

Project management

Tools

Jira

ServiceNow SPM

Microsoft Planner

Job description

We are seeking a hands-on Project Manager to support a large, complex transformation initiative. This 6-month contract opportunity offers the potential to convert into a full-time role. The successful candidate will play a key role in driving program execution through strong planning, governance, reporting, risk management, and stakeholder coordination across multiple workstreams.

This role requires an organized and proactive professional who can synthesize information from diverse teams, identify risks and dependencies, and help ensure successful program delivery in a fast-paced transformation environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and manage RAIDD (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies, and Decisions) logs, integrated project plans, key milestones, and cross-workstream dependencies.
• Ensure action owners, due dates, and deliverables are clearly documented, tracked, and followed through to completion.
• Support program governance activities, including:
• Preparing steering committee and governance materials
• Coordinating inputs from multiple stakeholders
• Documenting decisions, actions, and outcomes
• Driving follow-up and accountability
• Develop clear, concise, executive-level status reports that provide accurate program insights and progress updates.
• Consolidate and synthesize information across multiple workstreams to support informed decision-making.
• Proactively identify risks, issues, dependencies, resource constraints, and schedule impacts, and escalated concerns appropriately.
• Support integrated planning efforts, including project re-planning and baseline updates across interconnected workstreams.
• Track vendor and consultant commitments, deliverables, and milestones, ensuring at-risk items are addressed promptly.
• Partner effectively with business stakeholders, technology teams, and third-party vendors to support successful program execution.
• Utilize tools such as Jira, ServiceNow SPM, and Microsoft Planner to manage planning, tracking, and execution activities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Experience supporting or leading project management activities within large, complex programs or transformation initiatives.
• Strong project planning, tracking, governance, and reporting capabilities.
• Experience managing RAIDD logs, milestones, dependencies, and action tracking.
• Ability to produce executive-ready communications and status reporting.
• Demonstrated experience coordinating across multiple stakeholders and workstreams.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience using project and portfolio management tools, including Jira, ServiceNow SPM, or similar platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in financial services or related regulated industries.
• Experience with debit card modernization, card platform conversion, payment transformation, or platform migration initiatives.
• Experience working with external vendors, consulting partners, and cross-functional delivery teams.

**Medical, dental, and vision insurance are available to qualified candidates who meet eligibility requirements. For perm placement opportunities, please ask the client for benefit information.**