Senior IT Project Manager

highmarkhealth; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Highmark Health is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead planning and delivery of strategic HR initiatives within the HR PMO. You will partner across HR, HR Tech, Operations, Finance, IT, vendors, and leaders to ensure successful outcomes with measurable impact.

This role balances priorities, manages risks, and guides complex programs from definition through delivery, including mergers, acquisitions, and enterprise‑wide change initiatives.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of project management experience in enterprise environments.
• PMP certification or equivalent (preferred).
• Experience leading cross‑functional HR/Technology initiatives and executive reporting.

Responsibilities

• Define, plan, and deliver multiple large‑scale HR and technology projects.
• Lead cross‑functional teams and coordinate with sponsors and stakeholders.
• Identify and mitigate risks; manage budgets and timelines; communicate status to executives.
• Build stakeholder relationships and advocate for customer‑first outcomes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Change management

Executive presence

Education

Bachelor's in Business Administration or MIS

Master's in Business Administration or MIS (preferred)

Job description

Company : Highmark Health Job Description :

The Senior Project Manager is a critical leadership role within the Human Resources Project Management Office (HR PMO), responsible for leading the planning and delivery of the organization's most strategic and complex HR initiatives. This role partners across Human Resources, HR Technology, Operations, Finance, Information Technology, vendors, and business stakeholders to successfully deliver initiatives that drive measurable business outcomes. While this position does not have direct people‑management responsibilities, the incumbent serves as the functional leader of cross‑functional project teams and is accountable for influencing, aligning, and driving execution across diverse stakeholder groups. The Senior Project Manager must effectively balance competing priorities, navigate organizational complexity, identify and mitigate risks, and escalation issues appropriately to ensure successful project delivery. This role is responsible for managing multiple highly visible initiatives simultaneously, often involving executive leadership priorities, organizational transformation, HR technology implementations, mergers and acquisitions, process improvements, regulatory requirements, and enterprise‑wide change initiatives.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as a project leader for the definition, planning, and delivery of multiple large‑scale product and technology projects, working with the executive sponsor (Director or higher) and other management as required to ensure achievement of the defined project goals.


• Receive high risk, visible efforts, must take a lead role in the successful delivery and implementation of cross‑functional activities to achieve the desired results for a defined program and/or strategic initiative.


• Drive the day‑to‑day operation of projects (including budgetary oversight and staffing) ensuring that all projects are reliably delivered on time, on budget and with a consistently high standard of quality.


• Collaborate with all project stakeholders to proactively identify and mitigate project risks with frequent reevaluation and reprioritization of the risk register. Determine communication strategies and execute those to provide accurate and timely project information. Efficiently summarize and present complex ideas and/or data into a format that can be understood by all levels of the organization.


• Cultivate a customer‑first attitude by forging relationships with stakeholders to better understand their needs and goals, and seek to discern what the customer impact will be for each project decision and/or action taken.


• Other duties as assigned or requested

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, Management Information Science or closely related field

Substitutions

• None

Preferred

• Master's Degree in Business Administration, or Management Information Science

EXPERIENCE

Required

• 5 years in Project Management


• 5 years delivering business solutions using information technology

Preferred

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent project management training.


• Experience managing enterprise‑wide HR, operations, technology, or transformation initiatives.


• Experience supporting executive leadership priorities and strategic organizational initiatives.


• Experience with mergers, acquisitions, integrations, divestitures, or workforce transitions.


• Understanding of project management methodologies including Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid delivery approaches.


• Experience managing vendor relationships and third‑party implementation partners.


• Strong business acumen with demonstrated ability to connect project execution to organizational strategy and business outcomes.


• Experience managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholder groups, significant dependencies, and organizational impact.


• Experience leading matrixed teams without direct supervisory authority.


• Strong executive presence with the ability to communicate effectively with leaders at all levels of the organization.


• Ability to identify risks, manage ambiguity, and make sound recommendations in a fast‑paced environment.


• Experience developing and presenting executive‑level project updates, business cases, and risk assessments.


• Strong facilitation, negotiation, conflict resolution, and stakeholder management skills.


• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously while maintaining focus on strategic outcomes.

LICENSES OR CERTIFICATIONS

Required

• None

Preferred

• Project Management Professional (PMP)

SKILLS

Customer-first mindset. Skilled at anticipating customers' needs and the ability to build relationships that enable collaboration among all stakeholders and vendors Ability to drive change and thrive in ambiguity Can successfully manage scope, people and budgets through strategic planning of multiple projects not only for current phases, but for the future as well Excellent written and verbal communication skills; Is articulate a