Senior Strategic Project Manager

PER SE GROUP INC; Cedar Rapids (IA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Per Sé Group is seeking a Senior Strategic Project Manager to join our client’s team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa or Madison, Wisconsin. The role focuses on turning ambiguous business needs into executable projects, guiding discovery, planning, and governance through full lifecycle.

You’ll lead cross-functional teams, manage scope and budgets, and partner with business and technology leaders to deliver strategic initiatives. PMP certification and 5+ years of experience are required.

Qualifications

• PMP certification is required.
• 5+ years of project management experience on medium-to-large, complex projects.
• Experience managing technology, software impl., enterprise apps, or tech-enabled projects.
• Experience across full lifecycle from initiation to closeout.
• Strong business analysis: requirements discovery, business case, solution evaluation.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Partner with business and tech leaders to understand needs, priorities, and outcomes.
• Lead discovery sessions, requirements discussions, planning workshops, and alignment.
• Develop business cases, project charters, feasibility analyses, cost-benefit studies, and exec recommendations.
• Evaluate solutions, identify risks, costs, resources, dependencies, and impacts.
• Build project foundation: scope, governance, schedules, budgets, resources, risk, success measures.
• Mobilize cross-functional teams with defined roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths.
• Lead approved tech projects through execution, implementation, transition, and closeout.
• Manage scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, issues, vendors, dependencies, performance.
• Communicate with teams, leaders, governance groups, and executives.
• Support change management, readiness, training, adoption, and transition to ops.

Skills

PMP certification

5+ years project management

Tech project management

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder management

Ambiguity management

Financial management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

ERP systems

EAM systems

Job description

Senior Strategic Project Manager

Location: Cedar Rapids, IA or Madison, WI

If you’re at your best when the project isn’t fully defined yet, this may be the role for you.

Some Project Managers inherit a scope, schedule, budget, and team and are asked to execute. This role starts earlier.

Per Sé Group is seeking a Senior Strategic Project Manager to join our client’s team in either Cedar Rapids, Iowa or Madison, Wisconsin. This individual will take business needs and strategic priorities that may still be ambiguous, bring structure to them, evaluate the path forward, align business and technology stakeholders, and turn them into executable projects. You’ll also have the opportunity to lead complex technology initiatives through implementation and closeout.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with business and technology leaders to understand business needs, challenges, priorities, and desired outcomes.
• Lead discovery sessions, requirements discussions, planning workshops, and stakeholder alignment.
• Develop business cases, project charters, feasibility assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and executive recommendations.
• Evaluate solution alternatives and identify risks, costs, resource requirements, dependencies, and organizational impacts.
• Build the project foundation, including scope, governance, schedules, budgets, resource plans, risk plans, and success measures.
• Mobilize cross-functional teams and establish roles, responsibilities, decision-making authority, and escalation paths.
• Lead approved technology projects through execution, implementation, operational transition, and closeout.
• Manage scope, schedule, budget, resources, risks, issues, vendors, dependencies, and overall project performance.
• Communicate effectively with project teams, business and technology leaders, governance groups, and executive stakeholders.
• Support change management, implementation readiness, training, adoption, and transition to operational teams.

What You’ll Bring

• PMP certification is required.
• 5+ years of project management experience leading medium-to-large, complex projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing technology, software implementation, enterprise application, or technology-enabled business projects.
• Experience leading projects across the full lifecycle—from initiation and planning through implementation and closeout.
• Strong business analysis skills, including requirements discovery, business case development, solution evaluation, and translating business needs into executable initiatives.
• Strong project initiation, planning, and mobilization experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional business, technology, vendor, and operational teams.
• Strong stakeholder management, facilitation, communication, negotiation, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to work through ambiguity and influence decisions in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Working knowledge of project financial management, governance, vendor management, change management, and operational readiness.
• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Utility, ERP, EAM, enterprise work/asset management, or other large-scale business technology experience is a plus.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to do more than manage an established project plan. You’ll help determine what the project should be, how it should be structured, and how it should move forward—and then have the project management experience to deliver it.

If you enjoy bringing clarity to ambiguity, connecting business strategy with technology execution, and building complex initiatives from the ground up, we’d like to hear from you.

About Per Sé Group
Per Sé Group connects experienced engineering and technical professionals with some of the most complex industrial, power, and infrastructure projects across North America. We focus on building long-term relationships and introducing talented people to opportunities that help move their careers forward.
Per Sé Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation during the application or hiring process may contact Human Resources at [e-mail] or 630-588-3000.