Project Manager

Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading energy company in Cape Town seeks an experienced IT Project Manager to lead the delivery of IT projects. The role involves ensuring projects are completed on time, within budget, and to specification while adhering to governance processes. Candidates should have over 10 years of experience in project management, ideally in the petrochemical sector, and strong leadership skills. This position offers the opportunity to manage a variety of projects using agile methodologies.

Qualifications

• 10 or more years' experience in petrochemical industry preferred.
• 4+ years of program/project management experience required.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of IT projects from initiation to transition.
• Manage projects through phased PDP processes.
• Develop conceptual designs and business cases.
• Ensure projects are managed effectively to meet objectives.

Skills

Project delivery

Stakeholder engagement

Agile methodology

Risk management

Analytical skills

Education

Bachelor's Degree/Diploma in Computer Science or related field

Diploma/Certificate in Project Management

Tools

SAP

Jira

MS Project

ServiceNow

Job description

Lead the delivery of IT projects from project initiation to transition to operations so as to deliver projects on time and within budget and to meet the desired business objectives. Follow the Astron Energy Value Office (VO) and Project Delivery Process (PDP) processes to ensure adherence to governance and project management guidelines. Manage projects through the PDP phases of identify and assessment; select; define; execute and operate, review and track value. Key focus areas include strong leadership, clear and timely decision making, stakeholder engagement, managing costs and measuring value, focus on health, safety and compliance.

• Take projects from the idea phase and frame appropriately to meet the project and business objectives through scoping, considering the alternatives and selecting the desired alternatives

• Develop conceptual designs, the scope of work and associated business case

• Take through various phase gates to ensure proper project governance

• Seek funding approval and track and report on the budget

• Establish project plan and initiate project mobilization

• Confirm design specifications, design solutions and then build and test during the execution phase

• Secure resources and define roles and responsibilities

• Monitor and control execution of projects though PDP phases

• Provide leadership and decision-making support by establishing project governance

• Perform project reporting including overall performance, action tracking and maintenance of decision logs

• Early identification and management of project risks

• Project completion documentation

• Delivery of projects through Agile methodology

• Ensure IT Projects are effectively managed, enabling them to be on time, to budget and to the expected quality level

• Contract Management – proficient at contract management if required for project execution, tracking milestones and delivery via 3rd party contracts

• Excellent stakeholder engagement across IT, the business and 3rd parties involved in project execution

• Define and track key performance metrics (e.g., budget variance, delivery timelines, stakeholder satisfaction, post-implementation issue rates).

• Develop and execute change management strategies, including user adoption plans, training programs, and communication campaigns.

• Utilize enterprise project management tools such as SAP, Jira, MS Project, and ServiceNow for planning, tracking, and reporting.

• Leverage analytics platforms for dashboard reporting, portfolio health monitoring, and data-informed decision-making.

• Establish clear escalation and decision rights frameworks, including RACI matrices for critical project events (e.g. vendor delays, scope changes).

• Incorporate information security best practices and regulatory compliance (e.g., data privacy, BCP, InfoSec protocols) into project delivery.

• Facilitate post-project retrospectives, lessons learned sessions, and value realization assessments. Ensure knowledge captures and reuse.

Professional Qualification and Certifications:

• Bachelor's Degree/Diploma in Computer Science, Information Systems or other related field, or equivalent work experience desired.

• Diploma/Certificate in Project Management, PMP, Agile/scrum, Prince2 desired

Work Experience:

• 10 or more years' experience, preferably in petrochemical industry with a focus on Retail Service Stations, IT and/or the Refinery

• 4+ years of program/project management experience

Knowledge and skills:

• Strong track record of on-time, on-budget and to-specification delivery of projects

• Organization and time management skills to keep projects on track and within budget

• Excellent resource planning and task scheduling skills

• Ability to work under pressure; in stressful situations to tight timelines; sometimes on multiple projects simultaneously

• Analytical and problem-solving skills to handle any issues that occur during project completion

• Strong reporting and co-ordination skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills to coordinate with team members and management and explain technical issues

Application deadline:

31 July 2025