Senior Project Manager

INOVO; Cape Town; Sur place; ZAR 900 000 - 1 200 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

iNOVO, a leading cloud CX and contact centre provider in Africa, seeks a Senior Project Manager to own end-to-end delivery across complex initiatives. You will collaborate with executive leadership, cross-functional teams, and senior client stakeholders to drive value and governance.

You will apply Agile/Scrum practices, manage Jira as the single source of truth, and lead risk and status reporting while leveraging AI tools to boost productivity and outcome quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• Project management certifications (PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-ACP) preferred.
• Jira certification is advantageous but not required.
• Training in AI tool usage or prompt engineering is advantageous.

Responsabilités

• Lead full project lifecycle using Agile and Scrum.
• Facilitate Scrum ceremonies and maintain Jira backlog.
• Manage cross-functional stakeholder communications.
• Govern AI-augmented PM practices and reporting.
• Mentor junior PMs and contribute to methodology.

Connaissances

Agile

Scrum

Jira

Stakeholder management

AI tools in PM

Prompt engineering

Formation

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent demonstrated experience

PMP/PRINCE2/PMI-ACP certification

Outils

Jira

Description du poste

Cape Town Full-time, Permanent Project Management

iNOVO is Africa's leading cloud CX and contact centre provider, delivering advanced customer engagement solutions that drive business growth and operational efficiency. We help organisations optimise their customer acquisition, customer service operations and revenue collection initiatives through innovative, fully customisable Cloud/SaaS technology that integrates with a client's existing systems, channels and applications.

With offices in Cape Town and Centurion, iNOVO works with businesses across multiple industries to improve customer experience, service efficiency and revenue generation. Our solutions and services portfolio focuses on Channels and Digital, Journey Orchestration, Self-Service, Empowered Agents, Complete Performance, and Analytics and AI.

Role overview

The Senior Project Manager is a senior, strategic role at the heart of iNOVO's delivery capability. The Senior PM owns end-to-end project delivery across complex internal initiatives and customer-facing implementations, working directly with executive leadership, cross-functional teams, and senior client stakeholders.

This role requires expertise in Agile and Scrum delivery, hands-on proficiency with Jira, and a demonstrated ability to operate in the technical environment relevant to their assigned product (for example CCaaS, CRM, or conversational AI platforms), ideally with hands-on experience on a relevant platform. Critically, the Senior PM is expected to actively leverage AI tools to enhance project management productivity, including the use of prompt engineering to accelerate reporting, risk analysis, and status communication.

The Senior PM upholds iNOVO's delivery standards on every engagement they lead, mentors project managers they work alongside, and is a trusted voice on project governance, data accuracy, and stakeholder reporting, operating within the methodology and governance framework set by the Programme Manager. A commitment to disciplined excellence, not just meeting the bar but raising it consistently, is what differentiates the candidates we are looking for.

Key responsibilities

Agile delivery and project management

• Lead and own the full project lifecycle from initiation through to closure, using Agile and Scrum methodologies as the primary delivery framework.
• Facilitate all Scrum ceremonies, including Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives, with rigour and consistency.
• Manage Jira as the single source of truth for project tracking: maintain clean backlogs, accurate sprint data, and up-to-date boards for all active projects.
• Apply appropriate delivery frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, hybrid) based on project context, and make the rationale transparent to stakeholders.
• Manage dependencies, critical paths, and resource constraints across simultaneous projects, escalating blockers promptly and with recommended resolutions.
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, milestones, and delivery roadmaps that are accurate, current, and accessible to all relevant parties.

Product and technical domain knowledge

• Apply working knowledge of the assigned product’s technical environment to plan, communicate, and govern technology delivery projects with confidence alongside technical teams.
• Leverage experience with the core platform(s) relevant to the assigned product to anticipate integration complexity, implementation sequencing, and change impact.
• Facilitate clear communication between technical delivery teams and non-technical stakeholders, translating platform complexity into accessible language without loss of accuracy.
• Stay current with developments in the assigned product’s platform and broader AI-driven capabilities that could affect project scope, risk, or opportunity.
• Support pre-sales and scoping engagements to assess feasibility and inform client proposals.

AI-augmented project management

• Actively integrate AI tools into day-to-day project management workflows, including drafting status reports, risk summaries, stakeholder communications, and meeting outputs.
• Design and use prompts that extract consistent, structured outputs from AI tools, reducing manual effort on repeatable tasks without sacrificing quality or accuracy.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging AI-powered PM tools, sharing findings and productivity gains with the broader team.
• Contribute to iNOVO’s AI adoption practice by documenting effective prompt patterns and workflows that can be standardised across the PM function.
• Maintain critical judgement over AI-generated content: review, verify, and edit outputs to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with iNOVO’s standards before any material is shared externally or with senior stakeholders.

Stakeholder management and communication

• Own senior stakeholder relationships for all assigned projects, both internally (executive leadership, cross-functional heads) and externally (customer project sponsors and decision-makers).
• Produce and deliver structured project communications tailored to audience: executive summaries for leadership, operational updates for delivery teams, and clear milestone reporting for customers.
• Run effective project steering meetings and governance forums, ensuring decisions are documented, actions are assigned, and follow-through is tracked.
• Navigate difficult conversations with clients and internal stakeholders with directness and professionalism, including scope challenges, delivery risks, and reset discussions.
• Represent iNOVO credibly at client‑facing reviews and executive briefings, articulating project status, risk, and value with clarity and confidence.
• Identify and actively manage stakeholder expectations throughout the project lifecycle, resolving misalignment early rather than allowing issues to accelerate.

Reporting and data accuracy

• Produce project status reports, risk registers, and dashboards that are accurate, timely, and fit for purpose across different audience levels.
• Ensure all project data in Jira and other project management tools is maintained with precision: no stale issues, no inaccurate status labels, and consistent field hygiene across the team.
• Hold team members accountable for timely and accurate time recording and progress updates in the designated project management tooling.
• Develop and maintain reporting templates that enable consistent, repeatable reporting across projects with minimal rework.
• Apply data analysis to surface trends, delivery risks, and performance insights that inform both project‑level decisions and practice‑level improvement.
• Champion a culture of data accuracy and reporting integrity throughout the PM function.

Leadership, mentorship, and team development

• Act as a senior leader within the project management practice, upholding the standard for delivery quality, professional conduct, and continuous improvement set by the Programme Manager.
• Mentor and coach less experienced project managers, providing structured feedback, sharing delivery frameworks, and raising the overall capability of the team.
• Contribute to the design and evolution of iNOVO’s project management methodology, including templates, governance structures, and tooling standards, in partnership with the Programme Manager.
• Participate in the hiring process for PM roles, contributing to assessments.
• Demonstrate genuine ownership beyond the immediate remit: question inherited constraints, raise concerns directly, commit fully once decisions are made, and hold yourself and the team to an uncompromising standard of quality.

Risk, compliance, and governance

• Develop and maintain comprehensive risk management plans for all projects, identifying risks early, quantifying impact, and driving mitigation actions to closure.
• Ensure all project documentation and processes meet iNOVO’s governance, quality, and compliance standards, including POPIA obligations relevant to any project involving personal data.
• Facilitate regular compliance checkpoints and lessons‑learned reviews, ensuring findings are captured and used to improve future delivery.
• Manage change control processes rigorously, documenting scope changes, their impact on cost, time, and quality, and ensuring appropriate sign‑off before changes are incorporated.

Qualifications and certifications

The following qualifications and certifications are preferred. Where a candidate cannot present a specific credential, equivalent hands‑on experience will be considered. The Agile certification requirement is an exception and remains non‑negotiable.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, PRINCE2 Practitioner, or equivalent formal project management qualification.
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). At least one of these is required.
• Jira certification (Atlassian Certified Professional) is advantageous but not required.
• Training or certification in AI tool usage, prompt engineering, or related disciplines is advantageous.

Skills and experience

We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate most of the following. Not every point needs to be met in full, but the Agile, relevant technical domain, and communication requirements are core to the role and will be assessed closely.

• 8 or more years of experience as a Project Manager, with at least 3 years operating at senior or lead level across complex, multi‑stakeholder projects.
• Proven track record of end‑to‑end project delivery using Agile and Scrum in a commercial environment, with verifiable examples of on‑time, on‑budget delivery.
• Demonstrable hands‑on proficiency with Jira, including backlog management, sprint configuration, reporting, and dashboard setup.
• Direct experience in the technology domain relevant to the assigned product (for example CCaaS, CRM, or conversational AI platforms), with demonstrable working knowledge of at least one relevant platform.
• Active, practical use of AI tools (such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or comparable) in a professional context, with demonstrable productivity outcomes.
• Experience writing prompts for AI tools to generate structured, reliable outputs for project documentation, reporting, or communication.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a portfolio of examples demonstrating senior stakeholder reporting, customer‑facing delivery communications, and executive briefings.
• Proven ability to manage customer‑facing project delivery, including running steering committees, managing scope discussions, and navigating delivery challenges with clients directly.
• Strong financial literacy, including experience managing project budgets, forecasting, and variance reporting.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects in a fast‑paced, resource‑constrained environment.
• Rigorous attention to data accuracy and a consistent track record of maintaining project tool hygiene across teams.

Join iNOVO and be part of transforming contact centre operations across Africa.

Protection of Personal Information (POPIA)

iNOVO processes the personal information you provide during recruitment in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Your information is collected and processed solely to assess your application and, where relevant, to verify the information you have provided. The lawful basis for this processing is the steps taken at your request prior to entering a possible employment contract, together with iNOVO's legitimate recruitment interests.

If your application is unsuccessful, your personal information will be retained for up to 12 months from the conclusion of the recruitment process, after which it will be securely destroyed, unless you consent to iNOVO retaining it for longer so that you may be considered for future opportunities.

Your information will not be shared with third parties without your consent, except where required or permitted by law. You have the right to access, correct or request deletion of your personal information, and to object to its processing, by contacting iNOVO's Information Officer.