Senior Project Manager

SPAN Digital; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid-remote model

Friday catered lunches

MacBook Pro & home office allowance

Headspace app subscription

Job summary

SPAN Digital, with development offices in Cape Town, seeks a Senior Project Manager to drive delivery of custom software projects. You will coordinate with software engineers and client stakeholders, adapting to varied methodologies and AI-augmented workflows to deliver high-impact software solutions.

The role requires leading cross-functional teams, managing budgets, and balancing priorities across multiple projects.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years experience in a Project Management role within a Software Engineering environment.
• Knowledge of the software development lifecycle (agile, waterfall or hybrid).
• Experience with project management principles, processes and tools (e.g., JIRA) including budget management and resource planning.
• Practical experience using AI tools (Claude, Copilot, or equivalent) to improve project work like drafting documents and risk surfacing.
• Scrum master certification preferred.
• CS/Eng/IS degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience in Global Distributed Delivery teams and willingness to work evenings.
• Ability to identify and manage project risks and change control.
• Proven ability to prioritize, follow-through, and multi-task.
• Problem solving and proactive management skills.
• Ability to lead independently and direct a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent customer service orientation and client communications.

Responsibilities

• Lead and motivate project teams across the company and interact with staff at all levels to drive commitment and productivity.
• Contribute to improving project management processes and procedures.
• Foster collaboration between internal engineering teams and external customers to achieve milestones.
• Manage multiple projects concurrently with remote and distributed teams.
• Mentor team members on delivery management and people management.
• Build relationships with clients to ensure quality deliverables and engagement.
• Foster a positive team culture and support engineers’ growth.
• Define project scope, build work plans, manage budgets, and close projects.
• Leverage AI tools to enhance delivery outcomes and communications.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and communicate status, milestones, and risks.
• Remove impediments and facilitate efficient team meetings.

Skills

Project management

Agile methodologies

Leadership

Stakeholder communication

Budget management

Risk management

Multi-tasking

People management

Remote collaboration

Education

CS/Eng/IS degree

Tools

JIRA

Claude

Copilot

Job description

Job Description

SPAN Digital is a growing premium software product and consulting company with Headquarters in San Francisco, USA., and Development offices in Cape Town, South Africa, and Guadalajara Mexico. We focus on the entertainment, technology, and real-estate industries. We strategize, design, and develop software solutions for our clients and customers from startups to global brands. We help engineering teams successfully overcome the challenges caused by the accelerating pace of change in software development, allowing them to build better digital solutions. Our Services teams work side-by-side with our client’s engineering teams to develop prototypes, proof-of-concepts, production services, and major product enhancements. Our Product teams distill the knowledge we gain from our custom services work into tools and SaaS products designed to support engineering teams struggling with the accelerating pace of change in software development.We are currently looking for a Senior Project Manager to join our expert team focussed on driving the successful execution of custom software development projects.

Responsibilities

As a Senior Project Manager, you will help to drive the successful execution of SPAN custom software development initiatives. You will work collaboratively with software engineers and client stakeholders to coordinate the successful delivery of goal-oriented software projects.It is required of the Senior Project Manager to work with developers in different organizations; therefore, adapting to different methodologies, technologies and AI-augmented workflows is essential.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Lead, monitor, and motivate project teams across the company and interact with staff at all levels in the organization, facilitating commitment, productivity, and removing obstacles
• Contribute to adopting, mentoring, and improving overall Project Management processes and procedures
• Drive collaboration between internal engineering teams and external customers to achieve milestones and deliverables
• Execute on several projects concurrently, with remote & distributed project teams, while balancing shifting priorities
• Mentor individual on delivery management through one-to-one involvement with the ‘People Management’ of team members
• Build relationships with clients and stakeholders to ensure quality deliverables and client engagement
• Foster a positive team culture, mentor engineers, and help execute growth plans
• Define the project and build the comprehensive work plan and manage the budget - plan, execute and close projects
• Use AI tools to improve delivery outcomes: synthesizing project status, drafting communications, identifying risks, and accelerating documentation tools like Claude are part of how we work
• Manage teams: facilitating commitment and productivity, removing obstacles, and motivating team members
• Manage Expectations: aligning projects to business goals, managing stakeholders, and communicating project status, milestones, and unexpected difficulties effectively
• Assist the team to perform at their highest level, by removing any impediments to progress and by facilitating meetings

Requirements

• Minimum 7 years experience in a Project Management role within a Software Engineering environment
• Working knowledge of the software development lifecycle (including agile, and/or waterfall or hybrid methodologies and approaches)
• Knowledge of project management principles, processes and tools (eg JIRA); including budget management, creating supporting documentation, and managing resources needed to execute a project
• Practical experience using AI tools (such as Claude, Copilot, or equivalent) to improve project work: drafting documents, surfacing risks, summarizing status, or automating routine tasks
• Scrum master certification preferred
• Qualification in CS, Eng or IS (or equivalent experience)
• Experience within a Global Distributed Delivery team and therefore the willingness to work evenings
• Ability to identify and manage project risks and solid change control experience
• Proven ability to prioritize, follow-through, and multi-task
• A seasoned problem solver who manages proactively
• Ability to both work independently and direct a multidisciplinary team
• Excellent customer service orientation in dealing with external audiences and internal clients
• Experience and proficiency in handling client contact for all project communications

What we Offer

• Flexible and generous work & leave schedule
• Hybrid-remote working model (the best of both worlds)
• Learning organization based on a reverence for expertise & craftsmanship (Meetups, Conferences, TechRadar Sessions, complimentary education, journals, e-Learning)
• Friday catered lunches, on-site haircuts, pet-friendly workplace, ping pong (home away from home)
• Headspace meditation app subscription, charitable community initiatives, employee awards, and recognition
• MacBook Pro and home office allowance

You will love it here if

• You are allergic to hierarchical, bureaucratic, business-card cultures
• You want to work with very smart people from different backgrounds
• You are a voracious learner & an eager teacher of others
• You don't tolerate intra-office posturing or other douchebaggery