SunLife - Project Management Role

About Sunlife :

Sun Life Financial's roots in Canada go back nearly 150 years when we began selling life insurance to Canadian families in 1871. With innovative technology, a strong distribution network and long-standing relationships with some of the country's largest employers, we are today providing financial security to millions of Canadians. The financial success and stability here at home continues to fuel our expansion in other parts of the world.

About ASCI :

a. Our Purpose

- To create economies of scale for common functions, improve productivity, reduce unit costs, and enable Sun Life to make more effective investments in technology.

- By working in a collaborative mode with the Sun Life business partners, India Service Centre seeks to extend the Clock, the Dollar and provide Scalability.

b. Our Strategic Objectives (what is to be achieved)

- Contribute to growth

- Customer focused execution

- Increase efficiency and effectiveness

- Ensure effective governance

- Innovate for business value

- Maximize our people capabilities

c. Our Culture

- At Sun Life Asia Service Centre - India, we are committed to Sun Life Financial value system.

- We value our employee relationships. We offer long term associations and invest resources to provide opportunities to develop professional, technical and management skills.

- We view our employees as catalysts in building success. We invite our employees to play a part in delivering better business processes and solutions to help Sun Life business partners become high-performance businesses.

- At Sun Life India, we provide safe, stable working conditions and a supportive working environment.

- We respect diversity of individuals and recognize that diverse cultures and backgrounds make Sun Life a great place to work.

- Sun Life India builds relationships of mutual trust, in accordance with our global practices and strives to be an organization in which individuals can demonstrate their abilities fully, grow professionally and have pride.

Role Summary :

- As a Project Manager in Sun Life's IT organization, the incumbent will be responsible for planning, managing, and implementing projects in support of Sun Life's business plans and goals.

- The Project Manager role has a direct responsibility for complete life cycle management and accountability of project initiatives assigned, ensuring compliance to SLF project management policies, standards and procedures.

- The Project Manager leads project team members that are assigned with a matrix management model and located in both India and North America.

Unique Requirements :

- Work shift C (12 noon - 8.30 PM) on a regular basis

- Available to work until 11:00pm for the first 1 or 2 weeks for initial training

- Available approximately one day per week on an ongoing basis to call into meetings up to 11:00pm India time.

Core Responsibility :

- Manage all phases of IT application development projects, including initiation, planning, execution, implementation, and post-implementation activities, leveraging best practice standards and processes set out by the PMO and other industry organizations (including PMI)

- Develop detailed work plans, project schedules, estimates, and resource plans in conjunction with project team members and other involved IT and business teams

- Define and manage project scope and risks. Investigate and make recommendations on issues that challenge scope boundaries

- Monitor and report on project traction and progress and, as necessary, coordinate the development, discussion, and approval of corrective action and/or contingency plans

- Create project status reports highlighting critical issues for management and overall status of the project

- Conduct project meetings and be responsible for project tracking and an effective issue resolution process

- Manage client relations to ensure that project delivery expectations are specified and met

- Engage project stakeholders and communicate project updates to ensure buy in and project success (examples: meetings, status updates)

- Work with multi-site project teams across time zones

- Plan and implement change management work as project deliverables are rolled out, including activities such as training, communication, and documentation

- Ensure project deliverables meet/exceed the project sponsor's specified expectations

- Ensure project activities and deliverables adhere to internal quality standards

- Provide clear direction and motivation to project staff

- Understanding of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

Eligibility :

a. Minimum Qualification :

- BE, B. Tech. or MBA (IT/Systems) from a reputed institute.

b. Industry Experience

- 9+ years of overall experience in the IT industry, with 5+ years of experience in managing IT projects.

Competencies :

a. Mandate Skills

- Minimum three to five years of experience in managing Information Technology projects utilizing project management methodologies and associated processes, practices, and deliverables

- PMP certified or demonstrated similar training and experience

- Strong proficiency with project scheduling tools (MS-Project)

- Strong knowledge of Information Technology tools, products, and trends

- Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize wide range of tasks

- Motivated individual capable of owning and driving assignments

- Observe and suggest continuous improvements to the project management practice

- Strong interpersonal and communication skills (verbal & written)

- Excellent problem solving and decision making skills

- Ability to handle a high volume of work with many deadlines to meet

- Ability to work effectively with little or no supervision, minimal direction and frequent interruptions

- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining quality and meeting customer expectations

b. Preferred skills

- Consulting and negotiation skills and experience

- Application release management experience

- Familiarity with insurance and finance industry

Behavioral skills :

a. Mandate Skills

- Excellent communication skills

- Delivery focused

- Client interaction experience will be preferred

- Flexible and responsive work style

- Strong problem solving and analytical capabilities

- Ability to multi-task and work under pressure

- Experience working remotely with people in different time zones

- Ability to lead project team members located in India, North America, and 3rd Party agencies (within India or overseas)

- Demonstrate international cultural awareness and sensitivity