Posting Details

Position Information

Posting Number
NC00871

Position Title
Director, Project Management Office

Division
Administration and Finance Division

Department Name
Administration and Finance

Position Type
Staff - Non Classified

Position Overview

Rhode Island College is seeking an experienced and strategic leader to establish and lead its Project Management Office (PMO) within the Division of Administration and Finance. This is an exciting opportunity to build a PMO from the ground up, shaping the college's approach to project governance, portfolio management, and organizational transformation.

The Director of the Project Management Office will drive the successful delivery of high-impact, cross-functional initiatives by implementing best-in-class project management practices, fostering collaboration across administrative and technology teams, and ensuring projects align with the College's strategic priorities. Working closely with executive leadership, including the Assistant CIO and senior administrators, the Director will provide portfolio oversight, strengthen institutional project management capabilities, and promote a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Ideal candidates are collaborative leaders with a proven track record of building PMOs, managing complex project portfolios, and leading enterprise-wide initiatives in dynamic, matrixed organizations. This role offers the opportunity to make a lasting institutional impact by improving how projects are planned, prioritized, and delivered across Rhode Island College.

Primary Purpose

The Director of the Project Management Office (PMO) is responsible for establishing, leading and sustaining the PMO within Administration and Finance at the college. This role is responsible for developing governance frameworks, standardizing project management practices, and overseeing the institutional project portfolio to ensure initiatives are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with strategic priorities.

The Director builds and drives the adoption of consistent tools, processes, and delivery standards across a complex organization, while fostering a strong project management culture through coaching, training, and stakeholder engagement. This position serves as the central point of accountability for portfolio transparency, delivery performance, and the ongoing enhancement of project management capabilities across the college.

Essential Duties

• Design, implement, and maintain a Project Management Office framework for the Division of Administration and Finance, establishing governance standards, delivery methodologies, and operating practices aligned with institutional needs and industry best practices.
• Define and standardize project governance processes across the division, including intake, prioritization, resource planning, risk management, status reporting, and post-implementation review.
• Build and manage the college's project portfolio ensuring initiatives are prioritized, resourced, and delivering measurable value.
• Serve as hands-on project and program manager for complex, cross-functional initiatives, providing direct delivery leadership from initiation through closeout across any functional area within the division.
• Develop and maintain a portfolio dashboard and reporting cadence that provides division leadership with timely, accurate visibility into project status, risks, dependencies, and outcomes.
• Facilitate the development of project charters, scope documents, work plans, RACI matrices, and communication plans in partnership with project sponsors and functional area leaders.
• Partner with the Assistant CIO on IT transformation and enterprise technology initiatives, co-leading delivery on complex programs.
• Serve as the integration point between stakeholders, proactively identifying and resolving cross-functional dependencies, resource conflicts, and sequencing issues.
• Champion a project management culture across the college through coaching, mentoring, and targeted training for staff at all levels.
• Lead the evaluation, selection, and administration of project management tools and platforms, ensuring consistent adoption and use across the college portfolio.
• Develop and maintain resource capacity models to support data-driven decisions on project prioritization, staffing, and scheduling.
• Manage vendor and partner relationships on projects, monitoring deliverables, timelines, and contractual performance.
• Ensure all projects comply with institutional policies, applicable regulations, and relevant security and compliance standards.
• Provide the college's Leadership Team with regular portfolio health reports and strategic progress updates, escalating issues requiring executive attention.
• Supervise and develop PMO staff as the PMO function grows.

Occasional Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Demonstrated experience building a Project Management Office in a complex, multi-function organization.
• Proven ability to manage a diverse portfolio of concurrent projects.
• Strong working knowledge of project management methodologies including waterfall, agile, and hybrid approaches, with the judgment to apply the right method to the right initiative.
• Experience serving as hands-on project and program manager for large, cross-functional enterprise or administrative initiatives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare and present portfolio-level reports to VP and executive-level audiences.
• Strong analytical skills with demonstrated experience building and maintaining portfolio dashboards, metrics, and reporting frameworks.
• Proficiency with project management tools and platforms (e.g., Smartsheet, Jira, MS Project, or equivalent).
• Exceptional organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage competing priorities across multiple functional domains under deadline pressure.
• Proven ability to build relationships and foster collaboration across diverse stakeholder groups without direct line authority.
• Sufficient familiarity with information technology systems and infrastructure to collaborate effectively with IT leadership and manage technology-related projects within the portfolio.
• High degree of professional integrity and commitment to confidentiality across sensitive administrative domains.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Project Management, Information Systems, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience: Minimum of sevenyears of progressive project management experience; a minimum of three years managing a project portfolio or PMO function, with at least two years in a management or director-level role.
• Certification: Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Project Management, Business Administration, Public Administration, Information Systems, or a related field.
• Additional Project Management certifications (e.g., PMI-ACP, Lean Six Sigma, ITIL) strongly preferred.
• Experience in higher education or a public sector environment, with an understanding of the governance, compliance, and stakeholder complexity these settings involve.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects across multiple administrative functions - such as finance systems, HRIS, facilities, or enterprise IT - within a single portfolio.
• Experience supporting the delivery of enterprise administrative system implementations (ERP, SIS, HRIS, Finance platforms).
• Demonstrated experience coaching and mentoring staff at varying levels of project management maturity across non-technical and technical teams.

Does this position have Direct Reports?
Yes

Environmental Conditions

The employee is not exposed to known adverse environmental conditions

Position Details

FLSA
Exempt

Salary Grade
17NC

Full Time / Part Time
Full-time

Proposed Starting Salary Range
$145,000 - $155,000

Work Schedule

Monday - Friday
8:30AM-4:30PM
May require evening and weekend work as needed.

Benefits

Full-time employees enjoy an array of benefits including:

• Health and Wellness - Medical, Dental & Vision
• Wellness Incentives and Rewards
• Paid time Off - Vacation, Sick & Holiday
• Retirement Benefits
• Disability and Insurance Benefits
• Education Benefits - Tuition waivers for RIC, CCRI & URI

For a complete listing, visit Employee Benefits.

Reports To (Title)
Assistant Vice President, Financial Operations

Academic or Calendar Year
Calendar

Position Status
Continuing

End of Temporary or Limited Position

Collective Bargaining Unit
Non-union

Posting Information

Number of Positions Available
1

Application Open Date
08/03/2026

Application Close Date

Special Instructions

Please be advised that the college is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates must have authorization to work in the US without the need for employer sponsorship.