POSITION SUMMARYHerschend is seeking a Senior Project Manager & Business Analyst to support technology initiatives across our theme parks, resorts, and attractions in our mission of Creating Memories Worth Repeating®. This role will lead complex projects through successful implementation across various areas of the business to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery of high-quality technology solutions. The ideal candidate brings strong project management discipline, practical business analysis skills, and the ability to translate business needs into clear deliverables that support operational efficiency and guest and host experience.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES- Lead multiple technology projects and/or workstreams from project discovery and initiation through implementation, ensuring alignment with business objectives, timelines, budgets, and expected outcomes.
- Partner with business stakeholders to understand operational needs, define business problems, document requirements, and translate them into clear, actionable project deliverables.
- Facilitate project discovery, requirements gathering, process reviews, and stakeholder workshops to clarify scope, priorities, dependencies, and success criteria.
- Develop and manage comprehensive project plans, including scope, schedule, resources, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, communications, and budget tracking.
- Create, document, and maintain business requirements, functional specifications, process flows, decision logs, meeting notes, and other project artifacts needed to support successful delivery.
- Analyze current-state processes and systems, identify gaps or opportunities for improvement, and recommend practical solutions that support business efficiency, scalability, and guest and team member experience.
- Coordinate cross-functional business, technology, vendor, and property teams to drive accountability, remove obstacles, and ensure timely completion of project activities.
- Manage project budgets, forecasts, vendor estimates, and spend tracking to support financial accountability and informed decision-making.
- Manage vendor relationships throughout the project lifecycle, including coordination of deliverables, timelines, issue resolution, and alignment to contractual commitments.
- Identify, track, escalate, and help resolve risks, issues, decisions, and dependencies that may impact project scope, schedule, budget, or quality.
- Prepare and deliver clear project status updates, executive summaries, presentations, and stakeholder communications using project management best practices and tools.
- Support solution testing, user acceptance testing, implementation planning, training coordination, change management, and post-implementation stabilization.
- Serve as a trusted liaison between business and technology teams, ensuring shared understanding of requirements, priorities, tradeoffs, and delivery expectations.
- Mentor and coach project managers, business analysts, and project contributors by sharing best practices, promoting consistent delivery methods, and supporting professional growth.
EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, business administration, project management, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
- 6-10 years of progressive experience managing technology projects, business initiatives, or cross-functional workstreams in an IT or technology-enabled business environment.
- Demonstrated experience performing business analysis activities, including requirements elicitation, process documentation, stakeholder interviews, current-state and future-state analysis, and solution definition.
- Experience leading projects using waterfall, Agile, hybrid, or iterative delivery approaches, with the ability to adapt methods based on project scope, complexity, and business needs.
- Experience managing IT infrastructure, enterprise systems, software implementations, integrations, vendor-led projects, and/or operational technology initiatives strongly preferred.
- Strong ability to translate business needs into clear requirements, project deliverables, functional specifications, process flows, acceptance criteria, and implementation plans.
- Proven ability to build and manage project plans, timelines, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, communications, and executive-level status reporting.
- Experience coordinating cross-functional business, technology, vendor, and operational teams in a fast-paced, matrixed organization.
- Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills with a focus on detail, quality, practicality, and measurable business outcomes.
- Excellent communication, meeting facilitation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence without direct authority.
- Professional presence with the ability to establish trust, credibility, and productive working relationships with business leaders, technology teams, and external partners.
- Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple competing priorities, shifting timelines, and complex project demands.
- Experience supporting testing, user acceptance testing, change management, training coordination, implementation readiness, and post-launch stabilization.
- PMP, PMI-PBA, CBAP, Agile Scrum Master, Product Owner, or related certifications preferred.
- Experience in entertainment, hospitality, attractions, retail, or other guest-facing industries preferred.
- Willingness to travel up to 25-30% based on project and business needs.
