Project Manager, Workday Student

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Job Profile

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Department

Compensation Range

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Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

UBC is embarking on a multi-year project to transform its academic and administrative support processes and systems environments for the entire UBC community with "Workday Student" projected to be implemented in phases during 2023/2024. The vision for the Workday Student Program https://irp.ubc.ca/resources/student is to transform the way UBC supports learning and research, and how UBC can work to create a cohesive and integrated experience for students, staff, and faculty.

The Project Manager, Workday Student is responsible for managing and overseeing projects for the development and implementation of all aspects of Workday Student within the Faculty of Education. This will involve significant change management as this role will be working with very diverse academic and administrative/support units and research centres and institutes, each with unique identities, values, and sizes with long standing practices based on pedagogical objectives and education mission. Significant prep work will be required to bring the Faculty into alignment for the transition to Workday due to the complexity of the Faculty of Education degree paths: 11-month BEd program, approximately 27 diploma and certificates, NITEP, WKTEP, Rural and Remote Education, as well as MET and numerous graduate programs.

This role will manage the project lifecycle, including developing project plans, assembling and coordinating project teams, assigning and identifying appropriate resources, and identifying dependencies integrating with other work-stream plans. The Project Manager is responsible for clearly defining project timelines and ensuring milestones, deadlines and deliverables are met. This role works in collaboration with the leadership team in the Faculty of Education, acting as a 'hub' for information sharing and ensuring all parties have the information they need to make decisions for their respective deliverables. The Project Manager maintains a "birds-eye" view of the project, considering all downstream impacts of decisions, developing mitigation strategies, and ensuring all appropriate stakeholders are informed.

Organizational Status

The Project Manager reports directly to the Associate Dean, Academic, Graduate and Innovation with a dotted line report to the Primary Transition Leads. This role requires regular cross functional collaboration. The position works closely with the Faculty of Education Dean's office, including multiple Associate Deans and Assistant Deans as well as the Education Curriculum Committees, four academic departments in the Faculty and administrative/support units to ensure successful delivery of the project. The position will also act as a liaison with central UBC offices and committees responsible for Workday Student.


Work Performed

Designs and manages multiple concurrent projects of considerable size, diversity, complexity, and risk, all of which are vital to the successful implementation of Workday Student within the Faculty of Education. Works closely with Academic Department Heads and Directors as well as other faculty and staff in each of the academic and administrative and support units.

Manages and leads project activities, follows up on action items and deliverables to ensure completion, and keeps the project on track and focused on achieving the intended outcome.

Identifies and manages challenges, develops and implements strategies to mitigate issues, and develops contingency plans to ensure the timely completion of project deliverables. Takes a central role in articulating impacts, exploring the "what-if" scenarios for various project components, and following through with an action plan.

Provides advice on business process and functional assessment, design and development.

Collaborates with IRP streams, diverse academic disciplines and administrative units to ensure the seamless integration of FoE's unique needs and requirements into the overall IRP Project plans.

Provides consultation and advice to academic and administrative units on strategizing, planning, and informing the execution of academic/business transformation.

Demonstrates a deep understanding of project impacts and interdependencies to ensure the project plans are on track, and communicates/follows-up appropriately with team members.

Motivates project teams comprised of diverse stakeholders from within the Faculty. Ensures deliverables, milestones and timelines are clearly articulated and achievable.

Acts as one of the Primary Transition Leads for the Faculty of Education for IRP Student.

Develops internal communication tools and business processes for use between team members to keep them informed of project status, scope changes, and milestone achievements.

Works with the Communications Strategist to ensure that all stakeholders in the Faculty are well informed regarding the transition to Workday Student.

Understands change management implications of projects, designs change management strategies and tactics, integrates change management into project management plans, and leads the implementation of change management in projects. Collaborates with Faculty of Education HR as appropriate.

Leads change management for the Faculty, working closely and attending regular meetings with the designated IRP Community Engagement Partner and Change Management Specialist for the Faculty.

Oversees the Faculty of Education workplan for the transition to Workday Student.

Plans and leads project meetings, with a focus on advancing the project goal, tracking decisions, and capturing action items for follow up.

Researches and writes project documentation including briefing notes, plans, schedules, reports, status updates, and using a variety of formats. Creates briefing notes for senior team members in preparation for university-wide Workday Students committees and meetings.

Fosters relationships with key groups, individuals and stakeholders within the Faculty and more broadly across the University.

Effectively liaises and develops supportive and collegiate partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders.

Consults with and incorporates feedback from stakeholders involved in Workday Release 1 (Finance/HR).

Works with the Communications Strategist to prepare business process mapping documentation for the Faculty to ensure knowledge transfer and business process continuity.

Performs other duties as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
This project will touch the entire Faculty of Education and thus has a high consequence of error with a negative impact to the whole organization. The position is in a key leadership role for ensuring that the IRP Program management practices are adopted within the Program workstreams. Inability to establish effective Program management practices could have an extremely negative impact on Program completion and adoption. Failure to effectively perform in this role would negatively impact the Faculty of Education's ability to achieve its strategic goals in this area and to implement the new system for students in a timely manner.

Supervision Received

Works independently with minimal supervision and broadly under the direction of the Associate Dean, Academic, Graduate and Innovation with a dotted line report to the Primary Transition Leads. Work is reviewed in terms of achievement of overall and long-term project objectives.


Supervision Given

Will provide project direction to various team members, in addition to academic departments and other administrative units around campus, as necessary.


Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Minimum of five years of experience in project management or similar complex organizational change or relevant certification or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

Project and/or technology management experience demonstrating progressive responsibility preferably in a University or other public or private sector environment or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

Proven track record of initiating and completing successful large-scale projects.

Experience in change management, budget development, and risk management. Good knowledge of applications development methodologies.

Leadership and management skills with the ability to work within a team environment to guide, lead, collaborate and mentor staff.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to resolve conflicts at all levels.

Ability to maintain accuracy and attention to detail and effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities.

Strong Project Management skill set and proven ability to be agile in a constantly changing environment and ability to provide project management guidance across work streams.

Excellent time management and organizational skills. Ability to work independently in a self-directed way and take initiative in relation to carrying out assigned tasks. Must be proactive with demonstrated initiative and creative problem-solving skills. Demonstrated strategic and system thinking skills, with the ability to see the big picture while also drilling down into high volumes of details. Must have the ability to anticipate problems and issues and plan ahead, and to analyze problems, identify key information leading to effective resolutions. Ability to work independently and under pressure, and to meet deadlines.

Prior internal communications and stakeholder engagement experience.

Familiarity with higher education student lifecycle (i.e., admissions, degree completion, curriculum, academic advising) an asset.

Familiarity with Workday Student an asset.

Familiarity with UBC an asset.