Description of Work Unit
Founded in 1870, Colorado State University is among the nation’s leading research universities and enrolls approximately 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Located an hour north of the Denver metro area, Fort Collins is a vibrant community of approximately 157,000 residents that offers the convenience of a small town with all the amenities of a large city. Fort Collins is situated on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with views of 14,000 foot peaks, and offers access to numerous cultural, recreational, and outdoor opportunities.

The Division of Information Technology (IT), the central IT organization for ColoradoState University-Ft. Collins, supports the land-grant heritage of the institution as well asthe university’s missions of teaching and learning, research, and service. The Division of IT is responsible for delivering enterprise and campus focused IT services for the Ft.Collins campus as well as throughout the CSU-System. Areas of responsibility include Research IT, Application Development and User Support Services, Academic Technology, Cybersecurity & Privacy, Networking and Telecommunications, Infrastructure and Databases, Business Intelligence and Data Integrations, Administrative Applications, and Student Applications.

Driven by its purpose statement: Innovating IT, Empowering CSU and its values of Community, Collegiality, Reliability, Service, and Simplicity, its team members work across the division and in collaboration with university stakeholders. Reporting to the Vice President of Information Technology/CIO, our dedicated 120-person team delivers dynamic and innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of our students, faculty, and staff. Our work supports CSU’s Principles of Community and we are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as we help others discover and meet their potential while aiming to set the standard for IT throughout higher education.
Position Summary
The Project Manager I performs many tasks necessary to assess project needs and keep projects on track. This position will manage projects in the small to medium scale that are not enterprise-wide, and also works with various university departments to conduct business analysis as a part of projects to assess scope, functional requirements, their current business processes, and make recommendations for projects that come into the project intake process.

Reporting directly to the Director of Project Services, this position works with project sponsors and stakeholders throughout the project management lifecycle, and is responsible for scoping, planning, and successfully implementing IT projects involving systems and system upgrades/improvements using contemporary project management strategies and methodologies that are consistent with the Division of IT project management practices.

This is a full-time, limited-term assignment of two years, subject to renewal or conversion to permanent based on departmental need and funding. During the two-year period, employees will have access to CSU’s comprehensive benefit and retirement programs as well as on-the job training, mentorship and guidance throughout the assignment.
Required Job Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in related field. Candidates with a High School Diploma (or GED) and equivalent related professional experience (4 years) will be considered for employment (without the required bachelors or other post-secondary education).
Demonstrated Experience coordinating recurring meetings that include a variety of stakeholders from across multiple departments and/or divisions.
Experience using project management software and tools, e.g., Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, etc.
Ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks and initiatives with varying levels of complexity.
Experience working with project sponsors and stakeholder to determine the business requirements and scope of a project.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrated experience developing collaborative relationships across divisions or departments to lead and support various projects.
Preferred Job Qualifications
Working knowledge of project management.
Excellent communication skills including writing, speaking, facilitation, and presentations.
Demonstrated personal accountability and creative problem solving skill
A CAPM or better certification from the Project Management Institute.
Experience developing project plans and related project documentation.
Ability to understand technology topics and issues and communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences.
Experience building dashboards that provide key metrics and performance indicators
Experience in Higher Education is a plus.
Diversity Statement
Reflecting departmental and institutional values, candidates are expected to have the ability to advance the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Essential Duties
Job Duty Category Plan
Duty/Responsibility
Advise on, and implement methods, processes, and tools to manage various projects efficiently.
Seek all relevant information, including stakeholder and sponsor input to understand and define project goals, work scope and other project expectations.
Create a clear project plan, with appropriate detail in work breakdown and dependencies, required resources, stakeholder responsibilities and milestones. Ensure consensus agreement is reached among parties
Percentage Of Time 25
Job Duty Category Manage
Duty/Responsibility
Communicate and agree on project methodologies with stakeholders.
Monitor and manage project progress, through checkpoints, milestones, resource and task burndown, etc. Prepare and provide accurate and meaningful metrics to aid progress evaluation and decision-making.
Manage stakeholder expectations, providing timely, clear communication on the project plan, scope, budget or other resources required and schedule.
Seek to identify proactively any foreseeable challenges to ongoing project success. Communicate potential impacts and mitigation appropriately and clearly.
Track, coordinate and facilitate the definition of project requests (including mission, scope, deliverables, customer requirements, etc.) and guide through the Central IT Governance approval process to become projects.
Recruit, manage and lead a project team, properly identifying the skills and resources necessary to succeed.
Develop and maintain a project plan, with appropriate work breakdown detail, milestones and schedules.
Manage project scope, change control, budget, and performance.
Forecast, identify, and manage issues and risks appropriately. Prepare and implement contingency plans.
Communicate in a timely, constructive manner at appropriate organizational levels, the project statuses and challenges.
Manage the collaboration with vendors and other entities external to Central IT.
Coordinate testing, training and hand off of project to operational phase.
Percentage Of Time 35
Job Duty Category Lead
Duty/Responsibility
Advocate for the success of the project by enlisting and maintaining leadership support in all project aspects.
Exemplify motivational, collaborative and effective participation in the project to the entire project team – lead by example.
Seek to identify proactively any foreseeable challenges to project success. Communicate potential impacts and mitigation at the appropriate levels, clearly and in time.
Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness of systems and processes.
Lead the planning and implementation of Central IT projects, using contemporary project management methodologies for IT organizations.
Provide guidance on project management best practices and tools than can be applied more broadly in Central IT, and may include management of some non-IT projects.