Description

IPMA Senior Manager in the Independent Programme Management Authority, Inspector General’s Office, Director General’s Services.

The Independent Programme Management Authority (IPMA) is intended to address project management challenges by institutionalising project management and control process ownership, alongside initiatives in digitalisation, compliance monitoring, and training and certification, and by establishing a veto/escalation process.

Duties

The purpose of this strategic role is to overhaul and enhance project execution practices across the Agency, ensuring projects are completed in accordance with quality targets, on time and within budget.

Your main objectives will be as follows:

• Addressing the conspiracy of optimism by advocating the application of strong project management knowledge from a project’s inception, favouring the definition of a realistic project baseline and ensuring its implementation is in line with quality targets, on-time and on-cost;
• Favouring the empowerment of Project Managers to monitor and control the project baseline effectively with the support of lean and efficient compliance and performance monitoring processes;
• Supporting the implementation of harmonised digital tools and data to allow early detection of deviations and changes in risk exposure while facilitating informed and timely decisions;
• Leading and contributing to Corporate/Fast Track Reviews, Investigation/Enquiry Boards, Project Resource Assessments and Peer Reviews at both Directorate and project level;
• Guiding and contributing to IPRev/Gate Reviews in positions such as Chair, System or Expert;
• Participating in Directorate Peer Reviews, contributing your insight into and knowledge of the Directorate-specific business;
• Steering ad hoc appraisal activities in positions such as Chair, System or Expert;
• Overseeing the preparation activities for ESA Council at ministerial level reviews;
• Helping foster an agile and efficient project workforce capable of adapting to the new and rapidly changing conditions faced by the Agency;
• Participating in the definition of project management training, maturation and certification;
• Contributing to the update of the IPMA handbook and project management regulation (“Golden Rules”) and critically reviewing KPIs and metrics related to the ESA programme/project portfolio, including risks, cost and schedule, with the aim of detecting early signs of deviations and monitoring the overall health of the ESA programmatic activities.

Technical competencies

Behavioural competencies

Result Orientation
Operational Efficiency
Fostering Cooperation
Relationship Management
Continuous Improvement
Forward Thinking

For more information, please refer to the ESA Core Behavioural Competencies guidebook

Education

A master's degree in engineering and/or management is required for this post.

Additional requirements

Your overarching aim will be to improve project delivery outcomes significantly, contributing to the Agency's broader objectives of advancing space exploration and utilisation. You will do so mainly by mitigating recurring and escalating schedule delays, which invariably lead to widening disparities between anticipated and actual progress. To achieve this, you will devise streamlined processes, tools and governance mechanisms that can actively contribute to curbing delays and accompanying cost overruns.

You must have a senior profile with at least eight years of proven experience as project manager in the space systems and payload domains. Ideally, you will have one or more of the following :

• Strong leadership capabilities to drive a culture of accountability, efficiency and continuous improvement within project teams;
• The flexibility to engage with ad hoc reviews, providing authoritative input to address unique project challenges;
• A track record of managing complex projects, with the ability to navigate and rectify optimistic biases in project planning;
• Effective communication and facilitation skills to lead diverse review panels/boards and committees, fostering collaboration and consensus among stakeholders.