Project Manager

We are seeking a Project Manager for a short term contract (3-6 months), onsite. The Project Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and delivering priority business projects within agreed scope, time, cost, quality, risk, and stakeholder expectations. The role provides structured project management discipline across business-as-usual, operational improvement, regulatory, reporting, risk, control, systems, and transformation-related initiatives. The role requires strong delivery ownership, practical governance, disciplined planning, proactive issue resolution, and clear communication with senior stakeholders, project teams, business owners, vendors, and delivery partners. Key Accountabilities PROJECT PLANNING AND DELIVERY * Define project scope, objectives, deliverables, milestones, assumptions, dependencies, and success criteria. * Develop and maintain integrated project plans, delivery schedules, RAID logs, decision logs, and action trackers. * Coordinate delivery activities across business, finance, technology, risk, compliance, audit, and vendor teams. * Apply agile or scrum management practices where appropriate, including sprint planning, backlog coordination, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and impediment tracking. * Work with product owners, business leads, and delivery teams to prioritise work, clarify requirements, manage backlogs, and maintain delivery momentum. * Monitor progress against agreed timelines and proactively manage risks, issues, dependencies, and constraints. * Ensure project outputs are delivered to the required quality and are accepted by the appropriate business owners. GOVERNANCE, REPORTING AND CONTROLS * Establish practical project governance appropriate to the scale, complexity, and risk profile of each initiative. * Prepare clear project status reports, steering committee packs, progress updates, and escalation summaries. * Maintain accurate project documentation and ensure decisions, approvals, dependencies, and risks are traceable. * Support audit readiness, control discipline, and compliance with relevant internal policies and delivery standards. * Escalate material risks, unresolved decisions, and delivery blockers in a timely and structured manner. STAKEHOLDER AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT * Build effective working relationships with senior stakeholders, business owners, delivery teams, and external partners. * Translate project objectives, risks, decisions, and progress into clear, audience-appropriate communication. * Facilitate workshops, working sessions, governance forums, and delivery check-ins. * Support adoption of project outputs by coordinating communication, readiness activities, handover, and transition planning. * Manage expectations constructively and maintain alignment between project teams and business priorities. PROCESS, SYSTEMS AND VENDOR COORDINATION * Coordinate activities involving process improvement, reporting, controls, data, technology, and operational change. * Work with system owners, vendors, and delivery partners to track commitments, resolve issues, and meet agreed service expectations. * Identify opportunities to simplify ways of working, reduce duplication, and improve delivery efficiency. * Support implementation planning, testing coordination, business readiness, cutover activities, and post-implementation stabilisation where required. Minimum Requirements QUALIFICATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS * Relevant degree or diploma in business, finance, commerce, accounting, information systems, project management, or a related discipline. * Formal project management certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, AgilePM, Scrum Master, PMI-ACP, or equivalent is preferred. * Additional qualifications in change management, process improvement, Lean Six Sigma, risk management, or business analysis would be advantageous. EXPERIENCE * Minimum of 5 years’ project management experience, preferably in finance, operations, insurance, banking, financial services, professional services, or a regulated business environment. * Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional projects with senior stakeholders and multiple delivery teams. * Experience delivering initiatives linked to reporting, controls, audit, compliance, risk, process improvement, systems, data, or operational change. * Experience working with agile, hybrid, or waterfall delivery methods, with the ability to tailor the approach to the project context. SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES * Strong project planning, coordination, governance, facilitation, and delivery management skills. * Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare concise executive-level updates. * Strong stakeholder management, influencing, problem-solving, and decision-support capability. * Ability to manage ambiguity, competing priorities, deadlines, risks, and stakeholder expectations. * Ability to maintain project discipline in a non-automated environment. * Good understanding of business processes, finance operations, reporting cycles, audit, controls, risk, and compliance environments. * Competence in project management tools, Microsoft Office applications, collaboration platforms, and project reporting templates. KEY ATTRIBUTES * Organised, disciplined, and detail oriented. * Practical, delivery-focused, and comfortable working at pace. * Confident engaging with senior stakeholders and resolving delivery challenges constructively. * Analytical and commercially aware, with sound judgement and a solutions-focused mindset. * Collaborative, resilient, adaptable, and able to work across diverse teams and functions. SUCCESS MEASURES * Projects delivered within agreed scope, timelines, budget, quality, and governance expectations. * Risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, and actions are actively managed and clearly reported. * Stakeholders understand project progress, required decisions, and delivery implications. * Project documentation is complete, current, and suitable for governance, audit, and handover purposes. * Business outcomes are embedded through effective transition, readiness, and post-implementation support. Datonomy Solutions (Pty) Ltd Recruiter