Role Description Reporting to the AVP of Strategic Operations, the Project Manager serves as a key driver of institutional execution, translating strategy into coordinated, measurable outcomes across the campus. This role operates at the intersection of strategy, operations, and delivery, ensuring that priority initiatives are aligned to institutional goals, resourced effectively, and executed with discipline. The Project Manager leads complex, cross-functional initiatives while also advancing a system-wide project and portfolio management approach that strengthens governance, visibility, and decision-making across the organization. Key Responsibilities - Strategic Execution & Portfolio Alignment - Translate institutional strategy into executable initiatives, ensuring alignment with campus priorities, financial goals, and operational capacity. - Support the development and management of a centralized project and initiative portfolio, providing visibility into priorities, sequencing, and resource allocation. - Partner with senior leadership to clarify objectives, define success metrics, and ensure initiatives are positioned for effective execution. - Governance & Decision Support - Establish and reinforce project and portfolio governance structures, including clear decision rights, escalation paths, and accountability frameworks. - Facilitate leadership forums, working sessions, and decision-making processes to drive alignment across stakeholders. - Provide structured insights and recommendations to senior leadership on trade-offs, risks, and prioritization. - Project Leadership & Delivery Excellence - Lead high-impact, cross-functional initiatives from initiation through implementation and transition to operations. - Define the scope, timelines, resource plans, and success criteria to ensure alignment with strategic intent. - Ensure disciplined execution by proactively managing scope, schedule, budget, risks, and dependencies. - Risk Management & Organizational Awareness - Identify systemic risks, interdependencies, and constraints across initiatives and proactively elevate them to leadership. - Assess the impact of initiatives on campus operations, capacity, and performance. - Support leadership in balancing risk, opportunity, and resource investment across the portfolio. - Performance Tracking & Transparency - Develop and maintain executive-level reporting, dashboards, and performance metrics to track progress against strategic objectives. - Monitor key milestones, outcomes, and value realization across initiatives. - Ensure consistent, transparent communication of progress, risks, and outcomes to stakeholders. - Operational Integration & Continuous Improvement - Support the transition of initiatives from project phases to sustainable operations, ensuring clear ownership and ongoing accountability. - Identify opportunities to improve processes, systems, and cross-functional coordination. - Contribute to the maturation of a standardized project and portfolio management capability across the campus. Essential Duties - Lead and coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives aligned to institutional priorities. - Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to ensure alignment, accountability, and execution. - Develop and maintain project artifacts, including charters, roadmaps, risk registers, and status reports. - Provide ongoing analysis of project and portfolio performance and recommend adjustments as needed. - Support senior leadership in tracking and advancing strategic goals and key initiatives. - Ensure successful project closeout, including transition planning, documentation, and lessons learned. Company Description ACU is affiliated with the fellowship of the Church of Christ. This position requires the employee to be a professing Christian and to be willing to support the Christian mission of ACU. ACU does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin in employment opportunities, in keeping with applicable state and federal law. ACU is committed to maintaining a safe and secure campus environment and protecting the university's financial and physical assets. Therefore, Abilene Christian University conducts background checks on all candidates for employment in security sensitive positions. As a current employee, it will be determined if you need an additional background check upon your hire.