SMO Business Partner

PURPOSE

As a Program Business Partner in the Strategic Management Office (SMO) this position plays a vital role in ensuring that the organization chooses, evaluates, and delivers projects and programs with the greatest value and strategic impact to the enterprise. Ensures that the projects and programs undertaken are aligned with the strategic direction set out by corporate leadership and delivered with the highest degree of professional excellence. Partners with corporate and field leaders throughout the enterprise, coordinating with internal and external stakeholders to ensure the optimal business outcomes are realized. Supports enterprise wide, strategic initiatives focused on driving productivity and process efficiency to benefit operations and create value for customers. Serves as a funding unit coordinator, responsible for partnering with various corporate and field functions to evaluate potential projects and programs for the most significant business outcome and strategic alignment. Serves as primary catalyst in the annual project planning and quarterly project reprioritization activities.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Leader Primary Responsibilities:

Serve as the overall manager for all SMO assigned projects and programs that impact field operations, back-office functions, and supply chain, coordinating all supporting resources to include, but not limited to:

IT
Continuous Improvement
Financial Planning and Accounting
Human Resources
Safety
Vendors and other external stakeholders


Serve as the primary point of contact and conduit of information for project and program stakeholders, ensuring that all project/program communications are purposeful, concise, and relevant to stakeholders.

Establish a regular and predictable communications cadence with all interested stakeholders, to keep stakeholders apprised of project or program status, milestones, projects, issues, risks, and requests for external support.


Serve as advocate for the project owner (business owner) to ensure all technical solutions are in support of the business outcome identified in the business case
Take primary responsibility for all non-technical aspects of project and program delivery to include, but not limited to:

Organization change management
Pilot and and/or user acceptance testing
Rollout, training, and if necessary, remediation
Realization and tracking of business value, in accordance with the proforma value identified in the business case.


Participate in the development and implementation of enterprise strategies to create operating efficiencies, take advantage of market conditions, and deliver value for our customers
Coordinate timelines, resource allocation, and deliverables to avoid conflicts and align dependencies
Responsible for delivery of business value associated with projects in the SMO portfolio, exercising best practices and programs/project management excellence; to include, but not limited to:

Identify and manage any changes required to project scope or timeline
Ensure project objectives, milestones and end states are properly defined
Ensure all project requirements are properly resourced, or recorded as acceptable risks according to project owners and executive sponsors
Facilitate meetings; assign and track action items, holding assigned project/program resources accountable for timely and accurate delivery
Lead the teams towards achieving project/program objectives as defined in the business case
Ensure that projects/programs deliver the business outcomes assigned by the project (business) owners, and approved by funding unit sponsors
Lead by influence, working and leading across functions and taking responsibility for project/program resources outside of you span of direct control


Contribute to project documentation, workflow diagramming, storyboarding processes, and design reviews
Partner with functional program leaders to manage project life cycle
Foster culture of agility, innovation, and solutions-oriented thinking
Perform other duties as assigned


Responsibilities specific to role as Funding Unit Coordinator:

Serve as primary liaison to the business/funding unit for the annual planning process and the quarterly reprioritization process
Partner with business units and funding units to develop multi-year capability road maps, ensuring alignment with corporate strategy
Partner with business leaders throughout your assigned funding unit to construct the business case, which includes the following:

Clearly defined and measurable business outcome(s)
Plan to measure the clearly defined business outcome(s)
Plan to address organizational change management
Plan to address both technical and operational requirements: rollout, training, remediation, measurement, and reporting
Clearly identified and risks associated with the project/program


Partner with “IT Tech Lead” to define the technical requirements necessary to deliver the business outcome, including providing initial “t-shirt size” in order to facilitate value for effort and prioritization decisions by the funding unit sponsor
Monitor project/program progression, to include post implementation value realization and report to stakeholders
Provide Funding Unit Sponsors with prioritization recommendations and other tools to assist them in making prioritization decisions
Partner with IT counterparts to align on project timelines and status.
Prepare and manage required reporting for SMO Program Manager and IT project manager to allow for proper stakeholder and executive updates


SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This position may have assigned supervisory responsibilities based on the project/initiative assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.


Bachelor’s degree in Project Management, Information Systems, or related field
6+ years of experience in IT or Project Management, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Understanding of LBM industry, BFS field operations, and BFS IT operations
High energy and enthusiasm for the role of digital solutions in the homebuilding process and within BFS operations
Experience implementing processes and systems to optimize internal operations
Must be an autonomous, results driven creative thinker with leadership skills
Experience in leading group training and instructional sessions preferred.
Customer service & field user oriented preferred.
Extensive MS Excel and/or Access modeling knowledge preferred.


COMPETENCIES


Excellent written and verbal communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.
Working knowledge of company’s policies and procedures related to scheduling, dispatching and delivery.
Knowledge of building materials and general business processes related to delivering materials.
Experience and ability to drive projects to completion, which includes post go-live measurement and program support.
Strong organizational and planning skills with the ability to multi-task and prioritize work.
Ability to write documentation, work instructions, reports, etc.
Team player with the ability to work independently.
Keen eye for attention to detail.
Effective communication; clear and concise communicator; able to communicate complex ideas affectively with various audiences
Teamwork – Ability to work as part of small cross-functional team tasked with defining customer-centric solutions
Leadership – Ability to motivate project teams and mediate any issues that arise
Risk Management – Ability to predict and find potential project issues before they arise, based on experience and expertise
Organization and Planning Skills – Ability to identify and organize needed resources from big picture ideas to the mundane details required to ensure smooth project execution
Ability to understand varying perspectives and stakeholder interests; must know when to compromise and when to hold firm when negotiating with business partners
Ability to blend strategic thinking with hands on practicality and an understanding of technology to solve problems for homebuilders and BFS operators

WORK ENVIRONMENT / PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.


Work is in an office setting and generally sedentary with physical effort associated with using a computer but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time.
May be required to occasionally lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects up to 25 pounds.
Some travel required; 25% – 50%