Project Manager Digital

We’ve been pioneering a world of possibilities to bring surfaces to life for well over 200 years. As experts in making coatings, there’s a good chance you’re only ever a few meters away from one of our products. Our world class portfolio of brands – including Dulux, International, Sikkens and Interpon – is trusted by customers around the globe. We’re active in more than 150 countries and have set our sights on becoming the global industry leader. It’s what you’d expect from the most sustainable paints company, which has been inventing the future for more than two centuries.

Purpose of the job

The AkzoNobel Digital team in IT is responsible for the DevOps delivery of our Digital Marketing, Commerce, Sales and Service capabilities. Following a multi-disciplinary agile delivery setup, the IT team is responsible for the application and infrastructure delivery across our online channels (web, app, commerce and portals). Next to the customer channels, the team is responsible to drive the technical capabilities / enablers to manage product information, compliance, analytics and integrations.  

AkzoNobel has a large portfolio of websites (1000+), apps (100+) and shops (100+), which we deliver to our customers across the globe. All these customer facing solutions require high-quality features and functionalities across the channels. Our delivery organization is broken down in various workstreams (Web, App, Commerce, Lead Management etc.) and teams are responsible for the delivery of the end-to-end IT processes incl. development, QA, operations and support.

Within this complex environment we are looking for a project manager who will manage complex projects across the digital platforms to realize the expected business value towards our customers. The project manager will work closely with our product organization to ensure (parts of) the complex projects will be refined and planned by the correct team(s) as part of the standing delivery governance across the platform. The project manager has an in-dept technical knowledge of digital platforms and IT processes to ensure alignment/communication with and between product managers, product owners, IT architecture and delivery teams is smooth, and dependencies get managed across the domain.   

The activities are centralized around managing projects based on required deliverables and value for AkzoNobel and related business case, resource and work planning & control, budget management, change management and product quality control.

Key responsibilities

Proactively manage the pre-conditions for final project success

• Create project plans including objectives, deliverables, time plan, budget, organization
• Build effective project team structures and recruit /assign project staff
• Ensure project consultants are selected for the projects and programs
• Identify, manage and solve project risks and project problems
• Manage project scope, time utilization and ensure the project is delivered within budget
• Ensure projects meet industry leading quality standards
• Establish project steering with clearly defined steering and project team roles
• Provide leadership to project steering
• Show leadership to motivate team members in sharing a vision of a successful project
• Sets the example by strictly working according to change management procedures and internal guidelines
• Define and negotiate project objectives, deliverables and roles when working with outsourced business partners
• Build and maintain relationships with global implementation partners and recruiters
• Ensures the execution of projects according to the AkzoNobel IM Project Management (IPM) Methodology
• Ensure compliance of the managed projects and programs with respect to IT project methods, approaches and project reporting
• Work with architecture to ensure that standards are implemented consistently in projects
• Work with security to ensure that projects comply to the appropriate security policy, and that incidents are tracked and reported
• Promotes best practice methods, approaches and practices for project management across the AkzoNobel IT community through mentoring, coaching and demonstrating project management leadership
• Stimulate the change to a more Agile way of working across the IM function
• Organize post project reviews and document lessons learned and contribute to have IM Projects Management and standard IM PM methodology continuously optimized

Job requirements

Experience / Education

• Master degree in business management, computer science, computer engineering or a related field of study.
• Excellent Project Management skills and a proven track record of successful project implementation in Agile / DevOps environments
• Project Management Certification (Prince, IPMA, PMI)
• Agile Certifications (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
• >10 years’ experience in IT and/or digital organization
• Knowledge of mainstream business processes like Supply Chain, Finance, Sales & Marketing etc.
• Clear understanding of challenges when digitalizing mainstream business processes
• Knowledge and experience of outsourcing services and contracts with Global IT providers

Key generic competencies

• Manages the relation with a large variety of (groups of) stakeholders.
• Effective under stress, to ensure and effective performance, also when exposed to stress, disappointments, or setback.
• Planning and organizing skills, set targets and priorities and determine necessary actions, time and budget to achieve targets.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and proactive attitude
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
• People management skills
• Ability to manage and motivate a large team of indirect reports
• Ability to engage and influence at all levels in the strategic agenda
• Self-motivated
• Ability to drive incremental changes through others.
• Good leadership capabilities
• Good communication skills with compliance groups, suppliers, and colleagues at all levels in the organization.

At AkzoNobel we are highly committed to ensuring an inclusive and respectful workplace where all employees can be their best self. We strive to embrace diversity in a context of tolerance. Our talent acquisition process plays an integral part in this journey, as setting the foundations for a diverse environment. For this reason we train and educate on the implications of our Unconscious Bias in order for our TA and hiring managers to be mindful of them and take corrective actions when applicable. In our organization, all qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability.