Project Portfolio Manager - Berkley

"Our Company provides a state of predictability which allows brokers and agents to act with confidence."

Founded in 1967, W. R. Berkley Corporation has grown from a small investment management firm into one of the largest commercial lines property and casualty insurers in the United States.

Along the way, we’ve been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, become a Fortune 500 company, joined the S&P 500, and seen our gross written premiums exceed $10 billion.

Today, the Berkley brand comprises more than 60+ businesses worldwide and is divided into two segments: Insurance and Reinsurance & Monoline Excess. Led by our Executive Chairman, founder, and largest shareholder, William. R. Berkley, and our President and Chief Executive Officer, W. Robert Berkley, Jr., W. R. Berkley Corporation is well-positioned to respond to opportunities for future growth.

The Company is an equal employment opportunity employer.

The W.R. Berkley Corporation (WRBC) Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) is responsible to execute operations improvement, business integration, and corporate transformation initiatives that span multiple WRBC entities. The Project Portfolio Manager role requires working closely with teams and project managers across the enterprise to monitor and report on project execution. The position will be responsible for rolling out the Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) strategy across key stakeholders and be part of a small team tasked with the implementation of tools to achieve the SPM strategy.

In conjunction with rolling out the SPM strategy and developing portfolio reporting and insights, the role will be required to support the various leaders within the EPMO on their various projects and initiatives.

• Partner with Company business staff, work stream leaders, vendors, and the IT team to validate and ensure appropriate project scope, project schedules, resource plans, communication plans, risk and issue management, escalation management, status reporting are in place.
• Assist in the definition of project objectives, requirements, dependencies, and technical feasibility involving all relevant stakeholders to ensure alignment with business goals, and dependent projects.
• Coordinate with leaders, other stakeholders, and EPMO leaders to ensure projects stay on track and dependencies are properly aligned through annual and QTR’ly reviews.
• Organize project team members and interested stakeholders to ensure effective communication and understanding of project execution, project deadlines, project integrations, activity assignment and ensure timely deliverables.
• Ensure proper escalation of project issues to EPMO leaders and ensure decisions are made and shared.
• Manage business stakeholder expectations for agreed upon project performance by capturing and sharing project status and metrics.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget, and within scope.

• Business analysis experience (BRD, User Story etc.).
• Business process management experience.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of Project Management experience managing complex information technology projects.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of Project Portfolio Management experience in a large multinational company.
• Demonstrated experience with Waterfall, Agile methodologies.
• Strong leadership skills, communications skills, negotiation skills, organizational skills and interpersonal skills.
• Must be calm under pressure and have a partnership oriented collaborative approach.
• Excellent ability to interface with executives, functional managers, key vendors, customers and employees.
• Must be able to recognize and properly handle confidential and sensitive information in an appropriate way.
• Experience working with third party vendors is essential.
• Experience with Workday SPM tool, Microsoft Office applications including SharePoint, MS PowerPoint and MS Project.

Education Requirement

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Technology, Engineering or related field preferred, Master's degree is a plus.