IT Project Manager (Mid-level) in Houston, Texas at ManhattanLife Insurance and Annuity Company

ManhattanLife Insurance and Annuity Company was founded in 1850, the Company’s longevity makes it one of the oldest and most reliable health and life insurance companies in the country. Operating successfully for over 175 years is a testimony to ManhattanLife’s enduring history, and an indicator of the reliability of our future. ManhattanLife’s headquarters are in Houston, TX and the company is continually growing with multiple office locations nation-wide. ManhattanLife offers attractive employee benefits starting day one, including immediate coverage under our health, dental and vision plans. We offer flexible schedules, including shortened hours on Fridays, free parking, company-wide events, professional development, and a company-wide wellness program.

Scope and Purpose:

ManhattanLife is seeking a Mid-Level IT Project Manager to lead enterprise data, analytics, and data platform initiatives. This role manages projects from initiation through implementation and operational transition, coordinating cross-functional teams to ensure effective planning, governance, communication, and delivery.

In this role, you will support initiatives involving Microsoft Fabric, data engineering, enterprise reporting, master data management, data governance, and data quality. Working closely with business leaders, data engineers, architects, analysts, application teams, cybersecurity, compliance, vendors, and executive stakeholders, the Project Manager provides the structure, visibility, and coordination needed to deliver complex data initiatives aligned with ManhattanLife's business priorities and technology standards.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain project charters, schedules, budgets, resource plans, and governance structures.
• Manage project scope, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, and change requests.
• Coordinate work across data engineering, analytics, architecture, master data management, governance, infrastructure, and business teams.
• Support initiatives involving Microsoft Fabric, data pipelines, data warehouses, lakehouses, semantic models, dashboards, and enterprise reporting.
• Coordinate Party Master, Product Master, Customer 360, data quality, metadata, and data-governance activities.
• Facilitate requirements, design, testing, data validation, implementation, and production-readiness activities.
• Prepare clear project status reports and executive communications.
• Facilitate project team, workstream, steering committee, and vendor meetings.
• Track project budgets, resource capacity, vendor deliverables, and implementation readiness.
• Ensure projects comply with applicable architecture, cybersecurity, compliance, data-governance, and PMO standards.
• Support organizational change, stakeholder readiness, training, and transition to operational support.
• Conduct project closure reviews and document lessons learned.
• Perform other duties and special projects as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Data Management, Business Administration, Project Management, or in a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Five or more years of project-management experience supporting technology, data, analytics, or enterprise platform initiatives.
• Experience managing cross-functional projects involving business teams, technical teams, vendors, and executive stakeholders.
• Experience managing project scope, schedules, budgets, risks, issues, dependencies, testing, and implementation activities.
• Working knowledge of agile, waterfall, and hybrid delivery methods.
• Experience with project-management tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, Microsoft Project, Confluence, SharePoint, or similar platforms.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in insurance, financial services, healthcare, or another regulated industry.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Power BI, SQL Server, or comparable data platforms.
• Experience with data engineering, business intelligence, data warehousing, master data management, or data governance.
• PMP, Scrum, SAFe, or similar certification.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong project planning, organization, and execution skills.
• Ability to manage multiple workstreams, priorities, and dependencies.
• Working knowledge of enterprise data platforms, data integration, analytics, and master data management.
• Strong written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Ability to translate technical information into clear business terms.
• Ability to identify risks, resolve issues, and escalate decisions appropriately.
• Ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities.
• Commitment to transparency, accountability, quality, and measurable business outcomes.

Travel Requirements:

• Establish annual objectives for professional growth.
• Keep pace with developments in the discipline.
• Learn and apply technologies that support professional and personal growth.
• Participate in the evaluation process.

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 enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, type, and use mouse; reach with hands and arms and talk and/or hear. The employee is required to sit for extended periods of time. The position may require lifting, pulling or moving items weighing upwards of 10 pounds as it relates to office or desk supplies.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works in an office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones via WebEx, physical phone while in office, and photocopiers when necessary.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to the job at any time without notice.

ManhattanLife prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status. EOE Employer/Vet/Disabled. ManhattanLife values differences. We are committed to fostering an environment that attracts and retains a diverse workforce. With individuals from a variety of backgrounds, ManhattanLife will be better equipped to service our customers, increase innovation, and reduce risks. We encourage the unique perspectives of individuals and are dedicated to creating a respectful and inclusive work environment.