Project Manager - Learning Solutions

Project Manager – Learning Solutions - Japan & South Korea

Key accountabilities:

Full delegation in all activities related to:

• Optimizing the planning of resources to support the Pitch or Sales Team during the pre-Sales and Sales process.
• Monitoring & controlling Value Stream delivery within for projects delivered wholly or substantially within Japan or South Korea.
• Monitoring and controlling budget and forecast for projects delivered in Japan or South Korea.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Summary and purpose of the role

At MSX we exist to empower movers and makers to thrive in an ever-changing world, by harnessing our expertise and creativity to deliver an exceptional service powered by technology and innovative solutions.

The Project Manager contributes to the MSX Vision, Mission and Purpose by delivering ‘Value to Customer’; ensuring quality, cost and timing of the Value Steam/s projects delivery; managing the design, supply and set up for new business, and leading the Value Stream/s delivery to meet the Global Target.

The Project Manager is MSX’s primary client interface, collecting feedback and monitoring customer satisfaction and retention, driving the improvement of the delivery quality and the value of MSX solutions. In cooperation with the Sales Team, this role is responsible for business renewal/retention, and is involved actively in People management: carrying out individual performance reviews to secure understanding of targets, and monitoring performance across the Regional or Global Delivery Team within the Value Stream/s.

Key activities and responsibilities

Project Manager’s accountabilities include the following activities:

• Ensure the Project deployment on a daily/weekly basis (depending on assigned objectives and project activities) in line with the Company project management standards, and through:
  • Process and delivery standards application and alignment
  • Project documentation development and maintenance
  • Team and team leaders operational support, including escalation process
  • On time new hire/backfill requisition submission to HR team
  • New joiner/replacement onboarding support
  • Training and coaching plan definition and deployment
  • Team performance management
  • Continuous Improvement plan deployment, through Kaizen Events, Problem Solving workshops, brainstorming sessions, as well as implementation of the identified improvements
• Ensure project stakeholders management, including regular operational interactions with client, applying early warning procedures and managing escalation when required
• Monitor the progress of Project operational results on a daily/weekly/monthly basis (depending on the assigned objectives and project activities) as well as define and deploy necessary mitigation actions to achieve project objectives
• Monitor systematically Project financial performance ensuring the achievement of financial objectives, providing and timely adjusting Project financial forecast in Company system, in line with the Company scheduling
• Ensure all direct reports have annual and periodic Performance Development Dialogues (PDD), documented within People Central to promote continuous development and maintain alignment with team and business goals
• Support the local accounting team(s) on the following matters:
  • Provide monthly invoicing instructions in line with accounting scheduling
  • Timely submit purchase requests related to project needs
  • Provide feedback on supplied and received material/services/equipment
  • Timely approve team members’ business expenses
• Deploy available business analytics tools, to continuously monitor the operational KPIs and service quality
• Support Delivery Leaders in managing project extension and renewals, ensuring the right level of required information.
• Monitor Client satisfaction KPIs at project level, supporting the Delivery Leader in defining and deploying Client satisfaction mitigation actions.
• Support Delivery Leader and the Sales team in managing Client meetings and business reviews
• Deploy operational excellence related rules and policies, documented workflows, and SOPs
• Ensure effective collaboration and inputs with Global Audit & Assurance team in the deployment of required standards and local ISO9001/TISAX certifications, supporting internal audit activities, as well as monitor maintenance and renewal of said certifications
• Ensure Project’s compliance with the applicable Company policies and procedures
• Monitor Customer Satisfaction trends, including Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)
• Carry out ongoing customer reviews / contacts to ensure customer requirements are well understood and service delivery exceeds customer expectations
• Ensure actions are taken to prevent and address potential internal and external customer concerns
• Establish employee (direct reports) individual targets in line with Value Stream/s overall targets
• Improve People management processes, support employee development and growth, and increase employee satisfaction and engagement across the company
• Provide feedback to your manager on product/solution development opportunities as consequence of frequent customer contacts, industry knowledge and ‘ad hoc’ interactions with strategic business consulting companies, to foster innovation into the Value Stream/s
• Drive the Local/Regional Value Stream/s delivery to meet the Local/Regional target (aligned with global target)
• Coordinate and/or organize the support to the Local/Regional Client Leader during the pre-sales and sales phases
• Be responsible for the Local (Japanese & South Korean) Value Stream P&L
• Be responsible for providing on time all the invoicing instructions needed to the Finance team in Japan
• Develop and implement resource plans to ensure project delivery to the highest quality standards which maximizes business opportunities

ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL

Ideal Education / Specific Qualifications/ Certifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience
• Certified Project Manager by an industry recognized body, PMP or equivalent (advantageous)
• Certified coach by an industry recognized body (desired)

Ideal Experience, Knowledge & Skills

Experience

• Experience in service delivery and/or shared services in a learning and development outsourcing function
• Experience building business cases to demonstrate ROI

• Experience leading and developing people, including.
  • providing challenging and stretch tasks and assignments
  • holding frequent development discussions
  • awareness of individual employee career goals
  • creating and implementing development plans
• Experience in project management, coaching, process improvement and customer satisfaction
• Experience in Benchmarking and Lean Management (advantageous)

Knowledge

• Understanding of Data collection, ETL, and business analytics
• Understanding of team building and decision-making models and processes
• Strong understanding of current and future trends and market forces affecting the automotive industry in Japan and South Korea
• Knowledge of the competition with an awareness of how strategies and tactics work in the Japanese and South Korean markets
• Thorough understanding and knowledge of how organizations work, including the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices, and procedures

Technical Skills

• Anticipating future trends: Ability to anticipate future consequences and trends accurately and paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods
• Change Management: Ability to manage changes for business growth and to minimize disruption. It includes planning and managing organizational structures, processes, and people changes
• Risk Management: Ability to identify potential risks, and develop mitigation strategies throughout projects
• Contract Management: Ability to oversee project contracts in line with contract laws, regulations, terms, and legal principles, ensuring compliance which protects the interest of the Organization

Core Skills

• Collaboration: Works with others to achieve a common goal. Collaborates with clients, subject matter experts, stakeholders, and other team members.
• Commercial Awareness: Views situations from a commercial or business perspective and understands the business' processes, relationships, risks and costs. Understands the factors that influence success.
• Conflict Management: Manages conflicts of interests and disagreements across team, project or value-stream/function
• Delegation: Assigns tasks based on team strengths, allowing for skill development and effective workload management
• Diplomacy: Manages professional relationships, communicates effectively and handles conflicts and challenging situations
• Communication: Has strong verbal and written communication skills to convey ideas and strategies; Updates clearly to both internal teams and external stakeholders
• Financial Acumen: Interprets financial reports, manages budgets, allocates resources effectively, and makes decisions that contribute to the financial health of the company
• Influence: Has a positive impact on others; persuades or convinces them to gain their support at varying levels across the organization
• Innovative: Keeps up with industry trends and incorporates innovative approaches into solutions
• Motivation: Motivates others to achieve high performance
• Creativity: Delivers creative approaches to identify new sales channels/business opportunities/opportunities for improvements/ideas/new ways of doing things
• Coaching: Facilitates development by providing clear, behaviourally specific performance feedback, and by making or eliciting specific suggestions for improvement in a manner that builds confidence and maintains self-esteem
• Planning: Plans effectively, considering timelines, milestones and deliverables
• Problem-solving: Recognises issues, inefficiencies, or opportunities for improvement through analysis. Addresses technical challenges and solves issues on the spot. Finds practical solutions and makes decisions on the go. Uses a systematic approach that helps break down difficult problems into smaller, more manageable parts
• Stakeholder Management: Collaborates closely with a diverse range of clients and stakeholders to ensure requirements are met. Builds and maintains relationships with stakeholders
• Strategic Planning: Develops and executes long-term plans that align with the company's goals and objectives, considers market trends, competitive landscape, and internal resources
• Leadership: Inspires, guides, and motivates teams towards achieving organizational objectives. Sets a clear vision, fosters a positive work culture, and provides guidance to team members

Core Competencies

• Core Values & Behaviours
• Leading others
• Leading strategically, Driving Change & Innovation
• Managing Operations
• Managing self

Languages

Japanese and fluent English (written and spoken). Korean advantageous

Attributes

At MSX we Value:

1. Getting it done
2. Proving our words with our actions
3. Creating a better tomorrow for our clients, every single day
4. Fearlessly exploring new roads
5. Delivering on our commitments
6. Being exceptional teammates

We expect everyone at MSX to:

• Be decisive, solution oriented and results focused
• Hold themselves and others accountable to commitments
• Focus on delivering great outcomes for their internal or external customers, and can respectfully and constructively challenge key stakeholders to consider better solutions
• Overcome challenges with positivity and creativity
• Be adaptable and open to change, and motivated to explore new and improved ways of working
• Support teammates to succeed by sharing experience and knowledge, and by giving and receiving honest feedback

We expect the Project Manager to:

• Act with customers in mind; be dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; get first-hand customer information and use it for improvements in products and services
• Foster trust, influence and mentor while monitoring; involve all members of the group
• Provide current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others
• Shift gears comfortably, and move on before finishing things; comfortably handle risks and uncertainty
• Be future-oriented
• Exceed goals successfully, be constantly and consistently one of the top performers, steadfastly push self and others for results
• Pursue everything with energy, drive, and a need to finish; seldom give up before finishing, especially in the face of resistance or setbacks
• Build awareness, agreement, cooperation and a unified sense of purpose and accountability in multi-cultural teams

MSX is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, neurodiversity or other personal characteristics and backgrounds, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, or marital and parental status. As users of the Disability Confident scheme, we interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.