Job Description

The IT Project Manager will lead the end-to-end delivery of a core insurance system upgrade, taking the programme from planning and mobilisation through execution, testing, migration, and go-live. The role combines hands-on project delivery with governance, vendor coordination, and senior stakeholder management in a regulated financial environment. Candidates with exposure to export credit agencies or export/development banks are strongly preferred, given the specialised underwriting, risk, and compliance context of the platform.

Key Responsibilities

Delivery & Planning

• Own the full project lifecycle for the core insurance system upgrade — scope, plan, schedule, budget, and delivery.
• Define the project plan, milestones, and critical path in coordination with business, IT, the system vendor, and implementation partners.
• Manage migration from the legacy platform, including data migration, cutover planning, and rollback readiness.

Governance & Reporting

• Establish and run project governance: steering committees, working groups, decision forums, and escalation paths.
• Maintain RAID logs (risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies) and drive proactive mitigation.
• Provide clear, timely status reporting to executive stakeholders and the PMO.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Coordinate the software vendor, system integrator, and any third-party delivery partners against contracted milestones.
• Manage stakeholders across underwriting, claims, finance, risk, compliance, and IT, ensuring alignment throughout delivery.

Quality, Testing & Go-Live

• Oversee testing cycles (SIT, UAT, regression) and quality gates.
• Ensure operational readiness, training, and change management ahead of go-live.
• Manage post-implementation stabilisation and handover to BAU support.

Compliance

• Ensure delivery aligns with regulatory, audit, and internal control requirements applicable to the institution.

Required Experience & Skills

• Minimum 8 years' IT project/programme management experience, with a proven track record delivering core system implementations or upgrades.
• Demonstrable experience delivering core insurance platforms (policy administration, underwriting, claims, or reinsurance systems) — or closely comparable core financial/banking platforms.
• Strong command of full-lifecycle delivery: planning, budgeting, migration, testing, cutover, and go-live.
• Experience managing software vendors, system integrators, and multiple concurrent delivery partners.
• Strong RAID, dependency, and stakeholder-management capability in a regulated environment.
• Proficiency in project tooling — MS Project, JIRA, Confluence, or equivalent.

Preferred / Advantageous

• Experience with export credit agencies, export banks, or development finance institutions — familiarity with export credit insurance, trade finance, guarantees, or specialised underwriting and risk models.
• Experience with data migration from legacy insurance/banking systems.
• Exposure to Agile and Waterfall (hybrid) delivery environments.
• Regional / relevant-market experience.

Certifications

• PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification required
• MSP, PgMP, or Agile/Scrum certification advantageous.

Success Criteria

• Core insurance system upgrade delivered on time, within budget, and to agreed scope and quality.
• Successful data migration and cutover with minimal business disruption.
• Governance, RAID, and reporting maintained to standard throughout delivery.
• Stable go-live and clean handover to BAU support, with post-implementation issues resolved.

Vertical:

Technology