Software Development Project Manager - remote

Deep Consulting Solutions
Posted 4 years ago
(Remote, Full-Time, Anywhere in the World)


Automation is becoming increasingly important in the world we live in. It helps businesses to better serve their customers, properly organize their employees, and minimize human error in their operations. At Deep Consulting Solutions we make automation solutions to organize and manage small niche companies and enable them to grow big while staying effective and delivering their best service.


Do you want to be part of a no-nonsense consultancy that grows successful and effective businesses with effective software solutions? Our Global Software Team is looking for a highly disciplined and organized Project Manager to ensure on point and timely operation of the software development teams in our organization.




What We Do

We find niche and successful small companies who have problems running their complex internal productions as they scale. The first thing that we do for them is effectively re-organize their operational processes so that they can most effectively attract, service and retain their customers and run their internal production in the way most optimal for quality and profitability. The second thing we do is build and implement a software solution that will administer and enforce the new and improved operation model.


Our Software Team builds highly custom solutions to run our clients operations - which usually include ERP and CRM systems to run the internal company operations, custom web portals to interact with clients and partners, ticketing systems to run support and case resolution operations, and integrated automated telephony to streamline the sales and customer support systems. It is critical for us to build solutions that effectively deliver on the business objective in a highly relevant way, yet are technically flawless and as simple and flexible as possible - thus we always make a point to use readily available platforms and leverage ready-made technologies, such as Zoho CRM, ERP, and Ticketing Systems, along with pre-built components for our front end custom applications. We create extremely functional solutions that have very extensive functionality and process a lot of information. Our software development team consists of the design, development, and QA branches.


Our projects are complex, take several months and must be carried out with precision and diligence over time. We have a very rigorous requirements definition process, which is largely based on the results of our separate business consulting department which allows us to run a manageable operation and prevent scope creep by not directly involving our clients in our software development process. At the same time, the large scale of projects and functionality involved requires an extremely well run execution, disciplined monitoring of it, and timely resolution and escalation of problems and issues which even despite our rigorous process occur from time to time. Presently, the owner directly manages all projects, however, as the business is scaling, we need to set in place an organized system to monitor the software development operation and ensure timely delivery of all projects - which is why we are hiring for this position.



What You Will Do

As the Software Development Project Manager, your sole purpose of being in the company is to ensure faster and more effective delivery of projects. Specifically, you will need to make sure that:

  • Well defined, correct, and feasible plan is set in place for the projects you are in charge of;

  • Everyone involved is fully aware of what they are supposed to deliver, the delivery is verified, and held accountable to the needed standards and timelines set in place;

  • The set plan is executed on point, correctly, and without delay;

  • Problems in plan or in execution of it are identified early, escalated appropriately, and get resolved;

Note: This role does not have any requirement definition, technical analysis, or client relationship components in it. The role is purely internal and reports to the owner of the business. Requirements are defined and analyzed by other roles in the organization. This role is in place strictly to systematically ensure and verify that things get carried out correctly and that issues are resolved before they become major troubles. The role does however require strong analytical capabilities and a certain level of technical understanding in order to be able to critically evaluate the plan in place and the various things that occur during its execution.

 

At minimum, it will be expected that the individual in that role will:

  • Organize and maintain an effective and detailed plan of delivery for projects that they are put in charge of, put together with the help of appropriate experts on the project, and approved by the company leadership;

  • Systematically, critically, and without fault verify that the plan is carried out on a daily basis and that delivery is on track;

  • Spot issues and deviations in the execution, appropriately assess the situation, escalate the issues to the leadership and the appropriate subject matter experts, and ensure the resolution of such issues, and if appropriately modify the plan accordingly.


The individual will have general guidelines provided by the leadership, however, it is expected for the individual to have a solid amount of practical expertise in software development in order to effectively apply discernment in order to:

  • Critically assess estimations and recognize when estimations are unreasonable in order to take the appropriate actions;

  • Evaluate the proposed project plans and spot inconsistencies between various parts of plans, examine reasons for these inconsistencies, and make decisions about how to escalate these situations;

  • Spot incorrect project delivery episodes, such as incorrect, incomplete, or non-existent deliverables, and evaluate reasons for them (e.g. employee negligence, misunderstanding, employee fraud) in order to appropriately escalate the situation.

  • Spot opportunities to accelerate the development of the project, propose and implement matching improvements to the project execution.
     

It will be expected that you will manage the delivery of your assigned projects proactively and evaluate matters critically to ensure effective and fast delivery, not just merely a delivery. The company can operate and deliver projects without you - you are here solely to save the company time and money by making it more effectively managed and monitored. Therefore, the expectations for the results from your work will be high.



Team Structure 

The company is split into two major production operations: the Business Consulting Operation and the Software Operation.


The Business Consulting Operation investigates and assesses our clients' business business operations and puts together business models for them based on our consulting principles. It them makes business level requirements for automation solutions that are delivered by the software operation and verifies the solutions are designed and produced with all the functionality being appropriate to the business model and circumstances.
 

The Software Operation designs, builds, deploys, and supports these automation solutions. The Software Operation consists of: Product Designers, Systems Analysts, Front End and Back End Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and Software Quality Assurance Experts. The Software Operation follows a strict sequence of precise design and requirements definition, requirements validation and approval, architecture design, software development, quality assurance, and deployment. The process is rigid and is essential to be thoroughly followed on every single project. The Software Team does not interact directly with the client, except for very rare purely technical support needs, and for all intents and purposes works with the Business Consulting Operation and the Owner of Deep Consulting Solutions as its primary stakeholders.


This position concerns only the Software Operation. It is expected that the Software Development Project Manager will monitor and manage the delivery of the Software Operation's Cycle only, but will, as appropriate, alert the Business Consulting Operation of concerning matters and ensure that the necessary action will be undertaken by the members of the Business Consulting Operation of the project if it pertains to the Software Operation.
 

Requirements 
 
Personal 

This is a very high performance environment: projects are difficult and complex and expectations of quality are high. Therefore, very high behavioral standards are essential for this job and they require the person doing it to:

  • Be extremely disciplined and be able to meticulously organize things and watch on a regular and routine basis after their execution;

  • Work for a long term result and prioritize long term project effectiveness over the needs for instant pleasure and gratification;

  • Be mature, have mental strength, and a "thick skin" - this job is not a place to socialize or make friends, specifically this position requires the person to critically watch after and assess what other people are doing, and at times act adversarial to the employees on the team who aren't delivering up to expectations - it is not an appropriate place to seek comfort, rather, it is a place to manage for performance and demand results.
     

 Technical 


As mentioned above, the person must have a certain degree of expertise, specifically:
  • Understand how software is built and what exactly must be done in order to create a complex piece of software;

  • Have practical experience of getting complex software projects delivered;

  • Understand software development planning, and clearly spot issues in software development project plan or its execution. 

 Managerial 

The person in this position must be able to:

  • Critically evaluate and assess matters that they are in charge of - not take things by the surface, but actually assess matters independently and deeply before making decisions;

  • Ruthlessly manage for results and deliverables in order to maximize performance, and not fraternize with the team's employees for the purposes of personal popularity or emotional pleasure;

  • Clearly communicate matters to people and ensure their understanding of the communicated message.



What We Offer

  • High Performance Oriented Management

The organization is consistently and constantly managed for performance and results. The business owner is extremely aggressive in his recruitment and candidate selection along with the management of team members - to ensure that only the highly performing employees are hired and kept on the team. Ineffective and incapable employees are ejected quickly and ruthlessly. The team that you will supervise will mostly consist of people competent and capable of delivering and mobilizing themselves. You will not have to put up with an ineffective employee for long.

  • Results Based Compensation

You will be paid like a sales person. You will have a reasonable base pay, which will cover your basic costs, however by itself would not be very appealing. You will be put in charge of projects, at the end of which you will be receive a commission, provided you've met the standards. The maximum number of projects assigned to you at the time will regularly be reassessed based on your results. Thus, the more projects you can deliver faster and more effectively, the more projects you will get, and the more and faster you will earn commissions.

  • Practical Business Solution Projects

We make real business solutions with an express purpose that can be evaluated by their effectiveness and not some pretty websites.

  • Work on Your Own Time

You can work from anywhere and at a time that best suits your preferences provided that you can deliver results. There isn't a 9-6 or any other hourly schedule in place and there are no time logs made. There also do not exist any time-wasting activities and everybody's time is respected. That being said, the intensity of work and the need for mental presence that you'll need to put in to get results will by all means make this a full time job and require a full time professional commitment from you. The more effective you are, the more money you'll make and the more time you'll have to enjoy things in life.

  • Growth Within Our Organization

Our organization is dynamic, growing, and quite new. Employees who prove themselves to be responsible, effective, and motivated will have the opportunities to take increasing responsibilities as the company develops.






Hiring Process


Our candidate selection process is designed to objectively assess people's ability to deliver. We do not have long and pointless rounds of interviews filled with hypothetical questions and we do not make decisions solely by looking at somebody's resume. Instead, we follow the below sequence:

1. Job Application Form.

2. Pre-Screening Assessment for General Mental Ability and Software Project Management Skills.

3. Short Interview.

4. Practical Case-Based Test Assignment.

5. Evaluation of the Assignment and Decision on Hire.