Project Manager, Incident Response

Job Summary:

As our Project Manager of Incident Response, you will be primarily dedicated to external, client-facing projects within our Incident Response team. You will be the driving force behind successful, thorough, and robust project deliverables that result in progressive change and secure enhancements to our client’s technical environments. As the primary face of the team on client calls, you will field questions, establish trust, and set precedent as the go-to person for all incident-related matters. You will be tasked with understanding the current state of an incident, establishing ownership of the overall direction of containment and recovery, and ensuring all parties are aligned with the verticals defined. Constantly in sync with the primary lead engineer leading containment and recovery strategies and delivering agreed-upon strategic initiatives to all parties, you will work as part of a dynamic, flexing team – ready to respond at a moment’s notice mapping into your team's on-call rotation. This position will report directly to our Director of Incident Response PMO.

Responsibilities (including, but not limited to):

Project Management

• Coordinates multiple, external technical projects from inception to completion:
  • Follows established core processes, project templates, and methodologies
  • Takes a lead in Professional Services stand-ups & meetings
  • Collaborates on project planning, project design, preparation of deliverables, timelining, and contingency planning
  • Understands SOW requirements and converts them into realistic, executable project plans
  • Manages the project resources to effectively execute on-time deliverables
  • Tracks and manages the project budget from the outset through successful completion
  • Tracks and oversees T&M project scope and related time entries, confirming their validity
  • Employs creative measures to keep project scope contained
  • Ensures QA standards are being met before project delivery
• Outlines goals, strategy, and execution with Abacus’s engineers:
  • Assists in the initial triage and establishment of access for project kick-off
  • Drives team’s development of project proposals and scope documentation
  • Leverages conflict management techniques to address disagreements
  • Assigns and aligns necessary resources, understanding resource requirements and capacity (perm or contracted) on projects, maximizing available resources and leveraging each engineer’s skill set effectively
  • Follows up with engineers on a weekly, daily, or (when necessary) hourly basis to understand the progress of their assigned work and to identify potential roadblocks

• Monitors and summarizes progress of project(s) to stakeholders:
  • Company Leadership
  • Finance
  • Client Contacts and IR Partners
• Sets and conducts status meetings with client contacts, keeping them informed of progress and setting proper expectations
  • Leads the creation of PowerPoint presentations and project reports as required for large projects

• Participates in incident response on-call rotation for incoming IR projects
• Identifies and understands when it is necessary to escalate issues to higher-level resources
• Addresses billing disputes, overruns, and customer service issues with meaningful resolutions, looping in additional Entara resources as necessary
• Conducts post-mortems to outline lessons learned and improve internal processes

Problem Solving

• Becomes an active part of project teams solving technical or business roadblocks until a resolution is reached and the outcome is personally verified
• Perseveres in making sound judgment calls when lacking one or more desired resources or data points
• Challenges technical or business requirements ensuring that we deliver the right solution, at the right price, at the right time
• Leverages and employs an understanding of intermediate to advanced systems configuration, management, and maintenance in areas including the following (this is a sample but not exhaustive listing of work areas and project tasks assigned to our IR-focused engineers):
• Microsoft-related technologies: Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, Active Directory, GPO, LAPS, SCCM, MDT, Intune, 0365, Azure etc.
• Virtualization technologies: VMware and Microsoft Hyper V
  • Restore and reimage virtual servers from images and various backup solutions
  • Restore and rebuild ESX and Hyper-V hosts, domain controller, etc.
• Mount ISOs to virtual systems
• Upload virtual templates to any hypervisor
• Out of Band access to Physical systems
• Leverage console access such as ILO and iDrac to establish remote connection to offline physical systems
• Backup and disaster recovery solutions for both desktops and servers
• Access solutions: VPN, Remote Desktop, Citrix, etc.
• Diagnostic tools; review event logs, Syslogs, monitoring data, and memory dumps to troubleshoot issues.
• Security-enhancing solutions for systems and applications (including MFA and endpoint protection).

Metrics Measuring Success

• Maintains billable utilization targets
• Ensures all mandatory reports are generated and updated daily
• Meets or exceeds deadlines for all assigned projects
• Keeps projects profitable while not skimping on quality
• Leverages cost variance and schedule variance formulas to measure project success
• Contributes to the team’s attainment of high customer satisfaction scores on project delivery
• Records complete change details, time worked entries, and work notes in ServiceNow in real-time
• Identifies opportunities for process improvement

Following Process

• Follows Abacus’s project process to execute project deliverables: configure, test, implement, refine, document, monitor, and transition to appropriate stakeholders.
• Follows Abacus’s Change Management Process to perform approved changes in client environments
• Communicates internally and (as directed) externally to provide timely information regarding project status, promised follow-ups, and requested feedback on a detailed and professional basis. 

Skills and Experience:

• You’re a knowledge seeker. Regardless of method, you have obtained and exposed yourself to knowledge centers that have qualified you to master technical project delivery and the systems engineering required to successfully recover, deploy, and enhance infrastructures. You ideally have a four-year degree in a relevant field and are working towards or have already obtained your PMP certification.
• You’ve managed projects as the assigned “PM” instead of only having delivered them as an engineer. You enjoy the dynamic of wearing multiple hats and taking the lead on client-facing communication, expectations, and timelines.
• You’ve owned client-facing projects and have established a consultative rapport resulting in high client satisfaction levels upon project closure.
• You have at least 5 years of experience delivering IT waterfall projects working with systems and virtualization with exposure to enterprise infrastructures.
• You keep us true to our word. You have a tried-and-true organizational system to keep yourself (and others) on task while ensuring exceptional quality.
• You possess a winning combination of superb writing skills and highly refined verbal communication skills. You convey energy, confidence, and genuine interest over a call just as easily as you convey competence, professionalism, and trustworthiness in person. You translate to a C-Suite audience as seamlessly as you “talk tech” with engineers. Your emails are professionally worded, grammatically pristine, with the right pinch of personality. In any medium, you pride yourself in clear, effective, and persuasive communication.
• You have an approach to working hours that is more adaptable than the traditional "9-to-5". As this team responds to business-critical remediation projects, we are looking for an individual who is career-driven and won’t shrink back when work requirements extend into evenings, weekends, and holidays. While travel is minimal, you’re also open to getting on a plane when needed to be present at client sites when a project requires it. On the flip side, your hard work is rewarded with a generous comp plan that grows with the efforts you contribute, a flexible PTO policy, and an equally inspiring team that climbs mountains together.
• You are ready to be an effective remote worker and have a dedicated, private space for a home office with a private internet connection with at least 50MBPS bandwidth. Public WiFi and shared common spaces do not meet these standards.

Desired Personality Traits:

• A Mythical Character. You aren’t alarmed when someone expects you to be a hero; in fact, you pride yourself on frequently delivering big just when all hope seems lost. Your persistence is notable, and you are a determined soul who insists on turning “We can’t” into “We can” If you meet a roadblock, you’ll try to scale it, dodge it, or blast through it before ever admitting defeat.
• The Devil is in the Details. You have an angelic ability to sort through chaos and make order. Your eye and attention for details helps you uncover hidden gems, while your thorough documentation and status updates capture and convey every facet of each stone.
• Corporate Usain Bolt. You’re capable of moving rapidly from task to task without getting rattled. Your desk is clear, your email inbox is empty, your kitchen counters aren’t cluttered, and you never spend 15 minutes tearing around the house in a desperate hunt for your car keys or train pass. You are a lean, mean, well-oiled machine.
• A Combo Meal. Your style is winningly ambidextrous. While you are known to be a loyal teammate and never falter on your commitment to seeing others thrive, you are not a push-over. You will fight back and advocate for the best marriage of client desires and superb delivery-pushing us along the path towards perfection. If Samwise Gamgee and Monica Geller had a child, it would be you.
• Emotionally Mature. Through your years of experience, you’ve learned that occasional hiccups are inevitable and now know enough to just keep moving towards the end goal. You’re calm under pressure, encourage respectful dialog, and understand that communication is the balm that can soothe the sting of conflict.

The benefits package consists of:
• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Gym discount
• Life insurance
• Comprehensive travel insurance for you and your family in line with scheme rules
• Confidential well-being and counselling support
• Competitive Compensation
• Contributory pension scheme
• Company events
• Private Medical and Dental Insurance