Job description

Overview:A PowerPlan Professional Services Lead Consultant manages project teams of anywhere from 2-8 people to design, configure and customize PowerPlan’s software to meet the specific accounting needs and business processes of utility customers. They may also work independently on smaller but complex engagements over a shorter time span and occasionally will act in the capacity of a Solution Architect in those roles. They are the primary liaison with the Project Manager and work closely with the PM and the System Architect to assign tasks to the implementation team and ensure the project proceeds smoothly, on schedule and within budget. Lead Consultants can fill every role on the team as needed, provide guidance on how to accomplish configuration tasks and coach the team to success. They have the judgement to know when to escalate issues to the PM and to management and they are very good at estimating how long various tasks will take given the assigned resources. Project timelines range from 3 months to 2 years depending on the size and depth of scope. Generally, a Lead Consultant will work one larger project as a time, but they might also be responsible to manage several smaller projects in various stages of completion. Post Covid, Lead Consultants are expected to travel 75% of the time (Monday-Thursday) on client sites.
Responsibilities:Performance Objectives:

• Manage the work of analysts, consultants and senior consults to deliver larger engagements. Lead Consultants provide leadership, oversight, support, guidance and help as needed to less experienced team members. Lead Consultants will assign tasks to analysts and other consultants and monitor progress and bottlenecks. They provide guidance on script development, how to troubleshoot problems and freely share their technical and functional product knowledge with the team. They also identify potential bottlenecks, challenges and resources issues to be discussed and resolved with the team and the PM. They will also identify gaps in team knowledge where they or the SA will be required to provide additional coaching, training or assistance.
• Assist the Project Manager in setting and managing client expectations. Lead consultants have more client facing responsibilities in terms of clarifying objectives, explaining technical and functional decisions and making sure that the client feels heard, understood and is partnering with the professional services team productively. The functional lead is the primary point of contact for questions and issues with the corresponding internal team members at the client. The PM maintains the primary management level relationship with the client and involves PowerPlan’s management as needed. Lead Consultants take on a more visible role with the client than consultants and senior consultants.
• Manage the Build Process: On larger projects the Lead Consultant is generally managing the delivery of the project rather than completing build tasks. They are supporting and aiding as needed. However, it is expected that a Lead Consultant can also jump in and help complete build items if a project is falling behind, or some area of the project requires more time and attention. Lead consultants become expert in efficiently implementing configurations (functional or technical) and finding easier and better ways to complete the configuration and testing. Lead Consultants often add specific understanding and guidance on build/configuration tasks based on the design documents. This might include instructions on how to set switches in specific areas of the software, data integrations or even writing SQL code or giving suggestions on how to do it .

• Efficiently Troubleshoot Problems: Lead Consultants often provide quality assurance for the build/configuration and must understand and be able to clearly communicate the ins and outs of how different tables and processes are related within the PowerPlan system to both configure the build and data. For escalated issues, the Lead Consultant is expected to thoroughly investigate why something isn’t working (root cause analysis). This requires an in-depth knowledge of the relationships between PowerPlan tables and the front-end application and also knowledge of the code and how to search it. Lead consultants are able to troubleshoot faster and identify root causes more quickly and often dive into the actual code to figure out how something is designed to work.
• Know where to get answers. Lead Consultants are highly resourceful in finding good actionable information to address and solve implementation challenges within PowerPlan’s wealth of data and knowledge from previous implementations. This enables them to troubleshoot problems and acquire implementation insights fast. They willingly share this knowledge with other team members. While Lead Consultants will not be an SME in all areas, they will generally provide deep expertise in their understanding of the functional requirements/process the software is used for.
• Track progress and provide regular and timely reports to the project manager: Lead Consultants are the primary liaison with the Project Manager and provide accurate status updates, reliable timeline estimates, and identify potential project obstacles. They help project managers know the breakdown of the individual tasks required to accomplish the build configuration.
• Assist the Solution Architect in designing a solution: A Lead consultant will actively participate in design sessions, ask insightful questions and often contribute to the discussion in certain areas of expertise. With smaller projects the Lead Consultant may run design meetings without additional support. Depending on the size and scope of the project, a Lead consultant might be responsible for designing parts of a project and/or laying out the entire solution on their own. More complex projects would de designed by Solutions Architects with the Lead consultant taking a secondary role and assisting in writing draft design documents. All design documents must be signed off by the Solution Architect (if they are involved) and the client before proceeding with the build.
• Increase both product and technical knowledge: Lead Consultants are expected to have a higher-level understanding of PowerPlan’s platform, applications, and data structure, SQL, PowerBuilder, SourceTree, JIRA, etc.) and the nuances of utility accounting than a senior consultant. They generally can independently complete smaller scale builds on their own without supervision.

Metrics/Attitudes

• Maintain a 78% utilization rate
• Accurately identifies and escalates issues to PM and management
• Manages client expectations and builds great rapport.
• Ensures on-time project completion rates with minimal errors in the configuration set ups or scripts.
• Positive quarterly surveys from peers. Seen as a strong leader and technically capable.
• Customer accolades- mentioned by name
• Easily translates design documents into actionable and prioritized tasks for completion.
• More efficient at completing configuration tasks
• Strong leadership and mentor.
• Accurately assesses team capabilities and gaps

Qualifications:Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience

• Excellent, effective communication skills, including:

o verbal, written, listening and presentation skills
o ability to engage and successfully interact with the client and project team at all levels

• Consulting and client/project team relationship-building skills
• Strong technical background
• Ability to establish oneself as a trusted advisor to client, project team and PowerPlan Inc colleagues
• Advanced SQL and Database Skills
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Ability to adhere to a firm’s methodology
• Skilled in MS Office Suite
• Willingness to travel, on average, up to 75%

Preferred

• Five plus years experience implementing enterprise software applications in a client-facing consultant role

o Experience in more than one phase of the implementation process
o Experience with utilizing a robust implementation methodology
o History of increasing responsibility or upward progression

• Experience with implementing key enterprise applications, including ERP, EAM, CRM and Maximo
• Specifically regarding ERP implementations, working knowledge of financial accounting processes (General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, Project Accounting, Close, Budget)
• Understanding of system and network architecture, system platforms, system access, database design, SQL queries, and network protocols
• Experience with some of the advanced functions of Excel, including functions, macros, and pivot tables
• Process orientation, and ability to analyze and design/build complex processes
• Hands-on experience working on or with capital projects, capital budgets and fixed asset accounting, or business tax software
• Industry experience within oil and gas, mining, transportation, natural resources, utilities, energy markets or telecomm

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Job Type: Full-time

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