Systems Project Specialist

WELCOME TO INDIANAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is a student-focused, innovative educational organization committed to academic excellence. Our mission is to empower and educate all students to think critically, creatively, and responsibly, to embrace diversity, and to pursue their dreams with a purpose. We are a family of excellent public schools in which every student has the opportunity to succeed and the power to create their own future.

Led by forward-thinking leadership and our commitment to prioritizing students, racial equity, and authentic engagement with our families, team members, and communities, our staff have diverse opportunities to develop their careers in a challenging but rewarding environment. We are an organization for people who are passionate about education and who are committed to the Indianapolis community.

Together, we are Proving What's Possible by building a community where everyone belongs and each student has the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

A Career in IPS Offers…

Purpose and Impact:

• Essential Contributions: In every non-teaching and non-leadership role, your work directly supports the success of IPS students and schools. Whether you're maintaining facilities, providing student services, or managing administrative operations, you play a key part in ensuring an equitable and high-quality educational environment.
• Belonging and Community: IPS is a place where every employee is valued. You'll join a supportive community that promotes respect, teamwork, and a shared commitment to serving students and families.

Professional and Personal Growth:

• Training and Development Opportunities: IPS offers a variety of training programs to help staff build new skills and grow professionally. This includes access to development opportunities for administrative, technical, and operational roles, as well as pathways to becoming a certified teacher.
• Skill Enhancement: Whether you're new to your role or seeking to deepen your expertise, IPS provides resources and support for continuous improvement.

What We Expect:

• Professionalism and Reliability: Every role at IPS is vital to the district's success. We expect staff to demonstrate professionalism, dependability, and a commitment to providing excellent service to students, educators, and families.
• Collaboration and Communication: IPS values teamwork. Working collaboratively with your colleagues ensures a supportive environment for all. Clear communication and mutual respect are key to maintaining this culture.
• Flexibility and Problem-Solving: As a large, dynamic district, IPS needs staff who are adaptable and proactive in solving problems to meet the ever-changing needs of students and schools.

JOIN US!

Indianapolis Public Schools is more than a workplace; it's a community where purpose, impact, and belonging come together to help Prove What's Possible - in your career and in your school. If you're ready to embrace challenges, strive for excellence, and make a meaningful impact, IPS is the place for you.

SUMMARY OF OPPORTUNITY:

The Project Specialist reports to the Director of Systems Project Management. This role is a key contributor to the success of projects across multiple business units-such as Digital Strategy, Operations, HR, and Finance-by providing administrative and technical support to project managers and team members. Serving as a projects organizational and operational backbone ensures that tasks, schedules, and resources are fully aligned, that documentation is consistently maintained, and stakeholder communication flows efficiently. Through diligent planning, progress tracking, and resource management, the Project Specialist helps teams deliver projects on time, within scope, and on budget.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Provide Project Support: Assist the project team with planning, coordinating, and executing strategic initiatives across the district. Track project timelines, deliverables, and milestones to ensure projects remain on target.
• Manage Administrative Tasks: Handle day-to-day administrative responsibilities (e.g., scheduling meetings, sorting and responding to service tickets, preparing documents, maintaining records). Create and maintain project documentation to ensure all stakeholders have up-to-date information.
• Facilitate Communication & Collaboration: Serve as a liaison between functional areas (Digital Strategy, Operations, HR, and Finance) to ensure alignment. Update and inform stakeholders on project progress, scope changes, and potential risks. Coordinate and deliver communication plans when new systems or operational processes are implemented.
• Provide Project Management Insight: Assist in developing project plans, workflows, and risk mitigation strategies. Monitor project scope and ensure compliance with established goals and objectives.
• Ensure Stakeholder Engagement: Identify key stakeholders and maintain ongoing communication channels. Gather feedback from project team members and act on insights to improve processes and outcomes.
• Support Continuous Improvement: Contribute ideas for refining project management methodologies and enhancing team efficiency. Stay current on best practices and tools to help drive innovation and improved results.

CORE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Support project team in developing detailed project plans: Foster effective team collaboration and communication. Assist in defining scope, timelines, milestones, and deliverables under the guidance of the project manager or project lead.
• Execute or assign tasks and track progress: Help define, refine, and delegate specific tasks to the appropriate team members, following up to ensure timely completion.
• Monitor workloads and priorities: Proactively identify potential bottlenecks or resource constraints and escalate issues to the project manager.
• Maintain project documentation and administrative duties: Update and organize project documents such as service tickets, status reports, meeting minutes, change requests, RAID logs, SOPs, and action items. Maintain consistent procedures for testing, acceptance criteria, and project sign-off stages.
• Prepare status reports: Compile key metrics on project progress, deliverable status, and budget use for distribution to stakeholders or executives.
• Facilitate meetings, trainings, and workshops: Schedule and run project-related meetings, coordinate agendas, and capture decisions and action items.
• Assist with budget management: Keep a close eye on project expenditures, process invoices, and alert the project manager to budget variances.
• Coordinate resource allocation: Track resource needs (personnel, equipment, software licenses) and ensure the right resources are assigned at the right time.
• Collaborate on vendor management: Work with procurement or vendors to ensure timely delivery of goods or services, escalating any vendor-related issues.
• Identify risks and issues: Monitor project activities for potential problems, dependencies, or conflicts that could threaten timelines or deliverables. Document issues, and service tickets, report them to the team or leadership, and follow through until they are resolved or mitigated.
• Coordinate feedback loops: Collect and consolidate feedback from testers, users, or stakeholders for continuous improvement.
• Use project management tools: Leverage management software such as Microsoft Teams, SmartSheet etc. to enhance visibility into project progress and streamline collaboration.
• Perform other related duties as assigned: Undertake any tasks or responsibilities that arise in the normal course of business, ensuring flexibility and responsiveness to evolving organizational needs.

"DAY IN THE LIFE" OVERVIEW:

On a regular day, as the Project Specialist, you might:

• Email, Calendar, & Service Ticket Review: Review emails, and maintain calendars and service tickets.
• Project Management Tool Update: Review and maintain project dashboards to see new tasks, deadline changes, or flagged issues.
• Daily Team Stand-Up: Attend or facilitate daily stand-ups.
• Identifying Roadblocks: Strategize solutions or escalate issues after the stand-up.
• Action Item Review and Resource Coordination: Complete assigned tasks, check-in, and follow up with individual contributors, and stakeholders on open tasks. Reassign or reroute tasks if workloads are uneven or if a team member needs extra support. Checks on contract deliverables and scheduled payments.
• Status Reports: Maintains timely and transparent communication. Compile the latest project metrics, such as completed tasks, milestone achievements, meeting notes, SOPs, or budget burn-down rates, into a concise status report.
• Risk and Issue Logs (RAID): Update risk continuously. Record new potential delays in the risk log, assign an owner and propose a mitigation plan.
• Training and PD Sessions: Train, attend, or schedule sessions for team collaboration or training. Set up knowledge-sharing sessions with other departments to ensure alignment on project needs.
• Budget and Resource Tracking: Review expense reports, time logs, and procurement documentation to ensure the project remains on track financially.
• Troubleshooting Blockers: Help coordinate ad-hoc meetings with a subject matter expert. Facilitate brainstorming or whiteboarding with subject matter experts.
• Change Reports: Facilitate a change control process-documenting the request, assessing the impact, and obtaining necessary approvals before implementing changes.
• Team Updates: Check back with the team to confirm progress on tasks and ensure any urgent issues have been addressed or escalated.
• Email Roundup: Respond to any outstanding messages, confirm meetings for the next day, or document key updates for stakeholders.
• Update Project Artifacts: Make sure the project management tools are current and the status is updated. Review the next day's agenda, schedule follow-up meetings if unresolved tasks need attention, or adjust milestones in light of new developments

WHAT YOU'LL BRING: SKILLS AND MINDSETS:

As an ideal candidate for this role, you will be able to achieve the following:

• Team Mindset: Ability to work supportively and collaboratively with diverse teams, understanding various roles and responsibilities within a project.
• Project Management Knowledge: Has a foundational understanding of project management principles, methodologies, and best practices. Familiarity with frameworks such as PMI, Agile, Scrum, or PRINCE2 is beneficial.
• Organizational Skills: Exceptional organizational abilities to manage multiple tasks, schedules, and priorities simultaneously.
• Strong Communication & Engagement: Excellent interpersonal skills, enabling effective collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Comfortable partnering with colleagues, providing clear, concise, and articulate information-both written and verbal. Is an active listener and versed in conflict resolution.
• Time Management and Self Motivated: Strong time management skills to manage project timelines and deadlines effectively. Takes initiative and maintains consistent drive without needing external pressure or continuous supervision.
• Attention to Detail: Meticulous attention to detail ensuring accuracy in planning, documentation, and execution.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to analyze data, identify trends, and make informed decisions. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Risk Management: Competence in identifying potential risks and developing strategies to mitigate them.
• Financial Acumen: Basic understanding of budgeting and financial management principles relevant to project management.
• Technology Proficiency: Utilize Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Smartsheet, excel, Planner, and other data visualization tools.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• None.

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION, AND LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS:

• Preferred Education: Bachelor's degree in a business discipline, project management, communications, human resources, education, or another technical business administration field.
• Project Management Experience: 1-3 years minimum of direct project management experience. Alternatively, 4 or more years of combined experience in project management or administrative support-where an equivalent blend of training and experience demonstrates the required knowledge and abilities-may be considered.
• Certifications: PMP (Project Management Professional) or CSM (Certified ScrumMaster) is strongly preferred.

WHAT WE OFFER

IPS offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience in a similar position. The pay range for this position is $60,000 - $ 83,000.

FLSA CLASSIFICATION:

Exempt

ELIGIBILITY FOR REMOTE WORK:

Remote work is eligible at the Supervisor's discretion

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand and walk; use hands to manipulate, handle, or feel; and talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

EEOC STATEMENT:

Indianapolis Public Schools, in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies, will not discriminate in its programs, facilities, or employment or educational opportunities on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, homelessness or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations, or ordinances. Indianapolis Public Schools does not tolerate any form of retaliation or bias-based intimidation, threat, or harassment that demeans individuals' dignity or interferes with their ability to learn or work.

DISCLAIMER:

Essential functions, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, may include any of the above representative duties, knowledge, and skills. This job description is illustrative only and is not a comprehensive list of all essential functions and duties performed by the occupant of this position. Factors such as regular and punctual attendance are not routinely listed in job descriptions but are an essential function.