Implementation Project Manager – Brazil

Highlights

Country

Brazil

Employment

full-time

Salary

Salary will be discussed later

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The Implementation Project Manager (PM) is responsible for planning, managing, and completing Payroll & SaaS implementation projects within the designated timeline while ensuring client satisfaction and building strong relationships.

. Serving as the primary liaison for internal and external stakeholders, including clients, the PM ensures smooth execution of Mercans’ services. This role involves defining project goals, objectives, and scope, developing detailed project plans, and ensuring alignment with Mercans’ business policies. 

The PM maintains proactive communication, mitigates project risks, and collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure successful project completion. This role is particularly critical in a global payroll outsourcing or SaaS industry scale-up, where adaptability, process optimization, and operational efficiency are essential.

Project Documentation

• Develop and maintain comprehensive project documentation, including project plans, scope documents, and requirement specifications.
• Ensure all project artifacts are stored in a structured and accessible format, complying with internal documentation standards.
• Document key decisions, action items, and stakeholder communications throughout the project lifecycle.
• Maintain version control for all project-related documents, ensuring alignment with changes in project scope and objectives.
• Provide documentation support for compliance audits and internal process evaluations.
• Establish standardized templates for project documentation to ensure consistency and completeness.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather and update documentation as needed.

Project Scope & Planning

• Define project scope based on the Master Service Agreement (MSA) to prevent scope creep.
• Establish and maintain processes for managing scope, quality, performance standards, and risk assessment.
• Keep the project plan up-to-date and coordinate project plan changes with internal and external stakeholders.
• Analyze project status and revise scope, schedule, or budget as necessary to meet project requirements.
• Initiate and define goals and objectives according to client expectations.
• Ensure pre-implementation readiness by sharing the scoping checklist and necessary documents with the client.
• Develop a detailed project plan in Monday.com, ensuring integration and module deployment timelines are included.
• Adapt strategies for global payroll outsourcing and SaaS scale-up environments, ensuring compliance with local and international payroll regulations.

Resource & Risk Management

• Identify and allocate necessary resources, including personnel, budget, and technology, ensuring efficient utilization.
• Develop and maintain a resource management plan to optimize workforce allocation and prevent resource conflicts.
• Establish crucial project milestones and timelines for each phase, ensuring alignment with project objectives.
• Actively monitor for potential risks, conduct risk assessments, and implement proactive mitigation strategies.
• Maintain and update a RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) log in Monday Board to track and address risks in a timely manner.
• Establish contingency plans and escalation procedures for high-risk project scenarios.
• Ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations, such as GDPR and SOC 2 for SaaS-based payroll solutions, and integrate compliance considerations into project risk assessments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to assess and address dependencies that may impact resource availability and risk exposure.
• Conduct regular risk and resource review meetings to evaluate project health and adjust resource allocations as needed.
• Implement reporting mechanisms to provide visibility into resource utilization and risk management effectiveness for key stakeholders.

Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Manage client expectations with respect to the scope and project timelines.
• Act as the primary contact for client stakeholders, providing regular updates on project status and changes.
• Schedule and lead project meetings, health checks, and monthly steering committee (Steerco) meetings.
• Present project progress reports to executive management.
• Ensure timely and transparent communication of key milestones, including Hypercare transition.
• Foster collaboration with product development teams in SaaS scale-ups to ensure smooth integration and feature adaptability.

Requirements Gathering & System Configuration

• Ensure that all client business requirements are documented in accordance with the company’s documentation requirements.
• Conduct operational business requirements gathering using standard implementation toolkit artifacts.
• Identify and document process or scope gaps and communicate them to clients.
• Align with the configuration team to ensure timely delivery and evaluation of configuration and unit testing.
• Assist in defining product enhancements based on client feedback in SaaS-driven payroll environments.

Integrations & Data Migration

• Coordinate data dictionary and wage type catalog requirements with the integration team.
• Oversee system integration testing and ensure client sign-off on results.
• Manage master data migration planning, template preparation, and validation processes.
• Ensure data migration steps are clearly communicated and documented.
• Implement automated data validation checks and reconciliation for SaaS-based payroll platforms.

Testing Oversight & Supervision

• Oversee and supervise all testing processes, ensuring adherence to company standards and best practices.
• Define and enforce testing methodologies, entry and exit criteria, and validation protocols.
• Coordinate with internal teams and clients to ensure comprehensive test planning and execution.
• Ensure proper tracking and documentation of test results, approvals, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

Training & Go-Live Readiness

• Develop and execute a structured training plan to educate clients on system functionalities, payroll processes, and compliance requirements.
• Provide hands-on training sessions, user guides, and support materials tailored to client needs.
• Conduct readiness assessments to confirm clients’ preparedness for go-live and address any gaps identified.
• Ensure all required training milestones are met before project completion and track client progress in learning systems.
• Work closely with internal teams to align training content with the latest product updates and enhancements.
• Ensure clients understand go-live entry and exit criteria and obtain final sign-off.
• Develop post-go-live support strategies to assist clients during the transition period.
• Complete and obtain sign-off on the Go-Live Checklist from the audit team and client.
• Develop and implement client training for self-service payroll platforms in SaaS environments.

Project Status Reporting

• Ensure timely and accurate project status reporting in accordance with company standards.
• Maintain up-to-date documentation of project progress, key milestones, and identified risks.
• Prepare and distribute periodic project reports to internal and external stakeholders.
• Communicate project health metrics and proactively highlight any deviations from the project plan.
• Coordinate with relevant teams to ensure alignment on project progress and deliverables.
• Implement tracking mechanisms to measure project performance against established benchmarks.

Post-Implementation & Change Management

• Manage change management in accordance with the established change management processes.
• Ensure Hypercare exit criteria are met and manage client handover to BAU teams.
• Monitor post-implementation performance metrics and customer feedback for continuous improvement.
• Develop frameworks for continuous iteration and scalability of payroll implementation processes.

Experience & Qualifications

• Must be able to tolerate a high level of stress in a fast-paced environment.
• Must be available to work outside normal business hours as needed to support global clients and meet project deadlines.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in end-to-end global payroll implementations.
• Minimum 7 years of project management experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in using payroll software.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Understanding of the basic accounting principles.
• Understanding of the interfacing technologies i.e. API, flat file, etc.
• PMP or PRINCE2 certification is preferred.
• Experience in Payroll Outsourcing or the BPO industry.
• Experience working in SaaS-based payroll or HR technology scale-ups preferred.
• Strong client-facing and stakeholder management skills.
• Proactive, communicative, organized, and well-spoken.
• Strong understanding of global payroll compliance, data security standards, and SaaS implementation best practices.
• Proficient in Project Management Software solutions like Monday.com.
• Advanced knowledge of Google Suite and Microsoft Office products, especially PowerPoint and Google Slides. 

SMART Performance Goals

• Achieve the go-live of at least 2 multi-country payroll implementation projects with a minimum of 2,000 employees during a 12-months period.
• Ensure that at least 100% of the assigned implementation projects are completed by their initial target go-live dates, excluding the delays caused by the clients.
• Reduce implementation cycle time by 20% through process optimization and automation.
• Ensure 100% compliance with the internal audit requirements.
• Develop and implement a continuous improvement framework, with at least 3 major process improvements per year.
• Ensure 100% compliance with the established project management processes and artifacts. 
• Achieve a 90% CSAT score i.e. 90% of the clients give an overall implementation process experience rating of “Good” or “Very Good”.
• Ensure that there are no major client escalations during the implementation phase.