Manager, Projects & Strategic Initiatives

Hiring company: National Payment and Innovation Company of Trinidad and Tobago Source: Tsenta Job Purpose The Manager, Projects & Strategic Initiatives leads the PSI Department and owns the corporate project portfolio end to end — from the intake of a defined initiative, through prioritization, execution and monitoring, to closure and post-implementation review. The role is the head of the department. It is deliberately defined as a portfolio- and account-leadership role rather than a hands-on project execution one: the Manager sets portfolio direction, sequences the pipeline, manages executive and Board expectations, owns the department’s people, budget and governance, and is accountable for the projects and initiatives the function delivers. Day-to-day coordination and administrative execution is led by the Senior Coordinator, PSI, who reports to the Manager. The Manager must understand each project and account well enough to govern it, resource it and hold it to account, without being the person who performs it. In parallel with this internal PMO leadership, the Manager acts as NPICTT’s senior account owner for its partner Ministries, regulators, statutory bodies and commercial partners — functioning in the manner of a Senior Account Executive within a professional services or agency setting. In this capacity, the Manager owns the client relationship end to end, protects delivery capacity and margin, negotiates scope and commercials, and identifies opportunities to grow the value and impact of each engagement. Because the Department sits inside the Office of the CEO, the Manager carries the accountability for the CEO’s portfolio succeeding: initiatives delivered on cadence, partner accounts kept healthy and growing, and reporting to the Board and a Ministry that is honest, timely and audit-ready. Key Responsibilities Portfolio strategy and pipeline • Own the portfolio strategy and delivery pipeline for the CEO’s projects and strategic initiatives, sequencing commitments against NPICTT’s enterprise priorities and Ministry directives. • Decide which initiatives are progressed, in what order, weighing partner need, policy commitment, delivery capacity, commercial viability and strategic fit. • Translate the Company’s strategy, the CEO’s direction, and the requirements received from partner accounts into a prioritized, deliverable Strategic Initiative Action Plan (SIAP). • Own the portfolio view and ensure it is understood across the Executive and the Board. Delivery leadership • Lead delivery of the portfolio through the Senior Coordinator, PSI, ensuring the team delivers to agreed scope, quality and cadence. • Own delivery planning, resourcing and predictability at the department level, and give the CEO, Executive Management and the Board an honest view of what will be delivered by when. • Manage cross-functional dependencies — Payments, Innovation, Product Development, Technology Operations, Finance and Legal — and clear blockers. • Hold the balance between speed and quality, ensuring quality and governance are not silently traded away under schedule pressure. Partner and stakeholder account management • Function as NPICTT’s senior account owner for the Ministries, regulators, statutory bodies and commercial partners engaged on departmental projects — building and sustaining trusted, senior-level relationships with counterpart executives. • Serve as the primary point of contact for each partner account; translate partner needs, constraints and expectations into clear internal delivery briefs for NPICTT’s delivery functions. • Negotiate scope, timelines, deliverables and commercial terms of engagement, in coordination with the CEO, Legal & Corporate Secretarial, and Finance. • Protect NPICTT’s delivery capacity, timelines and value proposition by proactively managing scope, expectations and change requests across each account. • Identify opportunities to deepen, extend or expand partner engagements in line with NPICTT’s mandate; develop concept notes, proposals and business cases for new work. • Represent NPICTT professionally in partner meetings, workshops, working groups and public engagements. Strategic Initiative Action Plan (SIAP) leadership • Lead the development, execution and reporting of Strategic Initiative Action Plans aligned to NPICTT’s corporate objectives. • Translate the CEO’s and the Board’s strategic priorities into structured initiatives with clear owners, milestones, deliverables and success measures. • Coordinate the compilation and quality assurance of SIAP progress reports for submission to the Office of the CEO, Executive Management, the Board and the line Ministry. • Ensure SIAP execution is properly documented and evidenced for audit, State Enterprises Performance Monitoring Manual (SEPMM) and parliamentary reporting purposes. Department leadership and capability • Lead the PSI Department: line-manage the Senior Coordinator, PSI, and own the department’s structure, capability, culture and performance. • Own recruitment, development and retention for the department, and build a capability plan that reduces single-person dependency on any account or initiative. • Foster a culture of honest estimation, disciplined execution and public-service quality — blending PMO rigor with account-management responsiveness. • Where contractors or vendors augment the team, own the commercial arrangement and ensure knowledge transfers to permanent staff. Governance, risk and compliance • Ensure every project has clear governance: sponsor, business case, charter, plan, risk register and reporting cadence proportional to its scale and criticality. • Maintain the departmental risk and issues register; drive timely mitigation and escalation to the Office of the CEO. • Support internal controls reviews, audit follow-up and tracking of management responses for departmental projects and initiatives. • Ensure compliance with applicable legislation and public sector standards — including the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act — in all departmental activity. Contract, MoU and commercial administration • Lead the negotiation, drafting inputs, review and administration of contracts, Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), Terms of Reference (ToRs) and Non-Disclosure Agreements for departmental engagements, in coordination with Legal & Corporate Secretarial. • Maintain oversight of the departmental contracts register, ensuring key dates, renewals, deliverables and obligations are tracked and honored. • Coordinate departmental procurement in accordance with NPICTT’s procurement standards and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act. • Lead the departmental response to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Quotations (RFQs) and Expressions of Interest (EOIs) where NPICTT is engaged as a solution provider. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting • Own the Department’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework, in partnership with the PSI Assistant (M&E), ensuring that projects and initiatives are assessed against defined KPIs and outcomes. • Compile and submit weekly, monthly and quarterly reports on portfolio and account performance to the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Management and the Board. • Prepare and deliver presentations, briefing materials and reports for the Office of the CEO, the Board, the line Ministry and external stakeholders. • Maintain departmental budget oversight and expenditure monitoring in coordination with Finance. Key Relationships Internal • Chief Executive Officer; Chief Payment Officer; Chief Innovation Officer; Chief Operations Officer (where applicable); Executive Secretary to the CEO. • Senior Coordinator, PSI and the PSI Department; Manager, Business Development; Manager, Product Development; Manager, Payments; Manager, Innovation Solutions. • Legal & Corporate Secretarial; Finance; Procurement; Human Resources; Technology Operations, Systems Integration and Cyber / Technical Security. External • Line Ministry; Ministry of Finance; other Ministries, Departments and Agencies as service owners — including partners such as TTPost, PTSC, SporTT, TTRS and TSTT. • Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago; other financial sector regulators; participant banks and payment partners. • Solution vendors, contractors and specialist advisors; regional and international partner institutions relevant to NPICTT’s mandate. Requirements Minimum Qualifications and Experience • A Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Management, Project Management, Public Administration, Finance, Economics or a related discipline; a postgraduate qualification or MBA is strongly preferred. • A recognized project or portfolio management certification (e.g. PMP, PgMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, MSP or equivalent) is preferred. • A minimum of eight (8) to ten (10) years’ combined experience across project and portfolio management, client or partner account management, and senior stakeholder engagement, of which at least three (3) to four (4) years in a managerial or team-leadership capacity. • Demonstrated experience running a PMO, corporate strategy office or equivalent function within a regulated, financial services, technology, professional services or public sector environment. • Demonstrated experience in a senior account-management, client-services or partner-management capacity — with proven ability to own and grow senior-level external relationships. • Prior experience in a State Enterprise, Statutory Authority or line Ministry context, or in a professional services / agency environment serving public sector clients, is strongly preferred. • Working knowledge of the State Enterprises Performance Monitoring Manual (SEPMM), and of the Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Property Act. • Demonstrated experience leading the negotiation, drafting and administration of contracts, MoUs and Terms of Reference. This is a portfolio- and account-leadership role: deep hands-on project execution is not required, but the Manager must be sufficiently well versed in project management, delivery governance and commercial administration to govern the department, hold direct reports to account and engage credibly with executive-level partners. An equivalent combination of qualification and experience may be considered.