Project Lead Jobs in Wisconsin

CLA is a top 10 national professional services firm wur purpose is to create opportunities every day, for our clients, our people, and our communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing services. Even with more than 8,500 people, 130 U.S. locations, and a global reach, we promise to know you and help you.

CLA is seeking a Senior Infrastructure Project Manager to join our Digital team and lead complex, high-visibility client technology initiatives across infrastructure modernization, cloud adoption, network transformation, security remediation, managed services, technology migrations, and M&A-related integrations, separations, and carve-outs.

In this role, you will serve as a trusted advisor to clients and stakeholders, owning engagements from initiation through planning, execution, cutover, stabilization, operational transition, and closeout. You will independently establish project strategy and governance, develop integrated project plans, budgets, and resource forecasts, direct cross-functional teams and third-party vendors, and manage scope, schedules, financial performance, risks, dependencies, and change. Working closely with client executives, sponsors, engineers, solution architects, managed service teams, vendors, and practice leaders, you will drive accountability, align stakeholder expectations, and translate complex business and technical objectives into measurable delivery outcomes.

The ideal candidate combines advanced project and program management expertise with strong infrastructure knowledge, consulting judgment, executive communication skills, financial acumen, and stakeholder leadership. You will also mentor less-experienced project managers, identify follow-on opportunities, and help promote project management excellence and continuous improvement across the practice.

In this role, you will:

• Lead complex, high-visibility projects and consulting engagements involving multiple workstreams, stakeholder groups, locations, and technical or functional disciplines.
• Establish project governance, delivery approaches, milestones, success measures, acceptance criteria, decision rights, and escalation paths.
• Develop and maintain integrated project plans that address scope, resources, schedules, budgets, dependencies, deliverables, and completion criteria.
• Direct cross-functional teams and third-party vendors, creating accountability for priorities, deadlines, quality standards, and delivery commitments.
• Manage project financial performance by monitoring actuals and forecasts, evaluating variances, controlling changes, and coordinating vendor services and purchases.
• Identify and manage project risks, issues, assumptions, decisions, and dependencies, implementing mitigation strategies and escalating material concerns.
• Provide clear executive-level reporting regarding milestones, financial performance, resource needs, risks, decisions, and required actions.
• Facilitate meetings with project teams, sponsors, clients, and steering committees to drive decisions, document commitments, and maintain alignment.
• Apply Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid project management approaches based on project complexity and delivery requirements.
• Lead implementation readiness, cutover planning, validation, stakeholder communications, contingency planning, operational transition, and project closeout.
• Ensure project, operational, training, and transition documentation is complete, accurate, and approved.
• Support project scoping, estimating, proposal development, and the transition from business development into delivery.
Mentor team members and help strengthen project management tools, controls, methods, and standards across the practice.

What You’ll Need

• 4 years of relevant experience required. 7 years of experience preferred.
• Experience independently leading complex projects from initiation through implementation, operational transition, and closeout, including management of multiple workstreams, cross-functional teams, competing priorities, and delivery risks preferred.
• Experience developing and managing project plans, budgets, resource forecasts, schedules, risks, issues, dependencies, executive communications, and concurrent engagements, as well as supporting project scoping, estimating, proposal development, and team mentoring, preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required. A combination of relevant experience, education, and training may be accepted in lieu of a degree. Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field preferred.
• PMP or a comparable advanced project management certification preferred.
• Scrum, Agile, ITIL, change management, or a related delivery certification preferred.
• Advanced understanding of project and program management practices, including governance, scope, schedules, budgets, resources, quality, risk, change, procurement, and stakeholder management.
• Ability to translate complex business or technical objectives into an integrated delivery strategy with measurable outcomes, milestones, assignments, estimates, and acceptance criteria.
• Strong financial acumen, including project estimating, budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, change control, profitability, and delivery-performance management.

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Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

Wellness at CLA

To support our CLA family members, we focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being and offer comprehensive benefit options that include health, dental, vision, 401k and much more.