Jonathan Donado
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since June 9, 2020
Jonathan has an MBA from a top-tier European school and is a project management expert with 15+ years of experience in managing complex, E2E global technology, and SOX projects. He is a bilingual (Spanish) results-driven and hands-on professional who excels in cross-functional projects with distributed and virtual teams. Proficient in both Agile and Waterfall frameworks, he has brought success to clients in the technology, IoT, legal & accounting, BPO, and auto industries.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Digital Transformation Program Management
- Jira
- Project Management
- SaaS
- Scrum
- Stakeholder Management
- eCommerce
Work Experience
Founder and Principal
Cambridge Partners & Associates Corp.
- Founded a consulting firm providing program/project management to enterprise accounts and government agencies. Provided end-to-end SaaS project management for large-scale, high priority projects including technology and business process redesign.
- Oversaw the Software Life Development Cycle (SLDC) responsibilities including IT project oversight including planning, validation, testing, and product releases.
- Managed cross-functional distributed teams of up to 30 individuals (technical & non-technical resources) and managed budgets of up to $2 million per project.
- Worked through a leading food multinational's most critical project in 2020. Developed a new internal web-based sales facing application to integrate teams from a recently acquired competitor. Finished the 8-month project on-time and under budget.
- Program-managed a customized solution for the US Department State, integrating multiple vendors to create a market survey solution deployed in over 30 passport offices throughout the USA.
- Managed a cross-functional team in a large multinational consumer product through an agile framework to develop a customer-facing SaaS application with microservices. Deployed the application ahead of schedule and under budget.
Head of Operations
Blue Marble Global Payroll
- Headed up operations at Blue Marble Global Payroll, which is the US leading international SaaS payroll services firm. It provides payroll services in 130+ countries for over 500 clients.
- Coordinated with a team of eight direct reports to secure payroll processing services for 500 clients in over 30 countries. Managed the firm’s daily operations of infrastructure components and its applications—used agile development practices.
- Expanded operations in Brazil, Peru, Italy, Norway, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey within six months while reducing implementation timelines from four to 2.5 months and associated costs.
- Outsourced payroll to 23 strategic international partners reducing the company’s variable costs by over 25%.
- Increased data availability from external partners increasing operational productivity from 60% to 95% in three months.
- Introduced guidelines and procedures to meet System & Organization Controls (SOC) Reporting Type 1 & 2 compliance.
- Saw results in the bottom line and financial improvement: Increased customer retention rate from 78% to 99% with customer-centric strategies.
- Introduced IT best practices such as key performance indicators (KPI) and balance scorecards.
Head of Operations and Program Management
Greenplus
- Oversaw Greenplus; a medium-sized contractor that specializes in large-scale green real estate projects. Responsible for leading a team of 50+ technical and non-technical resources focused on construction project initiatives.
- Used the waterfall framework and best practices to manage a portfolio of cross-functional programs with budgets over $5 million.
- Spearheaded a leading medium-sized enterprise contractor specializing in the execution of large-scale commercial and residential green construction projects in Michigan. Managed successful programs with over 50 team members.
- Renegotiated current contracts and obtained new contracts resulting in transforming a P&L with $300,000 losses into a $250,000 profit within 14 months.
- Increased customer retention rate from 66% to 98% by customizing account management processes.
- Introduced (KPIs) and balance scorecards, increasing operational productivity by over 25% in only one year.
- Renegotiated current contracts and obtained new contracts resulting in transforming a P&L with $300,000 losses into a $250,000 profit within 14 months.
- Achieved earnings before Interest, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 15%, well above market levels.
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Applus USA
- Managed Applus USA, which specializes in automotive emissions and safety inspections for seven US state governments. Responsible for leading the US subsidiary with annual sales of $60 million.
- Managed the implementation of numerous complex IT programs with hardware and software interdependencies and budgets of $3-16 million and 100+ individuals in cross-function technical teams.
- Led the go-to-market strategy for new contracts resulting in annual profitability of 20%, outperforming market competitors.
- Increased revenues from $47 million to $60 million from 2008 to 2010.
- Led the acquisition of a leading US manufacturing auto components company to become a one-stop shop in the marketplace.
- Managed an emissions-testing technical project with a budget of $12 million. Completed on-time and under budget.
- Managed a network of 2,300 vehicle emissions inspection stations yielding over ten million tests per year.
- Created and led the development of company-wide operational efficiencies and overhead cost savings initiatives resulting in $600,000 per year savings with Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Service Level Agreements (SLA).
Project History
Enterprise Web Application Development (Fortune 100 Client)
Released a multi-million dollar 8-month project under budget.
Back-end Solution Development (Fortune 100 Client)
Led a $1 million agile framework project to connect a SaaS application to microservices using APIs.
Customer-facing SaaS App Development (Fortune 100 Client)
Led the transformation of a legacy software system to a SaaS application for over 300,000 customers. Delivered the 5-month project three weeks ahead of schedule and on budget.
Customized Technology Solution Deployment (Client: US Department of State)
Created a new customized solution for all US passport offices throughout the USA.
ADA Compliance Communication Initiative (Client: FEMA)
Successfully delivered project on-time and under budget.
Website Design and Deployment (Client: US ARMY)
Successfully designed, created, validated, tested and deployed a new website for the US Army on time and on budget.
Agile Trainer
Trained over 300+ individuals on various project management methodologies (Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall) with a passing rate of 97%.
Education
Senior Executive Fellow in Public Administration
Harvard University - Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Management
IESE Business School - Barcelona, Spain
Bachelor of Science Degree in Management
Slippery Rock University - Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, USA
Certifications
Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM)
PMI
AWS Cloud Practitioner
AWS
Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I)
Scrum.org
PMP
PMI
Six Sigma Black Belt
ASQ
PMI-ACP (Agile)
PMI
Skills
Tools
Trello, Google Docs, Slack, Jira, Office 365, Microsoft Project, WP eCommerce, Confluence, Asana, Salesforce
Paradigms
Agile, Change Management, Lean, Six Sigma, Scrum, Requirements Analysis, Agile Project Management, Agile Delivery, Agile Workflow, Agile Leadership, B2B, B2C, Waterfall Development, Waterfall Delivery, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), Implementation Project Management, Kanban, Continuous Integration (CI), Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Management
Industry Expertise
Lean Six Sigma, International Trade, Construction, Global Economics, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Automotive, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Logistics, Software
Platforms
WordPress, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Other
Project Management, Project Delivery, Project Scheduling, Presentations, Budget Management, Time Management, Communication, Leadership, Turnaround, Waterfall Methodology, Microsoft, Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Product Delivery, Project Discovery, Scrum Master, Program Design, Portfolio Management, Certified Trainer, Project Management Professional (PMP), PMI, Project Management Office (PMO), Six Sigma Black Belt Certified, Processing, Value Analysis, Business Cases, SLA Management, Vendor Management, Vendor Selection, Valuation, Spain, PMO, Procurement, Integration, Global Operations, Operations, Internationalization, International Expansion, International Commerce, Global Business, Global Delivery Strategy, Global Team Management, SaaS, Web, Google SEO, Data Processing, Data Reporting, Sass, Discovery Workshops, Discovery Management, Customer Success, Customer Discovery, Financials, Project Planning, Project Timelines, Agile Sprints, Agile Coaching, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Certified Scrum Professional, Economics, eCommerce Analysis, Staff Management & Development, Staffing, Business to Business (B2B), Business to Consumer (B2C), Business Advisory, Small Business, Business Strategy, Business Research, Acquisitions, Customer Acquisition, Planning, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Operations & Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), Project Management Operations, Business Operations, Operations Management, Operations Tools, Sales Operations, Waterfall Modeling, Program Management, Agile Program Management, Complex Problem Solving, Complex Program Management, Business Transformation Program Management, Integrated Program Management , Technical Program Management, IT Program Management, Portfolios, Lean Portfolio Management, Lean Development, Sales, Sales Management, Sales Planning, Operational Excellence, Integrated Sales & Operational Planning, Continuous Development (CD), Business Continuity, Value Proposition Canvas, Earned Value Management (EVM), IASSC Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (ICBB), Spanish-English Translation, NPV, ROI, Roadmaps, Product Roadmaps, Lean Canvas, Sales Training, Team Building, SOP Development, Process Design, Startups, Market Research & Analysis, Documentation, Business Planning, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Business Models, Pitch Decks, Scrum Coaching, Product Discovery, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Executive Support, Estimations, Requirements, Discovery, PSM-1, Cost Estimation, IT Project Management, IT Projects, Scheduling, Technical Project Management, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Analysis, Stakeholder Engagement, Team Leadership, Hardware Integration, Request for Proposal (RFP), Business Services, Management Consulting, Consulting, Project Finance, Vendors & Suppliers, Operating Models, Pricing Models, WordPress Themes, Market Research, SOX, eCommerce, Project Analysis, WordPress eCommerce, Post-merger Integration, Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), Salesforce Sales Cloud, Tech Sales, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping, PayPal, Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA), Net Promoter Score (NPS), Feature Roadmaps, Product Management, Scrum Product Owner, Backlog Management, Digital Project Management, Digital Product Management, Digital Transformation Program Management, APIs, Product Ownership, Agile CRM, Scope, Scope Management, Project Scoping, Schedule Optimization, Web Design, Manufacturing, Payroll & Benefits, Client Management, Client Delivery Management, Client Services, Client Relationship Management, User Onboarding, Onboarding, Customer Retention, Client Presentations, PowerPoint Design, Invitation to Tender (ITT), Requirement Traceability Matrices, Requirements & Specifications, Business Requirements, Functional Requirements, Contract, Service-level Agreements (SLA), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), BPO, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Internet of Things (IoT), Product Owner, Storyboarding, Project Estimation, Financial Reporting, Process Improvement, Custom APIs, Digital Kiosks, Design, Discipline Agile, Cloud, Cloud Migration, Development
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