Alessandra Alunni-Pasquali
Wellington,WGN
Summary
Senior Project Manager with 5+ years delivering complex ICT and business change initiatives across the New Zealand public sector. Proven track record leading multi-vendor projects, modernising legacy systems, and delivering improvements to national service systems. Expert in PRINCE2 and knowledge of Agile delivery, with strengths in governance, stakeholder alignment, and financial oversight. Recognised for building high-performing teams and as a leader across the project delivery practice.
Overview
9
9
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Project Manager/Programme Manager
Department of Internal Affairs
2023.12 - Current
- Programme manager for a legacy technology programme in the Identity Services area of DIA. The programme is a 4-year business case with an approved pipeline of legacy and maintenance projects. The role consists of supporting a team of project managers and a project coordinator to deliver approved ICT projects under the project's approved governance structure. Other responsibilities include maintaining the programme's backlog, working with the business to prioritise initiatives for the upcoming financial year, managing ad hoc business requests, supporting project managers for large releases, stakeholder engagement, risk and issue management, vendor management, etc
- On boarded to a complex business change project in April 2024, part of a wider business change programme. Activities included managing dependencies of the technology changes and impacts on the business, management of the project team to configure the technology tool, supported the business to streamline their governance structure in the wider business change programme, change management, and implementation of the new system (Sept 2025).
Project Manager
Department of Internal Affairs
2022.01 - 2023.12
- Working at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has been the first opportunity I have had to work in the New Zealand Public Sector. The role has come with many challenges and opportunities and has been a steep learning curve. This role has provided me the opportunity to be placed in the Service Delivery Portfolio, which mainly deals with the Identity Services (passports, births, deaths, marriages, etc) offered to the New Zealand public. Noticeable projects that have been delivered (or are in delivery) include:
- A major software and infrastructure project for the underlying passport rules system. This project is highly complex and involves multiple vendors to successfully deliver. The overall scope is to migrate the underlying rules system from .Net to Java, and upgrade the underlying infrastructure and networking requirements to support the new build. The project also has complex dependencies with another programme which require ongoing monitoring. The project is also high-risk as the Department can't afford any impact to passport production, so there is no room for error.
- Mandate to business case of a new case management system, which included a full procurement process. Delivered 4 sprints of the project in an agile manner with the vendor, before handing over the final delivery stage to officially go live.
- A series of small to medium sized ICT projects to enhance existing systems across the Service Delivery portfolio. These enhancements were largely across the passport ecosystem, and involved multiple vendors, code changes, infrastructure changes, database changes, etc.
- Project management activities have also included:
- Comprehensive schedules developed and monitored throughout the project.
- Development of comprehensive and realistic budgets and monitor against project phase and overall progress.
- Business and technical requirements are defined to form the project scope.
- Project scope and deliverables are clearly defined and documented.
- Project quality and assurance plans are developed in accordance with EPMO guidelines.
- Monthly governance reporting is completed in line with EPMO guidelines.
- Risks, issues, deliverables, milestones, dependencies and financial are continuously monitored.
- Stakeholders are identified upfront and communicated with in line with the Stakeholder Management Plan.
- Resources are secured for the project duration, and any resourcing issues are raised.
- Governance structure is agreed and remain in place for the project's life cycle, and changes to the structure are monitored and controlled.
- Vendor management.
Project Manager
Open Polytechnic
2021.02 - 2022.01
- Investigate, plan and initiate projects in accordance with business needs and project objectives.
- Manage multiple projects varying in size, complexity and priority.
- Confirm, define and agree scope with all relevant stakeholders.
- Define the project budget, schedule, resources and individual deliverables.
- Confirm the quality criteria and communication methods have been agreed.
- Create and maintain quality project documentation.
- Resource external contractors to assist with courseware development, design or academic expertise.
- Identify and mitigate risks in a timely manner to avoid any deviation or issues.
- Manage the communication between project teams and stakeholders.
- Ensure all deliverables are delivered on time, on budget and within the defined and agreed quality, and escalating any issues when required.
- Manage project budgets to ensure there is no overspend above and beyond the agreed budgets, and forecast future project spend.
- Support and lead the project team to ensure deliverables are met, and assist with removing any blocks which hinder team progression which cause potential project delays.
- Facilitate meetings and workshops with relevant stakeholders.
- Prepare status reports to provide to the relevant stakeholders.
- Mentor more junior staff in project management practices, ceremonies and methodologies.
- Partake in process improvement for future projects.
- Establish new development approaches for current and future projects.
Junior Project Manager
Open Polytechnic
2020.06 - 2021.02
- Investigate, plan and initiate projects in accordance with business needs and project objectives.
- Confirm, define and agree scope with all relevant stakeholders.
- Define the project budget, schedule, resources and individual deliverables.
- Confirm the quality criteria and communication methods have been agreed.
- Create and maintain quality project documentation (Business Case, Steering Group Agendas, Project Progress Reports, Risk Registers, etc).
- Resource external contracts to assist with courseware development, design or academic expertise.
- Identify and mitigate risks in a timely manner to avoid any deviation or issues.
- Manage the communication between project teams and stakeholders.
- Ensure all deliverables are delivered on time, on budget and within the defined and agreed quality, and escalating any issues when required.
- Manage project budgets to ensure there is no overspend above and beyond the agreed budgets, and forecast future project spend.
- Support project team to ensure deliverables are met, and assist with removing any blocks which hinder team progression which cause potential project delays.
- Facilitate meetings and workshops with relevant stakeholders.
- Prepare progress and status update reports to provide to the relevant stakeholders.
Project Coordinator
Quantum Security Services
2019.08 - 2020.06
- Project Monitoring: confirming status of projects; working with project team to schedule projects and ensuring that all projects are tracking as agreed (on time, on budget and within scope).
- Scheduling: scheduling of new projects; setting up the new jobs in the project management tool used to track each stage of a job, allocating resources to projects, and working with project leads to keep the schedule up to date.
- Client Communication: providing clients with weekly project updates and managing any communication between consultants and clients.
- Quality Assurance Process: managing the internal QA Process to ensure all client reports adhere to the agreed quality criteria, and reports are delivered on time. I was tasked with refining and launching the improved process to the team.
- Financials: approving timesheets, monitoring project budgets and raising a potential risk if approved budget is forecasted to exceed approved amount; and managing all internal expenses.
- Process Improvement: working with management and consultants to improve current processes (or create new ones) to apply to current and future projects.
- Document Creation/Management: creating new project documents, updating existing documentation and managing version history.
- General Administration: providing ad-hoc support to all consultants and management (Operations Manager and Managing Director) as needed.
- Recruitment: phone screening shortlisted candidates and arranging interviews for successful candidates and the interview panel.
- HR: tracking and recording all sick leave and annual leave, onboarding of new starters, offboarding of staff members; drafting of new policies; editing existing policies; and tracking PDP budgets.
Customer Service Representative
Shopify
2019.02 - 2019.08
- Customer support including inbound calls, live chats, technical troubleshooting, business coaching, marketing, sales, minute taking, and account finances.
Administrator & Music Tutor
Prime Music Academy
2017.07 - 2019.02
- Tutoring and general administration tasks, as required by the managing director.
Education
PRINCE2 Agile Foundation -
People Cert
2024-08
PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner - undefined
People Cert
2024-08
AgilePM - Foundation - undefined
CCL Learning
Wellington, New Zealand2021-06
AgilePM - Practitioner - undefined
CCL Learning
Wellington, New Zealand2021-06
PRINCE2 Practitioner - undefined
Axelos
Wellington, New Zealand2020-05
PRINCE2 Foundation - undefined
Axelos
Wellington, New Zealand2020-04
Diploma - Contemporary Music
Campus of Performing Arts
Johannesburg, South Africa2013-02
Skills
- Project Management
- Project and Programme Leadership
- Governance and Executive Reporting
- Stakeholder and Senior Leadership Engagement
- Vendor Management
- Multi-project management
- Critical thinking
- Risk/Issue/Financial Management
- Project planning
Languages
English
Native or Bilingual
French
Professional Working
Interests
My interests include playing cello, cooking, gym, walking and reading (just to name a few!)
Timeline
Senior Project Manager/Programme Manager
Department of Internal Affairs
2023.12 - Current
Project Manager
Department of Internal Affairs
2022.01 - 2023.12
Project Manager
Open Polytechnic
2021.02 - 2022.01
Junior Project Manager
Open Polytechnic
2020.06 - 2021.02
Project Coordinator
Quantum Security Services
2019.08 - 2020.06
Customer Service Representative
Shopify
2019.02 - 2019.08
Administrator & Music Tutor
Prime Music Academy
2017.07 - 2019.02
PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner - undefined
People Cert
AgilePM - Foundation - undefined
CCL Learning
AgilePM - Practitioner - undefined
CCL Learning
PRINCE2 Practitioner - undefined
Axelos
PRINCE2 Foundation - undefined
Axelos
Diploma - Contemporary Music
Campus of Performing Arts
PRINCE2 Agile Foundation -
People Cert