Project Assistance Team – Project Manager

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Our Mission

At BEIS, we are leading the UK’s recovery from coronavirus and are building a stronger, greener country. Our varied work makes a real difference to people across the UK and internationally. This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of the BEIS team and our exciting mission!

We lead on the UK’s commitments to tackle climate change and drive green economic growth. We support businesses to create jobs and increase opportunity in regions across the UK. We also encourage investment and innovation to make the UK a science superpower producing research that will improve lives.

Our Inclusive Environment

We are building an inclusive culture to make BEIS a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We offer first-class flexible working benefits, excellent employee well-being support and a great pension. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

We actively welcome applications from anyone who shares our commitment to inclusion. We will fully support candidates with a disability or long-term condition who require adjustments in our recruitment process.

The role and our team

The Project Assistance Team was launched in Autumn 2021, and due to its success in supporting some of BEIS’ most important projects, we are looking to expand so that we can be even more effective. If you are successful, you will be working directly with policy teams on high-profile delivery issues, in a multifaceted and complex environment. You will be deployed onto high priority projects to provide project delivery expertise where it’s most needed. You will deliver challenging, pre-agreed, fast-paced project delivery assistance, within agreed timescales.

Working with some of the Department’s top priority projects, your skills and experience will be in high demand! You’ll need to be able to quickly build strong working relationships and translate policy team requirements into effective project delivery actions and outcomes that have a long-lasting impact following your withdrawal upon assignment completion.

We encourage applications from results-oriented individuals, with proven experience in managing delivery of complex or high-risk projects or programmes within agreed time, cost and quality constraints and a track-record of achieving successful outcomes.

Key responsibilities

In this role you will be expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy and be able to constructively challenge and influence, keeping a project on track while maintaining good relationships.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Tailoring project delivery approaches proportionally while operating within the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery and BEIS’s Project Delivery Framework, and delivering agreed outcomes within time, cost and quality constraints.
• Building effective working relationships at pace, requiring open and honest dialogue with teams to advise and implement project delivery action in their area.
• Coaching teams towards self-reliance in project delivery.
• Looking across a wide range of information and drawing well-reasoned conclusions on project performance.
• Communicating and influencing by building rapport with colleagues at all levels.
• Managing your own time effectively to deliver pre-agreed project delivery actions.

Additionally, you may be required to provide support and direction to programmes and project teams to help them become effective in the following areas of Project Management;

• Delivery – Create and lead the project to deliver the agreed outcomes within time, cost and quality constraints.
• Project Management – Day to day management and leadership of the project and the project team. Provide effective leadership and management controls. Set project controls. Design the project structure and organisation appropriate to stage. Set appropriate delivery methodologies. Manage effective transition between project phases.
• Business Case – Develop and draft the Business Case, with input from specialists as necessary.
• Budget – Develop the budget and track delivery within budget.
• Resources – Identify skill requirements; and deploy and develop resources. Manage medium sized team.
• Benefits Realisation – Deliver the agreed Business Case benefits and outcomes. Ensure appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place, and monitor longer term delivery of benefits against the Business Case.
• Stakeholder Management – Identify and manage stakeholder relationships and need for senior level support. Manage internal and external relationships as appropriate.
• Risks & Issues – Identify and monitor project risks and issues. Develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate. Identify and work with related projects to manage interdependencies.
• Governance – Support effective governance and decision making. Provide reporting and engage in mechanisms that hold you, as Project Manager, to account for delivery.
• Assurance – Engage with assurance reviews and support action on recommendations. Organise assurance processes such as gateway reviews, as required.
• Change Management – Ensure effective Change Management processes are in place to agree and document changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders.
• Guidance & Support – Provide support, guidance and coaching for the project team. Show commitment to personal development. Promote effective individual and team performance.
• Project Performance & Controls – Cascade vision and translate into delivery objectives for the team. Develop and maintain Project Plan. Identify and set appropriate Project Controls. Manage performance and report progress to sponsors.

This role provides an opportunity to grow and develop, as well as many opportunities to broaden and diversify your project management experience and knowledge.

Skills and experience

We’d like someone who is proficient in the following:

• Adaptable when applying knowledge of project management frameworks and methodologies, capable of adapting tools and techniques to meet different project needs.
• Credible in dealing with a broad range of people, with the confidence to deliver clear and authoritative advice to senior officials.
• Able to take the initiative, and spot opportunities and threats.

Technical skills

• Planning & Scheduling – Planning is the ability to define the fundamental components of a project in terms of its scope, deliverables, time scales, resource requirements and budget. It also includes the production of broader plans incorporating risk and quality to provide a consolidated overview of a project.

Scheduling is the ability to develop, produce and maintain schedules for activities that take account of dependencies, resource requirements and constraints in order to enable the efficient realisation of benefits.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/project-delivery-capability-framework-for-civil-servants

A valid recognised accreditation in professional Project Management, such as:

PRINCE2 Practitioner

• Agile Project Management Practitioner
• APM Project Management Qualification
• APM Chartered Project Professional
• Project Leadership Programme
• PMI Project Management Professional
• Leading and Managing Project Workstreams

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Planning & Scheduling

BEIS offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.

Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.

An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.

Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need (from September 2021, depending on how the public health guidance evolves).

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 250 words) to give an example of the most complex or important project that you have worked on, and explain how you delivered the outcome within time, cost and quality parameters.

Please note – the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements, personal statement, and any technical skills required.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour statement (Making Effective Decisions). Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour, technical and strength-based questions.

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 23rd January 2023

Interview dates: w/c 6th February 2023

Interview Location: MS Teams.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further Information

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

After interview, a single merit list will be created and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

BEIS does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Please note that BEIS does not hold a licence to sponsor visa applications.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service / Disclosure Scotland. on your behalf.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.