Strategy Portfolio Support Officer

Closing Date: 7 May 2024 - 12:00 noon

Interview dates: 30 and 31 May 2024 on campus

Flexible working patterns will be considered.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately once per week.

Change your career, change lives.

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education.

Part of the University’s Strategy Office, the Strategic Portfolio Office (SPO) exists to enable and support successful change delivery at the Open University. It is a dynamic and fast-paced team of project and programme management professionals leading and overseeing the delivery of the University’s most strategically significant initiatives. 

If you aspire to a career in project, programme, or portfolio management, this could be an excellent opportunity to hone your skills and move your career forward!

The role

A key role in the team, the Strategic Portfolio Support Officer will bind the team together, linking and liaising with colleagues to help build a ‘big picture’ view of delivery across initiatives in the portfolio, contributing to the production of regular portfolio health reports for use by senior management. The Strategic Portfolio Support Officer will also be supporting Senior Project and Programme leaders to move projects forward and will take responsibility for small projects themselves during busy periods. This will be a busy, broad and high-impact role.

Skills and experience

Essential: 

• Demonstrable understanding of project management or experience working within a project environment.
• Proficient in data analysis, with advanced skills in Excel for manipulating and interpreting datasets to derive actionable insights.
• Proven track record of effectively managing multiple projects or areas of work simultaneously, with strong organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both oral and written, with the ability to interact effectively with all levels within the organisation.
• Ability to work under pressure and to work accurately at pace.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• A strong sense of ownership and accountability, consistently delivering high-quality results and taking responsibility for individual performance and working independently.
• Proficiency across Microsoft Office Suite applications, including PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint.

Desirable:

• Professional Project Management certification (i.e., Prince2, MSP, Agile) or the desire and aptitude to gain such a qualification.
• Experience of preparing and working with confidential correspondence.
• Understanding of the Higher Education sector and the Open University’s mission.

If you would like to discuss the application or recruitment process before making an application, please contact Adriana Klaasen at Resourcing Hub on 01908 655544 or Resourcing-hub@open.ac.uk quoting the reference VRF 21607.

How to apply

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