Project Manager

Hours: Full-time or 0.8 FTE (ESRC have a wide range of policies to support work/life balance. As such, we welcome full time/part time/compressed hours applications for this role)

Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2026

Location: Polaris House, Swindon (hybrid working)

The Project Manager will be responsible for driving and overseeing the delivery of their projects to ensure that: 

• they are completed on time and within budget.
• the project's objectives are met.
• risks and issues are effectively managed.
• the correct governance and reporting procedures are followed. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Ensure projects deliver agreed outcomes within time, cost, and quality constraints.
• Track delivery within budget as necessary, and recommend how financial and other resources should be allocated between projects to best support strategic objectives.
• Identify and monitor project risks and issues, and develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate.
• Set project controls, select and apply appropriate delivery methodologies, and support the agreed assurance requirements through project delivery.
• Stakeholder engagement and partnership working – identify key stakeholders and develop effective relationships to influence, change, and impact decisions.
• Monitoring delivery against the approved business case, in order to justify the continuation of projects in terms of benefits, value for money and risk.
• Contribute to the development and promotion of the Programme Management Office (PMO), including supporting and advocating the use of PMO standardised processes and documentation.
• Operate effectively within a matrix management environment on one or more assignments with the flexibility and resilience to respond to the changing demands of a fast-paced environment.
• Attention to detail in the creation and maintenance of a range of control documentation including but not limited to; business case, programme plan, risks, issues and actions logs/registers, monitoring and evaluation, and budget management.
• Collation of documents and co-ordination of audit and assurance activities, including formal project gateway reviews, audits, and deep dives.
• Actively contribute to the PMO supporting the development of templates, guidance notes and documentation for a range of programme management tools and techniques.
• Represent the programme for queries relating to PMO administration and the use of templates.
• The project manager will also prepare and present updates to relevant groups within the established governance structure. 

This is not a comprehensive list, and we may require you to undertake other duties within the Strategic Hub commensurate with the level of responsibility of this post. 

Shortlisting and Interview Criteria 

Essential: 

• Experience of working in a complex programme/project environment, or qualification in a recognised project/programme management methodology, e.g. PRINCE 2, MSP, AGILE etc.
• Excellent written communications skills, including a good working knowledge of MS Office Packages, and project management software tools.
• Able to evidence an understanding of project methodologies and lifecycles.
• Able to evidence how to manage, plan, monitor and coordinate projects or change activities.
• Experience communicating with multi-level stakeholders.
• Experience of working both as a member of a wider team, or as a specialist or workstream lead in a smaller team. 

Desirable: 

• An understanding of the processes through which ESRC funded researchers currently access data for research purposes.
• Experience of working with relevant policy, government, or other stakeholders in the research data landscape
• Experience of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) Gateway Review and Healthcheck process 

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