Senior Project Officer - Worthing, United Kingdom - WSCC

WSCC

Verified Company

Worthing, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

About Us
The context for West Sussex County Council is changing.

Increasing demographic pressures, continuing challenges to provide residents and communities with greater levels of choice and control over services, and the tighter financial constraints placed on the authority, mean that the Council needs to change the way it operates.

Effective business management develops and delivers support to the Children, Young People and Learning Directorate and enables it to operate as an effective and efficient service.

There is a strong focus on improvement across the service and real desire to enhance outcomes for customers, performance, driving efficiencies and providing best value for money for residents.

During a period of great change, an organisation needs support functions that are able to provide the right advice, approaches and understanding throughout the transformation period and into the future.

About The Job Salary**:
£35,411 to £38,296 per annum

Contract Type:
Fixed Term until March 2025

Working Pattern:
Full-time, 37 hours per week

Location:
Bridge House, Worthing (Countywide travel may be required)

We're looking for a Senior Project Officer for Children, Young People and Learning to deliver a customer focused project management service, including provision of expertise and guidance on project related issues in support of the West Sussex County Council Children First strategy.

As a Senior Project Officer (SPO), you will provide expertise to projects and programmes, working with the senior leadership team to achieve project success.

You be accountable to the Project Management Office (PMO) Manager and work within the Governance team to ensure coherent delivery of project management processes and services to the wider service.

You will provide expert assistance with the delivery of medium sized or large projects/programmes and be responsible for the delivery of small and medium projects, in both instances working closely with clients to ensure efficient service provision.

To support the service as the Senior Project Officer, you will need to have experience and knowledge of statutory children's services and be required to work with senior operational managers; supporting them in the delivery of a range of statutory and high-risk services.

You will be analytical with the ability to communicate with all levels of the organisation and external partners including the public.

You will be personally resourceful and pro-active and able to work autonomously. In addition, you will be able to work well as part of a team and be customer focused. You will be agile and flexible and be able to respond quickly to changing priorities and short deadlines.

Experience and Skills Key Skills**:

Advanced analytical skills in order to interpret and manipulate varied and complex project information in relation to services/programmes required by the client. Excellent literacy and numeracy skills in order to understand very complex technical project information, contracts and to check statistical financial information and other documents.
Ability to organise and plan to meet set targets e.g. for timely completion of projects.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in order to interact effectively (e.g. guide, influence, persuade) with a range of highlevel clients/stakeholders and create and maintain effective working relationship and provide coaching to clients/colleagues on process or documentation.
Strong problemsolving skills with the ability to anticipate problems and resolve issues independently, planning solutions and making sound pragmatic decisions which will have a direct impact on the business/ service.
Effective people management skills including performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and support to individuals and teams.

Qualifications and/or experience:

HNC/HND in an appropriate area or equivalent practical experience/range of knowledge.
Project Management qualification (e.g. PRINCE 2) or equivalent practical experience.
Knowledge and understanding of local Government Children's Services and ideally of Ofsted inspections of Children's Services.
Relevant knowledge of Change Management Framework & Project Management processes, procedures and policies associated with working within a demanding project management service.
Experience of working in a dynamic and rapidly changing environment and of working within project management systems/practices and providing effective support.
Experience of project planning and overseeing more than one project or project work stream concurrently.
Experience supporting the management and delivery of successful change projects demonstrated by working as a competent member of a project team, ideally in a project support role or equivalent.
Experience of contributing to the development of business cases to assist clients in achieving improvements in service and of business/