Project Manager

Salary: £33,966 to £36,024 with progression to £44,263 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 12 May 2024

About us

We’re on a mission to find enterprising minds of all ages and help them discover their potential.

We are looking for a passionate, motivated Project Manager to support the creation of the Rob Wood Enterprising Futures Academy. This is a new and exciting initiative founded by Newcastle University graduate, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Rob Wood, funded by a £1.25 million donation. The Academy will advance the University’s enterprise and entrepreneurship offer to students and graduates as well as outreach work in secondary education.   We are determined to inspire others to find the confidence, skills and opportunity to build success for themselves, and change the fortunes of our region and communities.

Our region should be a thriving place for enterprising people of all ages to build successful careers and start-ups. A place where every person can be creative, courageous and build a better future for themselves.

The Role

Reporting directly to the Senior Manager for Entrepreneurship and Start-up, you will also work closely with colleagues in Student Recruitment and the Entrepreneurial Learning Consultant for the Academy. Your role will be to work across teams and third-party stakeholders to ensure the Academy is delivering an outstanding set of experiences.

We are currently working with a hybrid approach to some remote and some place-based working and are happy to support candidates who want to relocate from outside of the region.

The post is full time, fixed term until 31st July 2028.  

About you

To be successful in this role you should have experience of the education sector (Higher Education or Secondary Education). You will need to demonstrate the ability to work on complex projects to challenging deadlines as well as excellent organisational, interpersonal, and written skills. An essential element of this role will be your ability to influence stakeholders to ensure they are fully engaged in the successful implementation of the projects and initiatives you are working on.

Next steps

To apply, please upload a CV and letter of application which outlines how your skills, experiences and knowledge align with the job description.
 
Please contact Sarah Cowey to have a chat about this opportunity at sarah.cowey@newcastle.ac.uk.

Interviews will be held on Tuesday 21st May 2024.
 

Key Accountabilities

• Facilitate the definition of project scope, goals and deliverables and where appropriate develop business case details to enable selection of options. These should include a cost/benefit analysis for each option as appropriate including recommendations
• Define project products and tasks to develop appropriate project plans and resource requirements
• Lead the planning and initiation of projects and initiatives ensuring the correct governance is in place and appropriate stakeholders are involved
• Ensure that the benefits of the project are identified, owned and tracked in order to support the effective evaluation and where appropriate continued delivery or wider deployment of the work
• Coordinate and lead project teams comprising of internal staff and third-party suppliers to ensure a collaborative and focussed approach in the delivery of the project. Maintain focus on the desired outcome of the project ensuring appropriate and continued engagement throughout
• Where appropriate manage any budgets associated with the project controlling the expenditures within agreed tolerance and monitoring the costs against project deliverables
• Create and maintain appropriate communication channels to ensure effective and timely communication with all stakeholders. This should include regular stakeholder meetings and updates to the Academy’s Steering Group
• Prepare and present project reports, project documentation and data reports relating to the project
• Lead on discussions regarding the student experience, digital student experience and the international student experience
• Organise and deliver events to engage stakeholders and raise awareness of the work of the Academy and the wider Student Recruitment and Careers Service teams
• Maintain a high level of awareness of relevant activities, benchmarking, good practice, policy matters and trends within Higher and Secondary Education
• Engage with sector wide developments and innovation with a view to developing best practice within the team
• Undertake any other duties reasonably requested in the delivery of the Academy  and the University’s wider strategic objectives

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience of working in a Higher Education Institution or similar multi-faceted organisation
• Proven track record in managing complex projects or workstreams with measurable impact
• Ability to develop a project plan and the ability to use various analytical and planning tools and techniques
• Experience of developing and maintaining collaborative relationships and initiatives with a range of internal and external partners
• Demonstrable experience of adopting and/ or developing sector standard evaluation frameworks to track and measure impact
• Experience of conducting market research (primary and secondary)
• Experience of working with and managing the expectations of numerous stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills with a proven ability to tailor communications to suit the audience and ability to influence decisions to maintain a focus on the delivery of a successful outcome
• Experience of providing regular and ad-hoc reporting to a range of audiences, both verbally and written as appropriate and to agreed quality standards
• Ability to work on own initiative, taking decisions and actions to deliver project outcomes and meet the needs of all beneficiaries
• Has the ability to see the “big picture”, to think strategically and to manage complex problems and issues
• Understanding of the importance of risk management
• Ability Use of MS Office software and collaboration tools

Attributes and Behaviour

• Ability to manage and prioritise a complex portfolio workload, solve problems and use own initiative appropriately
• Ability to be highly flexible and adaptable in the workplace and manage ambiguity and change positively
• A willingness to work irregular hours including evenings, weekends and intensive weeks when required, sometimes involving regional, national and international travel
• Ability to work effectively alone as well as within different teams and groups, both internal and external to the organisation
• Is able to achieve change at individual and functional level
• Reviews and revises plans, to meet with changing circumstances
• Develops and implements new ideas
• Willing to help others and share workloads
• Works in a planned and structured way
   

Qualifications

• A degree and/or relevant professional qualification (e.g. PRINCE2) or relevant experience in project management

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26981

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