Senior Project Officer

Interview date: The week beginning 16th September 2024

About the role

Directorate: Communities & Skills

Unit: Skills & Employment

Communities & Skills

Collaborative, open, inclusive and fair - we work with and through partners to ensure Londoners can shape healthy, empowered and productive lives. Communities and Skills is led by Executive Director, Tunde Olayinka and is comprised of the following units: Civil Society & Sport, Communities & Social Policy, Group Public Health Unit, Skills and Employment and Health, Children and Young Londoners.

Delivery Team- Skills & Employment Unit

We develop, deliver and manage adult education programmes to benefit Londoners who need support to improve their skills, get and keep a job or progress in work.

Your role

You will manage contracts with individual providers of Adult Skills to ensure best value for public funding, deliver the mayor’s priorities, and support Londoners to succeed in the London economy.

Principal accountabilities

• Oversee the development, delivery, management and closure of a portfolio of skills and employment projects and programmes using the GLA’s project management methodology in conjunction with any relevant funding requirements.
• Establish a good working relationship with own portfolio of Jobs & Skills for Londoners providers, ensuring all onboarding processes have been followed and delivery performance is being optimised.
• For all projects and programmes in own portfolio, undertake ongoing and proactive management, verification, recording, analysis and reporting of: - Financial, outputs and outcomes performance, to ensure achievement of target outputs and outcomes and programme objectives within budget and while maintaining overall value for money. - Quality assurance and compliance, including through regular monitoring and audit of the activities and supporting evidence of delivery partners and their sub-contractors. - The validity, accuracy and eligibility of claims, including ensuring external funding bodies’ management information and monitoring requirements are met. - Progress against milestones, and financial and outputs and outcome targets, ensuring delivery and quality concerns are raised and tackled promptly. - Risks and issues, to ensure awareness and understanding of these and implementation of appropriate and timely mitigations.
• Develop, produce, distribute, implement and maintain project and programme documentation, systems and processes such as guidance notes, risk logs, issue logs, action lists, requirements logs, project plans, programme prospectus and application forms, team plans and work packages, ensuring standardised approaches to support and maintain best project and programme management practice and ensuring effective delivery of targets to time, cost, quality and specification.
• Hold budget accountability for all projects and programmes within own portfolio, including responsibility for accurate budgeting, forecasting and compliance with GLA approval processes and with all GLA and external funders’ financial, regulatory, audit and compliance requirements.
• Take ownership of the management and resolution of operational, contractual and performance issues arising on projects, including implementing follow up or remedial actions if required, in all cases complying with relevant GLA procedures and appropriately escalating issues to line and team manager(s) as necessary.
• Establish and maintain excellent working relationships with applicants, delivery and funding partners, contractors, boroughs and other stakeholders within and outside the Authority to ensure successful delivery of projects and programmes, uphold the reputation of the team and the GLA, and assist in delivery of the mayor’s policies and programmes.
• Produce project and programme communications, sharing learning and celebrating successes, and represent the GLA, the team, our projects and programmes, to external audiences as required, ensuring a high level of visibility of our activities and of the outcomes and benefits from these for London and Londoners.
• Prepare accurate, good quality responses to project-related questions and correspondence to the mayor and from Assembly members, Government departments and other organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors, to agreed deadlines.
• Work with the wider GLA Skills Policy and Strategy team and Skills Funding and Systems team to inform the development of priorities for a devolved adult skills fund and future funding.
• Manage resources allocated to tasks in accordance with the GLA’s policies and code of Ethics and Standards. Realise the benefits of London’s diversity by promoting and enabling equality of opportunities and promoting the diverse needs and aspirations of London’s communities.
• Realise the benefits of a flexible approach to work in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of this job, and participating in multi-disciplinary, cross-department and cross-organisational groups and project teams as necessary and appropriate to ensure that opportunities for integration and inter-disciplinary working are realised.

Accountable for: Resources allocated to the post.

Principal contacts: Senior Managers and staff within the Authority and relevant London Borough(s), Further Education Institutions and Senior Officers in other public and private sector organisations including TfL, national government, and representatives of partner organisations.

Person specification

Technical requirements/experience/qualifications

• Demonstrable experience of developing, managing and delivering large-scale high value projects and programmes in complex organisations, and a track record of successfully delivering results on target and within budget, ideally including skills and employment projects.
• A thorough knowledge of programme and project management and control techniques, including project planning and appraisal, financial and performance analysis and management, risk management, issue resolution and evaluation.
• Evidence of well-developed IT skills, solid experience of using financial management systems and processes, and excellent report writing skills.
• Demonstrable experience of using strategic research and analytical skills to support and enable project and programme development, delivery, and evaluation.
• Experience of establishing and managing complex, and sometimes hostile, stakeholder relationships to achieve positive outcomes for the Authority.
• An understanding of local and national skills and employment funding streams associated reporting and the benefits of outcome-related funding models for both participants and funders.

Problem Solving

… is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance

• Processes and distils a variety of information to understand a problem fully.
• Proposes options for solutions to presented problems.
• Builds on the ideas of others to encourage creative problem solving.
• Thinks laterally about own work, considering different ways to approach problems.
• Seeks the opinions and experiences of others to understand different approaches to problem solving.

Planning and Organising

… is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard.

Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance

• Prioritises work in line with key team or project deliverables.
• Makes contingency plans to account for changing work priorities, deadlines and milestones.
• Identifies and consults with sponsors or stakeholders in planning work.
• Pays close attention to detail, ensuring team’s work is delivered to a high standard.
• Negotiates realistic timescales for work delivery, ensuring team deliverables can be met.

Communicating and Influencing

… is presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate and engage with us.

Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance

• Presents a credible and positive image both internally and externally.
• Challenges the views of others in an open and constructive way.
• Communicates openly and inclusively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Clearly articulates the key points of an argument, both in verbal and written communication.
• Persuades others, using evidence-based knowledge, modifying approach to deliver message effectively.

Building and Managing Relationships

… is developing rapport and working effectively with a diverse range of people, sharing knowledge and skills to deliver shared goals.

Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance

• Identifies opportunities for joint working to minimise duplication and deliver shared goals.
• Develops new professional relationships.
• Understands the needs of others, the constraints they face and the levers to their engagement.
• Understands differences, anticipates areas of conflict and takes action.
• Fosters an environment where others feel respected.

Research and Analysis

… is gathering intelligence (information, opinion and data) from varied sources, making sense of it, testing its validity and drawing conclusions that can lead to practical benefits.

Level 2 Indicators of Effective Performance

• Proactively seeks new information sources to progress research agenda and address gaps in knowledge.
• Grasps limitations of or assumptions behind data sources, disregarding those that lack quality.
• Analyses and integrates qualitative and quantitative data to find new insights.
• Translates research outcomes into concise, meaningful reports.
• Identifies relevant and practical research questions for the future.

The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework.

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL)

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

Application Process & Additional Information

Please note all applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs alone for this role.

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

• Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria outlined above in the advert.

Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.

Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g., “CV – applicant name - 012345).

Applications submitted without a Personal Statement will not be considered.

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share.

In addition to a good salary package, you will be paid every four weeks, providing frequent salary payments. We also offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

On this recruitment campaign, as part of GLA’s continuing commitment to be an inclusive and equal opportunity employer we will be removing personal identifiable information from CVs and Personal Statements that could cause discrimination.

Reasonable adjustment will be made to working arrangements to accommodate a person with a disability who otherwise would be prevented from undertaking the work.

Application closing date: 26th August 2024 at 23:59

We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

If you have a question about the role or would like to discuss it informally, please feel free to contact Eny Ahn at Eny.Ahn@london.gov.uk.

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.

Please note, all candidates will need to confirm that the information provided in this application form is true and correct. Should a candidate deliberately give false information, including the use of AI software, they understand that this would disqualify them from consideration.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record (DBS) check, but some roles may require additional security screening.

The GLA is proud to be a Level 2: Disability Confident employer. We are committed to becoming a more inclusive and accessible organisation, and creating a truly inclusive and accessible workplace and culture for our disabled staff. We have named Disability Equality as a key corporate priority within our EDI Strategy. We welcome and encourage applications from disabled applicants. Should you wish to opt into the scheme, please let us know during your application.

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