Digital & Innovation Project Coordinator

SYSTRA UK & Ireland; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

The Digital and Innovation Project Coordinator at SYSTRA UK & Ireland will serve as the main liaison between the Head of Innovation, stakeholders and development teams, adapting communication and leadership style as needed.

You will facilitate workshops, manage governance, and oversee selected digital projects, ensuring alignment with scope, timelines and budgets while building strong collaborative relationships.

Job description

Around the world, SYSTRA’s specialists plan, design, integrate, test, commission, project manage and deliver mass transit and mobility solutions that are relied on by more than 50 million people every day.

For more than 60 years, the Group has been committed to helping cities and regions contribute to their development by creating, improving and modernising their transport infrastructure with sustainability, accessibility and innovation at the heart of our designs. With over 10,300 colleagues globally and around 1000 in the UK & Ireland we are growing significantly and seeking out the very best talent to join the SYSTRA signature team and be part of leading the way in infrastructure design.

Context

The Digital and Innovation Project Coordinator will be the main liaison between the Head of Innovation, internal and external stakeholders and development teams. The candidate needs to be confident dealing with a wide variety of stakeholders and able to adapt their communication, coordination, and leadership style to each situation.

Experience of facilitating workshops and meetings is a pre-requisite for this role, combined with excellent written and verbal communication skills.

The post-holder will have the personal and professional skills to build and maintain meaningful and supportive relationships across teams in order to support successful project delivery. They will be comfortable working in a role that combines project oversight, delivery support, governance, coordination, and direct management of selected projects.

Missions/Main Duties

Definition

Clearly and thoroughly identify the scope of project(s) and innovation activity by:

• Working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders, at all levels within the organisation, to define and achieve mutual understanding of project scope, objectives, deliverables, timelines, and success measures.
• Supporting the Head of Innovation and project leads in shaping ideas, project briefs, and delivery approaches into clear and practical scopes.
• Listening for, uncovering, and resolving misunderstandings or disagreements about scope, responsibilities, timescales, priorities, or delivery expectations.
• Ensuring all relevant stakeholders and resources understand the scope, intended outcomes, and any constraints or assumptions.
• Helping to ensure that innovation activity is translated into deliverable and appropriately governed project activity.

Planning

Work with the team to identify and schedule all the work required to fulfil the scope:

• Understand what constitutes an end-to-end, proportionate, cross-functional delivery plan and involve stakeholders as appropriate to create a valid and achievable plan.
• Support the planning of project(s) in sufficient detail to ensure integration of activities, dependencies, governance requirements, stage gates, milestones, and key decision points.
• Be able to identify delivery risks and discuss the likely impacts to scope, quality, budget, or timing where accelerated timescales or constrained resources are proposed.
• Obtain approval of plans through effective communication, ensuring understanding of the implications for resources, budgets, deliverables, and delivery dates.
• Support the preparation and maintenance of realistic budgets, forecasts, and project resource assumptions where applicable.
• Ensure that non-people resources such as systems, digital tools, equipment, access requirements, or other delivery needs are identified so that plans are realistic and affordable.
• Support the planning and readiness of Digital Products through relevant Group IT Stage Gate Processes.

Resourcing

Identify Resourcing Needs In Line With The Project Plan

• Ensure all necessary cross-functional resources are identified and that resource requirements are understood across business, operational, digital, technical, and support teams.
• Support the identification of resource constraints, competing priorities, and dependencies, ensuring these are highlighted and escalated where required.
• Communicate to ensure that all resources understand their roles, responsibilities, deliverables, and expected timescales, and elevate where commitment or clarity is lacking.
• Support and coordinate project teams to achieve the desired results, often using matrix management and collaborative working across functions.
• Ensure effective liaison with third-party suppliers, delivery partners, and internal stakeholders involved in project activity.
• Work with the Head of Innovation and other leads to ensure innovation projects are appropriately supported and resourced in line with delivery needs.

Execution and Control

Day-to-day Management And Support Of Project Delivery

• Support responsibility for project time, cost, quality, governance, and reporting activities, in line with business processes, internal procedures, and applicable delivery controls.
• Directly manage selected digital, innovation, process improvement, or business change projects, particularly those of low to medium complexity.
• Produce reports in line with internal governance and project requirements, ensuring accurate and timely updates on status, progress, risks, issues, and decisions.
• Ensure application of effective risk, issue, dependency, and change management across project(s), instigating mitigation actions and escalating matters where required.
• Ensure effective communication with project teams, internal and external stakeholders, partners, suppliers, and customers as appropriate.
• Monitor proposed changes to project parameters, such as scope, budget, schedule, governance, or resource assumptions, and ensure these are reviewed and managed appropriately.
• Monitor the quality of project deliverables and ensure project objectives and agreed outcomes are being met.
• Conduct project meetings, workshops, checkpoint reviews, and attend programme or governance meetings where required.
• Establish effective working relationships with key stakeholders, gatekeepers, sponsors, project leads, and delivery teams.
• Solve problems creatively, while also working analytically and in a structured way to overcome issues.
• Support the development of practical project delivery guidance, templates, and processes for innovation activity where existing guidance is limited or evolving.
• Provide support, motivation, and practical guidance to colleagues involved in project delivery.
• Ensure that projects comply with internal governance, organisational policy, information management, data protection, and any relevant statutory or regulatory requirements applicable to the project.
• Support budget monitoring, forecasting, and financial tracking for allocated projects, ensuring concerns are identified early and raised appropriately.
• Maintain oversight of Digital Products progressing through Group IT Stage Gate Processes, ensuring appropriate documentation, approvals, actions, and readiness are in place at each stage.
• Escalate issues, delays, governance gaps, or risks to the Head of Innovation and other senior stakeholders in a timely and clear manner.

Profile/Skills

Knowledge and Skills

• Proven experience of supporting or delivering projects to time, cost, and quality, ideally within digital, innovation, business change, process improvement, or transformation environments.
• Experience of working in a project support, project coordination, project management, or delivery role with responsibility for monitoring plans, actions, risks, issues, and reporting.
• Experience of supporting governance processes and applying structured project controls in a practical and proportionate way.
• Experience of identifying delivery issues and risks and taking appropriate action, including timely escalation where required.
• Takes responsibility for promoting self-development, maintaining CPD, and undertaking identified training and learning to maintain current proficiency and awareness of emerging technologies, methods, and best practice.
• Flexible, with the ability to adapt to shifting priorities, demands, and timelines through analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Successful experience of translating analysis, ideas, or emerging requirements into practical implementation and delivery activity.
• Facilitation and workshop experience.
• Experience of different project delivery approaches, for example agile, waterfall, or hybrid methods.
• Understanding of project governance, reporting, assurance, and stage gate processes.
• Experience of supporting digital products, digital delivery, technology-enabled change, or innovation-related activity would be desirable.
• Well-developed planning and organisational skills, including scope, scheduling, action tracking, and milestone management.
• Risk and issue management experience.
• Budget monitoring and cost control support experience.
• Experience of coordinating resources and stakeholders, including within matrix-managed environments.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Effective influencing and negotiation skills.
• High level of IT literacy, with proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, SharePoint, MS Project, and other project or collaboration tools as required.
• Experience with Agile Project Management

Behaviour / Competency

• Analytical thinking: ability to tackle issues and problems in a logical, structured, and step-by-step way.
• Concern for accuracy: desire to ensure accuracy, consistency, and quality in work delivered.
• Results orientation: ability to maintain focus on delivery, deadlines, and practical outcomes while supporting others to achieve agreed objectives.
• Communication skills: ability to communicate clear, concise, and accurate information in written and verbal formats to a range of audiences.
• Creativity and innovation: willingness to challenge assumptions and support the development of practical, effective, and innovative solutions.
• Influence and persuasion: ability to work constructively with others to gain support, alignment, and commitment.
• Interpersonal skills: ability to understand and respond appropriately to other people’s perspectives, concerns, and priorities.
• Relationship building: ability to build and maintain effective working relationships and networks across the organisation and with external stakeholders where required.
• Planning and coordination: ability to organise activity effectively, maintain oversight of multiple priorities, and ensure actions are progressed.
• Judgement and escalation: ability to recognise when issues need to be resolved directly and when they need to be escalated appropriately.

Safety

• Commitment (Safety is the first consideration in everything we do, if it isn't safe, we don't do it).
• Leadership (Safety begins at the top - we walk the talk and set a visible example).
• Openness (Safety is openness - information is shared and investigation conclusions are open to all parties).
• Reporting (Safety is knowledge - we report every incident and take immediate remedial action).
• Responsibility (Safety is everyone's responsibility - we learn from mistakes and will not tolerate negligence).
• Measurement (Safety needs a common measure - we shall use lost time, accidents and other appropriate measures).

Working environment

SYSTRA provides a range of flexible working options, including hybrid working, balancing the benefits of working from home with time in our modern, well-equipped offices. A minimum of 3* days each week should be spent in a SYSTRA office or client site (pro-rated for part time colleagues). For further details please read the Professional Standards policy. *This maybe varied, dependent upon client and project requirements if required. Employing a diverse range of people, SYSTRA is committed to providing a truly inclusive work environment and has a programme of activities to support the wellbeing of all colleagues. Opportunities to be involved with these programmes are available to all.

Workplace Type

Hybrid