iCare Project and Systems Manager

VOCAL; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

VOCAL in Edinburgh invites applications for a Senior Project & Systems Manager to lead the iCare: Identifying Carers, Advancing Recognition and Equality programme. You will coordinate cross‑organisation delivery, line-manage VOCAL’s Midlothian iCare Project Coordinator, and liaise with partner organisations.

You will drive day-to-day delivery across the Lothians, manage priorities and risks, and work with digital colleagues to shape a new integrated carer identification platform while ensuring

Qualifications

• Experience leading and managing projects, services or programmes and supporting organisational, service or systems change.
• Experience working with digital or technical colleagues to develop services or systems, from requirements through testing and implementation.
• Understanding of unpaid caring and the carer support landscape within health and social care systems.

Responsibilities

• leading the day-to-day delivery of iCare across the Lothians, ensuring delivery remains focused on agreed plans, milestones, outcomes and funder requirements;
• coordinating the different strands of the programme, managing priorities, dependencies, risks and issues;
• supporting the iCare Project Steering Group and translating agreed priorities and decisions into effective delivery;
• leading monitoring, evaluation and reporting, using evidence and feedback to understand progress and support continuous improvement;
• developing strong and effective partnerships across health, social care, the third sector, research, digital and community organisations;
• championing consistent, high-quality approaches to early carer identification, good carer conversations, ACSPs and preventative support;
• ensuring carers meaningfully influence the project through the Carers Assembly and wider inclusive engagement;
• and ensuring that new digital approaches complement rather than replace, non-digital routes to support.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Line management

Partnership development

Digital platforms

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Project & Systems Manager to take a lead role in iCare: Identifying Carers, Advancing Recognition and Equality, an ambitious five-year system- change project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF).iCare aims to improve earlier and more consistent identification of unpaid carers across the Lothians, addressing barriers to support and helping to create meaningful and lasting change in practice. The project will develop an early carer identification blueprint, strengthen good carer conversations using the Adult Carer Support Plan (ACSP) framework, and co-design and implement a new integrated digital carer identification platform.

Working with iCare Project Coordinators in East, West and Midlothian (the iCare Project Team), and under the direction of the iCare Project Steering Group, you will lead and coordinate delivery across the project. You will line-manage VOCAL’s Midlothian iCare Project Coordinator and provide professional leadership and coordination across the wider iCare team. The East and West Lothian Project Coordinators will be employed and line managed by partner organisations Carers of East Lothian and Carers of West Lothian respectively.

This is a senior, hands-on role with key responsibilities that include:

• leading the day-to-day delivery of iCare across the Lothians, ensuring delivery remains focused on agreed plans, milestones, outcomes and funder requirements;
• coordinating the different strands of the programme, managing priorities, dependencies, risks and issues;
• supporting the iCare Project Steering Group and translating agreed priorities and decisions into effective delivery;
• leading monitoring, evaluation and reporting, using evidence and feedback to understand progress and support continuous improvement;
• developing strong and effective partnerships across health, social care, the third sector, research, digital and community organisations;
• championing consistent, high-quality approaches to early carer identification, good carer conversations, ACSPs and preventative support;
• ensuring carers meaningfully influence the project through the Carers Assembly and wider inclusive engagement;
• andensuring that new digital approaches complement rather than replace, non-digital routes to support.

As iCare develops a digital platform, you will also help to ensure that VOCAL’s own systems, processes and practice develop alongside it. This will include translating carer, practitioner and organisational requirements into practical system and process improvements and ensuring that VOCAL’s case-management arrangements, recording practices and carer journeys develop appropriately.

About you

We are looking for someone who can bring people, practice and systems together and turn an ambitious vision into practical, coordinated change. You will have experience of leading and managing projects, services or programmes and supporting organisational, service or systems change.

A confident and collaborative partnership worker, you will be skilled at building relationships, bringing people with you and engaging others in a respectful and inclusive way. You will also have experience of working alongside digital or technical colleagues to develop services or systems, from defining operational requirements and co-design through to testing and implementation.

You will have a good understanding of unpaid caring and the impact it can have on carers’ health and wellbeing, alongside knowledge of the carer support landscape and relevant legislation. This will include an understanding of the health and social care system in Lothian and Scotland, and how to influence and support practice change within complex systems.