Project Manager

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare institution in Liverpool is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead clinical research projects and manage project teams. The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing project lifecycles, ensuring compliance with PRINCE2 standards, and developing research protocols in collaboration with commercial and academic partners. Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, and the ability to work independently are essential. This role offers a chance to be part of a dynamic team dedicated to high-quality research.

Qualifications

• Masters Degree or equivalent.
• Formal project management qualification (PRINCE2 Practitioner or MSP Foundation) or substantial experience in delivering projects.

Responsibilities

• Line management of the project team and support delivery of clinical research projects.
• Oversee project setup, management, and closure in collaboration with partners.
• Develop and deliver Early Phase CRF-led clinical trials.
• Monitor project progress and adapt plans as necessary.

Job description

The role of the Senior Project Manager will involve line management of the project team, supporting the team on delivery of several clinical research projects crossing multiple clinical disciplines. The Senior Project Manager will oversee the effective set up, on‑going management of and close out of their teams assigned research projects. The role involves working collaboratively with our commercial and academic partners to develop ground‑breaking research protocols, obtaining regulatory approvals and successful delivery. Joining the CRF is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a dynamic and growing team that is dedicated to delivering high quality research projects, with both our academic and commercial collaborators. The post holder will develop and deliver Early Phase CRF‑led clinical trials under leadership direction of the Principal Investigator and CRF Operational Manager. Responsibilities typically include contributing to the development and management of the protocol, budget, timeline, quality guidelines and being the primary point of contact for the Sponsor, thereby ensuring that expectations are met while identifying and mitigating risks. The successful applicant must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently, to prioritise their own workload and to communicate effectively with both internal and external members of the research team with the ability to meet tight deadlines. Line management responsibilities for the project team, to mentor and develop staff and maintain KPIs across the CRF research portfolio.

• Provide project management expertise and advice within in the Directorate/organisation
• Have direct responsibility for a number of projects, for the full lifecycle from initiation to project closure, taking a lead role on high priority/critical projects.
• Oversee the successful delivery of a number of projects managed by members of the wider project team.
• Ensure that all projects are managed in accordance with PRINCE2 Project Management standards.
• Ensure that each project is supported by a robust governance structure.
• Monitor the progress of the project against the original business case and project initiation document, ensuring where necessary the project is able to adapt to changing requirements and that plans are adjusted accordingly so that the deliverables are on time, to specified quality and within budget.
• To analyse and evaluate many highly complex and diverse conflicting issues associated with the completion of a project, which requires the analysis interpretation and comparison of a range of options and decide how resources are to be used. Including within this is the management of key interdependencies with other projects.
• Be responsible for developing and tracking the progress of project plans, including resource planning, using approved software.
• Ensure regular reports are provided to appropriate stakeholders as defined within the program governance.
• To identify and manage risks and issues associated with the project(s), including the development and implementation of contingency plans.
• Ensure all system implementation plans are synchronised with training and infrastructure commitments and include post implementation review plans.
• Ensure that appropriate business re‑engineering activities take place, where appropriate, to support the successful delivery of the key outputs of the project.
• Ensure that appropriate plans, documentation and procedures are in place when handing a project over to business as usual as part of project closure.
• Where required, to work with other managers and attend meetings with other organisations, to discuss project priorities and progress.
• To make routine presentations, covering complex issues to groups of staff on topics associated with programs/projects and to demonstrate systems to users when necessary.
• Represent other departmental managers at meetings, events, seminars, or progressing tasks where this is appropriate.
• Serve as the primary liaison between research teams, senior managers and external partners/funders.
• The postholder will be required to contribute to the development and implementation of Key Performance Indicators and Critical Success Factors within the Directorate.
• The postholder will be required to monitor and manage delivery against these targets and produce regular management update reports detailing performance levels and provide supporting information to explain improvements or degradation in service and action taken to resolve situations and to achieve progress.
• The postholder will liaise with others to ensure they are briefed and up to date on any performance issues.
• The post holder will work to achieve agreed directorate objectives and is given freedom to do this in own way working within broad professional & local policies.
• Provide full support for internal and external audits of their project(s) and act on recommendations as appropriate.
• Ensure that Post Implementation Reviews and Lessons Learned activities are initiated on completion of projects and are acted on to inform all future work.
• Dedicate the required concentration required to collate, analyse, check and report on complex information, while coping with ongoing project issues and interruptions, The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Qualifications

• Masters Degree or equivalent
• Formal project management qualification (PRINCE2 Practitioner or MSP Foundation) or ability to demonstrate substantial experience and success in delivering projects

Desirable criteria

• ITIL Foundation qualification, Specialist experience of managing a series of complex, large inter‑related projects or substantial clinical experience for those projects requiring clinical expertise
• Experience of managing a project team
• Substantial experience of using specialist Microsoft Office applications
• Working with colleagues at all levels including clinicians
• Working on unfamiliar topics requiring rapid assimilation of new technical knowledge
• Teaching and presentation skills
• Experience off affecting change in an organisation with no direct line management responsibility
• Lead long‑term strategic initiatives including multi‑phase or cross‑institutional research programs
• Analyses of non‑routine data, interpretation and resolution
• Experience of working in a NHS environment

Additional desirable criteria

• A good understanding of the application of information and IT systems to support patient care, Specialist knowledge and in‑depth experience of working in a project environment, Excellent interpersonal and facilitation skills
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience of dealing with and communicating highly complex, highly sensitive and highly contentious information to large groups of Staff or Public
• Anticipate project risks and proactively implement mitigation strategies across all aspects of project
• Negotiation, motivation and influencing skills
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high‑performance team culture
• Ability to present project management techniques and tools
• Ability to discuss project management technical details with non‑technical users
• Ability to delivery presentations to a large audience

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital. We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients. UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities — from birth and beyond. For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West. Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award‑winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation. Liverpool Women’s Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK’s largest single‑site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.

Note: Under current Home Office Immigration Rules we are currently unable to offer right to work visa sponsorship for Band 2 and 3 roles with a salary of less than £25,000 pa as they do not meet the UK Visas & Immigration criteria. Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview. We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role. Candidates applying for the role of Healthcare Assistant on the staff bank should note that due to the nature of the role, workers must be aged 18 or above when commencing in post. Applicants are therefore welcome from those aged over 18 or within 3 months of their 18th birthday. The Trust is committed to promoting a healthy work‑life balance and achieve fair, equitable and consistent practice. We welcome flexible working requests and will consider a variety of flexible working arrangements from day one of your employment. Not all roles are suitable for every flexible working opportunity all of the time. Flexible working options may include reduced hours, compressed hours, fixed shifts, time back in lieu and home working. The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under‑represented in our workforce black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16‑24. Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the successful applicant/s DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post. The amount of £23 (standard disclosure) or £43 (enhanced disclosure) will be deducted from salary, in manageable monthly instalments for up to 3 months following commencement of employment. Bank posts require upfront payment. DBS applications submitted from 2nd December will be subject to the new DBS fee of £26.50 (standard) and £54.50 (enhanced). From April 2017, Skilled visa applicants and their adult dependant(s) will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years. Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

This organisation has a zero‑tolerance approach to the abuse of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisations safeguarding children and adults' policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures. Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with the requirements of statutory guidance and legislation. All employees (and volunteers)are expected maintain their safeguarding knowledge and skills by completing mandatory safeguarding training which includes understanding and recognising the signs of abuse and neglect and taking appropriate action. As an organisation, we have adopted the Merseyside Domestic abuse workplace scheme which supports our staff who are experiencing Domestic Abuse /any forms of sexual violence. If you have any personal requirements that will enable you to participate in our recruitment process please contact a member of the Recruitment Services by phone on 0151 706 4666 at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post. Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.