6888 - Senior Project Manager - National

Natural England; National (WA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Natural England seeks a Senior Project Manager within the Project & Change Team to advise on project delivery and change management across services and area teams.

You will coach project leads, assess impact on people and processes, and promote best practices to improve delivery and benefits realisation across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Essential: strong project planning, business cases, risk management and benefits management.
• Essential: adapt communication styles to engage senior leaders and teams.
• Essential: build trusted relationships across organisational boundaries.
• Essential: operate in complex, fast-paced environments with risk management.
• Desirable: knowledge of Power BI and Microsoft Lists.
• Desirable: willingness to pursue additional practitioner qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Provide support to Project and Change Managers with guidance, tools and templates.
• Engage with project leads, sponsors and stakeholders to assess impact on people, processes and ways of working.
• Advise on level of project and change support and proportionate interventions.
• Coach and mentor to ensure governance and change planning are in place.
• Collaborate with Business Partnering & Assurance Team to manage requests and expectations.
• Promote awareness of best practice across the organisation.
• Capture lessons learned and feedback to inform continuous improvement.
• Contribute to Project Management and Change Champions Networks.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Change management

Coaching/mentoring

Project governance

Risk management

Education

APM PMQ

Prince2 Practitioner

MSP Practitioner

Change Management Practitioner

Tools

Power BI

Microsoft Lists

Job description

The Project & Change Team provides professional project delivery and change management support across Natural England. The Senior Project Manager sits within the Business Partnering & Assurance function and acts as a trusted adviser to the Services, Functions and Area Teams.

The successful candidate will provide expert guidance, coaching and practical support to project leads, enabling them to adopt effective project and change management practices and to consider the people impacts of change throughout delivery. Senior Project Managers play a vital role in building confidence across the organisation and increasing our capability to successfully deliver projects and manage change.

Key Tasks/Principal Accountabilities

Provide support to Project and Change Managers across the organisation, by signposting them to best practice guidance, tools, templates, frameworks and learning resources provided by the Project & Change Team.

Engage with project leads, sponsors and stakeholders to assess the scale, complexity and organisational impact of projects, including the impact on people, processes and ways of working. Apply expertise to determine the level of project and change support required and advise on proportionate interventions.

Apply project management expertise, broadly aligned to Level 2 Project Manager within the Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF), to provide coaching and mentoring so that projects are well governed, effectively delivered and supported by appropriate change planning.

Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Business Partnering & Assurance Team to manage, prioritise and respond to requests for advice, ensuring customer expectations are managed and support is delivered effectively.

Promote awareness and understanding of project & change management best practice across the organisation, helping to build organisational capability and improve the way projects and change are planned, delivered and communicated.

Capture lessons learned, customer feedback and emerging best practice, including insight into change readiness, engagement and adoption, to inform the continuous improvement of Project & Change Team products, services, tools and methodologies.

Contribute to the success of the Project Management and Change Champions Networks through active participation, knowledge sharing, capability building and the promotion of professional standards across Natural England.

Practical experience of working on projects and programmes with knowledge of project planning methodology, business cases, risk management and benefits management, together with an understanding of how effective change management supports successful delivery and benefits realisation - Essential.A strong track record of adapting communication styles and approaches to engage, influence and build credibility with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leaders, project teams and operational colleagues - Essential.Demonstrable ability to build constructive and trusted relationships, working collaboratively across organisational boundaries to bring together evidence, insight and diverse perspectives that support the delivery of Natural England's strategic objectives - Essential.Experience of operating successfully within complex, fast-paced and evolving environments, demonstrating sound judgement, effective prioritisation, resilience and appropriate risk management - Essential.A strong track record in displaying personal excellence and corporate responsibility; understanding the importance of good governance and role modelling the right behaviours to your team, customers, and stakeholders - Essential.Experience of coaching and mentoring to provide advice, guidance and support to project leads, ensuring project delivery and associated change activity are planned and delivered in a proportionate and effective manner - Essential.Hold a recognised Project Delivery practitioner level qualification, e.g. APM PMQ, Prince2 Practitioner, Agile Project Management Practitioner or MSP Practitioner - Essential.Practical experience of supporting organisational change, including stakeholder engagement, change impact assessment, readiness or adoption activity - Desirable.Knowledge and application of Power BI and Microsoft Lists - Desirable.Hold, or be willing to work towards: Managing Benefits Practitioner, Better Business Cases Practitioner, Change Management Practitioner, Management of Risk Practitioner, Planning and Change Control Practitioner or P3Offices Practitioner - Desirable.