Project Manager (Education)

Working on behalf of a Local Authority, Aatom Recruitment has a new opportunity for a Project Manager on a 3 months contract with the possibility for further extension.

Overall purpose of the role:

The Education Project manager will lead on Education Enrichment projects and client’s Learning administration within the Education, Inclusion and Achievement directorate.

The post holder will also be responsible for the delivery of a range of improvement initiatives and projects which will include supporting service redesigns, business process reengineering and co-production activities with school leaders, client officers, pupils and parents.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and manage a portfolio of projects and transformation initiatives, supporting the delivery of excellent education, inclusion and achievement services.
• Develop and put in place an effective governance and decision-making framework for the projects and initiatives being lead.
• Provide business change and project management expertise utilising the appropriate methodologies and tools to support change.
• Manage and support a range of internal and external stakeholders, including parents, children and elected officials, in order to deliver against core aims.
• Identify and develop educational partnerships to enable the client to meet its goals.
• Develop a collaborative culture, building relationships with a range of internal and external partners, to establish the key issues, anticipate requirements and develop and test solutions.
• Work across the Education directorate to identify key strategic and operational leads, supporting them to identify, prioritise and deliver on improvement activity.
• Provide direct support for Education Heads of Service on the transformation and improvement communications ensuring these are timely and relevant and support co-production and buy in for change projects.
• Support the development and co-ordination and tracking all investment and saving potential/realisation across the portfolio.
• Identify and manage dependencies between the portfolio and across ‘business as usual’ activities, ensuring alignment and that outcomes are monitored and risks are mitigated.

Essential criteria about you:

• Director experience with education (children and families)
• Specialist knowledge and understanding of the Education system and the statutory responsibilities of local authority Education Services.
• Knowledge and understanding of the school system and education enrichment including relevant legislation and policy changes
• Specialist knowledge and awareness of the variety of current issues and developments affecting children and young people
• A demonstrable knowledge of the relevant children’s statutory guidance across Social Care and Education
• Specialist knowledge of programme and/project management methodology
• Theoretical knowledge and understanding of the technical, behavioural and contextual elements of major transformational and change management initiatives within large complex organisations
• Knowledge of relevant current legislation, the key national
• Evidence of relevant continuous professional development such as APM, LEAN, Prince 2, MSP
• Degree educated or equivalent level experience
• Excellent ability to lead change initiatives, including ability to support change with senior professionals.
• Strong ability to influence and persuade various stakeholders
• Able to quickly build strong relationships with teams and people at all levels of the organisation
• Excellent Presentation & communication skills, including report writing and project or programme management skills
• Strong ability to use initiative and highly analytical thinking in varying situations
• Highly organised with excellent planning skills and ability to meet strict deadlines
• Strong budget management skills
• Highly IT literate
• Demonstrable experience of successfully leading and implementing Education change initiatives within the public or private sector
• Significant experience of working in services with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to deliver effective improvements
• Experience of working with complex multi-agency partnerships and stakeholder groups, managing ambiguity and delivering organisations outcomes

If you are interested in this role, please contact Pocholo!