Project Manager (Office 365)

Fixed Term, 12 months

Full Time

Up to £47,390 per annum

Location: Chelmsford*

Closing Date: 10th June 2021

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic we have multiple opportunities available to support and help shape our response across functional areas of the Council.

This role is accountable for managing projects which make a contribution to the delivery of ECC's strategic aims. The Project Manager is responsible for driving and overseeing the delivery of projects to ensure project objectives are clearly defined and can be delivered within the agreed timelines.

As an exemplary and experienced manager familiar with working in a complex project environment this role is key in ensuring a robust project infrastructure is in place underpinned by governance and assurance processes. Influencing and working with senior stakeholders to ensure agreed project outputs are delivered to enable benefits to be realised.

Project specifics

The delivery of Office 365 has been key to the collaboration ambitions of Essex County Council, and we are looking for a project manager with experience of delivering the Office 365 suite and the related behavioural changes in large organisations. A project is already in place for the delivery of these capabilities, and we require a Project Manager to continue the excellent work delivered to date.

Experience of delivering the Office 365 product suite is essential to the role, demonstrating the ability to plan and schedule the implementation of the different capabilities with stakeholders from across an organisation including Technology Services. The ability to plan and imbed ongoing processes will be essential, including the ability to determine ownership, risk and dependencies, as well as ensuring that the outputs are successfully aligned with reliant organisational change projects so that the benefits of the 365 product suite are maximised within everyday working.

Accountabilities

• Responsible for managing a project, which contributes to ECC's strategic aims, to deliver agreed outcomes within time and cost constraints.
• Responsible for undertaking day to day management of both the project and the project team.
• Responsible for ensuring a robust business case has been agreed ensuring expertise and specialist knowledge has contributed to the development of the business case in order to align project deliverables to the organisation's expectations.
• Responsible for developing and monitoring the project progress to ensure this stays within the agreed budget. Set out resource requirements in order to be prioritised by the Portfolio/Programme Manager.
• Responsible for managing, leading and motivating a team and ensuring current capability is matched against project requirements. This incorporates support and coaching for individuals and the team, as appropriate, in order to develop a high performing team.
• Responsible for ensuring agreement with customers of quantified benefits to be realised & metrics required to monitor impact. Designing and actively managing the project plan to ensure the outcomes are achieved.
• Responsible for highlighting project risks and issues and ways in which these can be mitigated and escalated as appropriate.
• Responsible for ensuring effective Change Management processes are in place and changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders are documented.
• Responsible for ensuring an effective governance and assurance framework is in place to support decision making and ensure regular reporting on progress through pro-active engagement with project sponsors. Work collaboratively with and manage internal stakeholder relationships together with external partners.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area, such as, APM practitioner or Prince 2.
• Evidence of having successfully completed numerous projects and experienced contributing to a range of other projects and/or programmes.
• Experience of working with a diverse range of individuals at different levels within a complex organisation and engaging with them, finding ways to overcome obstacles.
• Experience of working within or knowledge of the public sector is an advantage.
• Good management skills in leading and managing a team and evidence of developing others.

Apply and next steps

Please apply via the Working for Essex website, ensuring you upload an up to date CV and / or supporting statement when prompted. In order for us to gauge suitability and fit please include your salary aspirations for this role on your application.

*This position will initially, in line with current government guidance be based from home, with an expectation of being home based for the foreseeable future. However, if / when government guidelines change the role may then revert to being office based, whilst retaining some flexible working options.

Benefits

Essex County Council is proud to offer an excellent benefits package to all its employees. More information can be found on the Working for Essex website.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

We seek the best talent from the widest pool of people as diversity is key to our success.