Senior Project Officer

About us

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.

The Strategic Programmes Office manages and delivers transformational change associated with the education offer at King’s, and in the services and processes that support our students. To contribute to the delivery of the Education Strategy, the team provides programme and project support across a variety of activities and works closely with colleagues in a range of central services and faculties to ensure developments are fit for purpose and student-centred. We aim to deliver excellent student and staff experience whilst supporting the university’s growth in a financially sustainable way and do so by simplifying the way we do things, enabling ourselves to work together better and investing in our people and systems.

We are part of the wider Students & Education Directorate, a collection of professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so.

About the role

We are seeking to appoint a Senior Project Officer to support delivery of projects within the Education and Students Transformation (EAST) portfolio.

You will provide support in the day to day running of projects that deliver the needs of the organisation. The portfolio includes a wide range of projects, and you will be required to contribute across all stages of their lifecycle, as well as supporting broader strategic development, delivery of benefits and change management approaches.

This is an exciting time to join the team: a significant expansion of our transformation agenda is being initiated to improve the student experience at King’s, with changes underway or planned across systems, processes, people, data and policies. Excellent progress has been made on the ambitious Education Strategy, characterised by innovation, flexibility and enrichment. We are now seeking a creative, adaptable team member with an interest in project management, who is keen to develop transformation skills.

We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role.

These posts will be offered on an indefinite basis.

This role is offered as a full-time post, but we are happy to talk about part-time, job-share and other flexible working options.

To work collaboratively with colleagues to deliver an effective and student-focused programme of transformation by:

• providing logistical coordination and administrative support to projects within the EAST portfolio, and lead on delivery of specific elements within a project as appropriate.
• contributing to the scoping of new projects within the portfolio, undertaking research and working with business leads to agree acceptance criteria, understand and identify change readiness, and determine business benefits.
• supporting stakeholder engagement and building networks with colleagues across the university to ensure effective communications.
• supporting the management of benefits delivery including active monitoring and reporting.
• creating communication material and collateral to deliver successful change management outcomes.
• supporting inclusive service delivery by embedding equality, diversity and inclusion requirements into project planning and delivery.
• supporting delivery of project governance activities, including project boards and project reporting (including financial reporting).
• contributing to the “business as usual” plans to ensure that new ways of working are embedded into operational teams.
• representing the Strategic Programmes Office and acting as a champion for change and best practice approaches.

Essential criteria: 

• relevant work experience and/or education.  A wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you in this role, such as events organization, business analysis or supporting change management.  Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training. 
• experience in organisation and planning to manage tasks effectively and complete activities to agreed deadlines. 
• good written and oral communications skills, with the ability to work and communicate with a wide range of audiences in different stakeholder groups. 
• analytical skills, with the ability to collate, analyse and develop reports to support project monitoring and benefits management. 
• experience of collaborative team working to deliver successful outcomes. 
• excellent IT Skills to support project delivery e.g., MS Office suite. 
• adaptability and flexibility to work across multiple areas in a complex and fast-paced environment, comfortable with ambiguity and complexity. 
• demonstrable commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. 

Desirable criteria: 

• experience of using specialist IT products to support project delivery e.g., Microsoft Project, PowerBI, presentation software 
• editing and writing skills including web and social media content creation 
• knowledge and understanding of the UK Higher Education sector 

Your application should clearly set out how you meet the essential criteria as this is how we shortlist applications. Learn more about how we recruit, including tips on writing your application and supporting statement on our website:

https://jobs.kcl.ac.uk/gb/en/applying

Interviews will be held using Microsoft Teams and will consist of competency-based questions linked closely to the essential and desirable criteria mentioned here. 

Interviews are scheduled to take place on Monday 27 February 2023.