Senior Project Support Officer (Risk and Governance)

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.  

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

The government has committed to a multi-billion-pound investment in UKHSAs new laboratory facilities the most significant investment the UK has made in biosecurity infrastructure in a generation. These state-of-the-art laboratories, to be built at a new site in Harlow, will replace UKHSAs existing facilities at Porton Down and Colindale and will be critical to the UKs public health resilience and national security for decades to come. 

This decision marks a pivotal moment for UKHSA and the wider government science landscape. The new facility will bring together world-class capability under one roof, enabling cutting-edge research, pandemic preparedness, and the protection of the UK from major biological threats. 

We are looking for a Senior Project Support Officer (Risk and Governance), to help shape the direction of the UK Health Security Campus Programme estate, to ensure it is fit for the future.

The role of the Senior Project Support Officer covers a diverse range of activities to support the delivery of the projects objectives, which will typically be high in complexity. You will enable the smooth running of the project by supporting the Project Manager through the operation of project management processes, and the co-ordination of business management actions and activities on their behalf.

This role is a government project delivery profession role and part of UKHSAs project delivery resource model. It is aligned to the Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) career pathway Project Support Officer SEO.

• Implement and maintain systems to enable effective planning and scheduling for the project.
• Implement and manage project controls, including risk and issue management, change control and information management.
• Prepare and produce project performance reports, using data analytics and digital tools effectively.
• Manage and monitor compliance with HMT orange book guidance.
• Manage the incoming programme change requests in line with Delegated Financial Authority Build and maintain strong professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Draft and sign off correspondence.
• Manage and monitor project spend and contingency budget as part of change management, contributing to budget management.
• Support the development of the project business cases.
• Lead potential risk areas, working with risk managers to resolve issues and escalating where appropriate.
• Collect and share data in line with data standards
• Identify, share and promote best practice and lessons learned.
• Be an active member of the UKHSA Project Delivery Profession Community.

This list is not exhaustive.

The job holder will be supported to work towards achieving Government Project Delivery Accreditation where they do not already hold this.

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of risk and issue management and change control in a project delivery environment.
• Experience of information management and governance in a project or programme environment, or appropriate skills that have been gained in a non-project delivery environment.
• Working knowledge of project methodologies and frameworks.
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, managing complex and involved pieces of work that have lots of dependencies and moving parts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence, challenge effectively and collaborate across boundaries.
• Strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to develop effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to use digital tools and data analytics to compile and present project information with strong capability in using Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.