Project Manager (Rare Diseases) - College of Medicine and Health - 104379 -

at  University of Birmingham

POSITION DETAILS

College of Medicine and Health
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874
Grade: 7
Part Time (18.75 hours per week)
Fixed Term contract up to February 2027
Closing date: 13th November 2024

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE

• Qualified to Degree level or equivalent plus practical managerial experience or significant relevant experience demonstrated through increasingly more demanding roles evidencing the experience necessary for this role.
• Knowledge of factors impacting the Higher Education Institution sector, plus an understanding of the interplay between industry, academia, government, and administration.
• Proven track record of successful project management, potentially using one or more project management tools such as Prince2.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to produce and analyse information and data.
• Excellent people-management skills desirable.
• Excellent budgetary management skills and experience.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, relationship building and influencing skills with the ability to deal confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts.
• Excellent organisational and multi-tasking skills with a methodical approach to work and the ability to prioritise workloads in order to meet deadlines.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

CORE COMPETENCIES/TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. As appropriate for the level, our Birmingham Professionals will take ownership for getting things done. You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University.

ROLE SUMMARY

To manage designated projects across a School, College or professional service area, or make a contribution to larger University-wide projects as part of a project team. In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.
Specifically, this role will provide project management support for the Centre for Acceleration of Rare Disease Trials which is funded by LifeArc. The project director is Professor Timothy Barratt ( https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/cancer-genomic/barrett-timothy ), Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health and Director of the Centre for Rare Disease Studies. This centre aims to boost the capacity and efficiency of rare disease trials across the UK – including facilitating equitable recruitment, streamlining administrative hurdles and offering a ‘one-stop shop’ for trial design and support.
The post holder will work on their own initiative and exercise a high level of judgement, skill and understanding to conceive, develop and implement long-term improvements to service delivery and effective ways of working within their areas of responsibility.

MAIN DUTIES

• Responsible for the delivery of one or more projects or for contributing to larger University projects, through the provision of significant and high-level project management support. This may include some or all of the following:
• developing project plans, identifying (as appropriate) key performance indicators and milestones
• reviewing and auditing progress on projects to identify and act on improvements to effectiveness, efficiency and delivery
• reporting on progress including the development of reporting mechanisms, writing reports (eg on project budgetary management), and presenting to appropriate meetings such as Project Board or to other key stakeholders
• providing executive support to Project Boards, work streams and working groups as required; setting agendas, collating and distributing papers and minutes and ensuring follow up action is taken
• assessing and escalating as you deem appropriate issues and risks, including monitoring risk registers
• Stakeholder management, ensuring effective liaison with project partners, funders, Project Boards as appropriate
• managing project resources efficiently and effectively, including budgets, and ensure project documentation is maintained
• Coordinate the organisation of conferences/ meetings/ workshops/ dissemination events if required.
• Develop and deliver communication strategy for the project(s), which may include developing, for example, newsletters, briefings for stakeholders and/or websites or other social media.
• Ensure that priorities are balanced, taking action to deliver agreed deliverables against timelines.
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of project management methodologies.
• Source, analyse and develop insights from the data to inform evaluation and review of projects.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

ROLE CONTEXT

Roles at this level will require a broad understanding and practical experience of an administrative or professional field which will be used to plan the running and development of services and/or lead shorter term projects or contribute to larger projects. You will work with information which needs interpretation and analysis; you will use your judgement to identify the best solution to differing problems and issues, offering recommendations for managing more complex situations. You are likely to be responsible for managing a team of staff, being accountable for recruiting and developing them and for managing performance. You may also need to liaise and/or co-ordinate activities across a number of different sections within the department or possibly with wider department or external bodies as appropriate.