JOB SUMMARY

We’re looking for an exceptional Senior Project Manager to help us make a difference to people and planet. Our Senior Project Manager will be responsible for managing key components of our Weather & Climate Information Services (WISER) projects
For more details on WISER please see Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) programme
This position is open to Civil Service candidates as a loan. For external candidates, the post will be on a 12-month fixed term appointment contract. Whilst this is a temporary 12-month position, there is the potential for it to develop into a permanent position. The opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week.
The Met Office WISER family of programmes supports initiatives to build resilience to the effects of climate change through coproducing and strengthening the access and use of weather and climate information services across Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia Pacific Regions. The WISER Programme Team works in partnership with and is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and delivers through the global meteorological community, national governments, development agencies and NGOs. We act as a strategic partner to deliver UK and FCDO objectives and support countries to strengthen their own weather and climate capability, policies and services.
The job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work. There is the opportunity for international travel as part of this role and a willingness to travel internationally is essential.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This post aligns with Project Manager Level 3 in the UK Governments Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF).

Key duties are expected to include but are not limited to:

• Oversight of budgets to ensure robust project and programme financial management including through support to project partners and close work with finance colleagues and the WISER Programme Manager.
• Ownership of an aspect of risk management under WISER including the quality governance, communication, and escalation of risks from downstream partners up to the WISER Programme Board as necessary.
• Close work with the WISER Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to co-lead on results reporting to ensure progress is tracked and communicated and that your projects are delivering high quality socio-economic benefits in line with the results framework and objectives.
• Management, through relationships, cost assurance and governance, of WISER projects that are delivered internally by Met Office technical experts, and ensure their coherence with our grants.
• Strong relationship management with grantees and other downstream partners to support institutional development, particularly those in-region, and the robust delivery of agreed outputs and outcomes.
• Develop and foster working relationships with other areas of the Met Office also working on WISER, and with FCDO or other key external stakeholders.
• Activity management of a small project team, likely including Regional Coordinator(s), with support from the WISER Programme Manager and Team Leader as part of a matrix management approach.
• Support a proactive package of communications that tell the story of WISER successes with close working with WISER’s allocated communications resource and comms colleagues within the FCDO and our implementing partners.
• Close working with commercial colleagues to support the development and evaluation of new grants and contracts as needed in the delivery of WISER.
• Identification of synergies and opportunities for lesson learning and continuous improvement across WISER regions in support of a dynamic and coherent suite of global WISER projects and programmes.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Key duties are expected to include but are not limited to:

• Oversight of budgets to ensure robust project and programme financial management including through support to project partners and close work with finance colleagues and the WISER Programme Manager.
• Ownership of an aspect of risk management under WISER including the quality governance, communication, and escalation of risks from downstream partners up to the WISER Programme Board as necessary.
• Close work with the WISER Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to co-lead on results reporting to ensure progress is tracked and communicated and that your projects are delivering high quality socio-economic benefits in line with the results framework and objectives.
• Management, through relationships, cost assurance and governance, of WISER projects that are delivered internally by Met Office technical experts, and ensure their coherence with our grants.
• Strong relationship management with grantees and other downstream partners to support institutional development, particularly those in-region, and the robust delivery of agreed outputs and outcomes.
• Develop and foster working relationships with other areas of the Met Office also working on WISER, and with FCDO or other key external stakeholders.
• Activity management of a small project team, likely including Regional Coordinator(s), with support from the WISER Programme Manager and Team Leader as part of a matrix management approach.
• Support a proactive package of communications that tell the story of WISER successes with close working with WISER’s allocated communications resource and comms colleagues within the FCDO and our implementing partners.
• Close working with commercial colleagues to support the development and evaluation of new grants and contracts as needed in the delivery of WISER.
• Identification of synergies and opportunities for lesson learning and continuous improvement across WISER regions in support of a dynamic and coherent suite of global WISER projects and programmes