Senior Project Officer

The Senior Project Officer sits with the Chief Executives Office supporting the Project & Programme Manager and is responsible for championing project management best practice across the wider organisation via training, consultations, and effective stakeholder management. The post holder is also responsible for scoping, planning, and delivering small-to-medium cross-organisational change projects that bring us closer to achieving our 10-year organisational strategy, ARUK: Towards a Cure.

Key Responsibilities:

• Championing Project Management Best Practice

• Act as an advisor, mentor, and source of central project management expertise for colleagues across the charity; offering tailored project management consultations which empower colleagues to deliver their own initiatives effectively.
• Collaborate with the Project & Programme Manager to enhance and deliver ARUK’s flagship internal project management training, the ARUK Project Management Masterclass, promoting best practice and continuous improvement.
• Take ownership for maintenance and development of the Projects team intranet pages and resources, ensuring they remain relevant and accessible to colleagues across the organisation.
• Support the Project & Programme Manager with the development of a suite of project management resources to further embed project management best practice across the organisation.

• Deliver small-to-medium cross-organisational change projects, as determined by the yearly Operational Planning process, working with project teams to develop flexible, adaptable project plans. This might include but is not limited to the implementation of new third-party systems and tools, regulatory and compliance projects, new fundraising campaigns, and digital transformation projects.
• Apply sound judgement and problem-solving expertise to manage project risks, decisions, and dependencies within the wider organisational context, drive and monitor project progress against timelines, and ensure stakeholders are updated at key checkpoints.
• Demonstrate accountability by escalating project risks via appropriate channels as required.
• Proactively build and maintain strong relationships with project teams, internal stakeholders, and external partners to foster collaboration and drive successful outcomes.
• Lead project reviews to capture successes and learnings and ensure project outcomes are embedded into business-as-usual practices.
• Provide coordination support on larger programmes of work, as and when required.

What we are looking for:

• Experience managing cross-team projects, including developing project plans, allocating tasks, and managing risks, decisions, and changes.
• Sound knowledge of project management methodologies (Waterfall, Agile).
• Demonstrable ability to work with, influence, and advise a variety of internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
• Working knowledge of project management tools, such as Excel, Smartsheet, MS Projects or similar.
• Project Management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2, APM), or evidence of equivalent project management learning or experience.
• Excellent communication and people management skills, with an ability to build relationships, trust, and inspire confidence and respect at all levels.
• Strong team player who can work both independently and collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, and the ability to manage a varied workload and reprioritise work in accordance with the organisation’s needs.
• Excellent listening skills, demonstrating flexibility, curiosity, and an ability to learn.
• Demonstrates good negotiation and influencing skills.
• Demonstrates a proactive and pragmatic approach to investigating and solving problems, strives for continuous improvement and identifies ways to deliver creative and innovative solutions.
• A good blend of strategic and analytical thinking; with an ability to see the bigger picture and make appropriate recommendations.
• Ability to absorb and process new information quickly.
• Strong ethical standards and a high level of personal integrity and empathy.
• Excellent IT skills in PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

Additional Information:

As part of our Agile ways of working you will be required to work approximately 2 days a week from the office, which is subject to the requirements of the role and the business needs. Flexibility on where you work can be split between working from home and our office.

Our office is at 3 Riverside, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AD.

Salary: Circa £36,000 per annum, plus benefits.

We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.