Project Manager in Edinburgh

Grade and Salary range: Grade 8, £47,389 – £58,225 FTE

Working pattern: Full Time (1FTE), Open ended (flexible working on request).

Annual Leave: 33 days, plus 9 buildings closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday).

Organisation Name: Global Project Management Office (University Governance & Operations)

About our School/Directorate and Team: Heriot‑Watt University is a leading UK university recognised for world‑class teaching and impactful, industry‑relevant research, with a strong reputation for innovation and enterprise. The University operates across five campuses in the UK, Dubai and Malaysia, offering specialist programmes in science, engineering, design, business and languages, and is Scotland’s most international university by student cohort.

Established in 2022, the Global Project Management Office (GPMO) provides a centralised, professional project management capability to deliver strategically significant initiatives aligned to the University’s priorities. Based at the Edinburgh campus within the Strategic Planning, Performance & Projects directorate, the team leads a complex portfolio of transformational change, requiring strong leadership, stakeholder management and governance assurance.

Purpose of the Role: The Project Manager is responsible for the successful end-to-end delivery of one or more complex change initiatives, from early concept, business case development and governance approval through to delivery, transition into business-as-usual and benefits realisation. The role operates with a significant degree of autonomy, applying established good practice while adapting approaches to suit context, risk and organisational maturity. Projects may involve technology, process, organisational or infrastructure change and require close collaboration across academic, professional services and external partners.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Select, tailor and apply appropriate project life cycle approaches, exercising professional judgement to respond to uncertainty, complexity and risk.
• Establish, operate and maintain effective project governance and reporting arrangements, ensuring clear accountability, robust decision-making and timely escalation in line with organisational standards.
• Lead the development, approval and ongoing refinement of the project business case, ensuring continued alignment with strategic objectives, affordability and value for money.
• Produce, baseline and maintain an integrated project management plan, incorporating scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, risks, issues, communications and benefits.
• Actively manage delivery performance against agreed baselines, using data and insight to forecast outcomes, manage tolerances and recommend corrective action.
• Take responsibility for project financial management, including estimation, budgeting, forecasting, cost control and financial reporting, within agreed delegations.
• Identify, assess and manage risks, issues, dependencies and assumptions proactively, implementing agreed response strategies and escalating emerging threats or opportunities.
• Secure, lead and coordinate multi-disciplinary project teams, applying appropriate leadership styles to motivate performance, build capability and maintain momentum.
• Manage internal and external resources and suppliers as required, including contributing to procurement, contract management and performance oversight.
• Design and deliver structured stakeholder engagement and communication activities, influencing effectively at all levels and managing expectations in complex or contested environments.
• Plan and manage transition activities to ensure that project outputs are successfully embedded into business-as-usual operations, minimising disruption and enabling adoption.
• Define, monitor and report on benefits realisation, supporting benefit owners to understand, track and optimise the value delivered by the change initiative.
• Ensure that sustainability, equality, ethical and compliance considerations are embedded into decision-making and delivery practices.
• Capture, share and apply lessons learned to support continuous improvement of project delivery capability and organisational learning.

Education, Qualifications and Experience:

Essential:

• Degree (or equivalent professional qualification or demonstrable experience) in a relevant discipline.
• Experience delivering change in higher education/academic sector.
• Substantial experience delivering complex projects (technology, process, organisational or infrastructure change) across the full project life cycle, with evidence of operating at a competent to proficient professional level.
• Strong applied knowledge of project governance, integrated planning, risk and issue management, financial management and benefits realisation.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams, including matrix-managed resources.
• Ability to exercise sound professional judgement, anticipate issues and make informed decisions within a defined governance framework.
• Highly effective stakeholder engagement, communication and influencing skills, including experience working with senior stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, with confidence using data to inform decisions and recommendations.

Desirable:

• Recognised project management qualification (e.g. APM PMQ, PRINCE2 Practitioner or equivalent).
• Experience of digital, systems-enabled or transformation-led change initiatives.
• Understanding of portfolio, programme or PMO environments and how projects contribute to strategic outcomes.
• Active commitment to continuing professional development and professional standards.

Additional Information: This job description outlines the principal accountabilities and expectations of the role and reflects the requirement to operate with professional autonomy and judgement appropriate to Grade 8. The role holder may be required to undertake other appropriate duties commensurate with the grade and organisational priorities. Personal objectives (Forward Job Plan) will set out specific tasks and objectives, including those supporting career development.

How to Apply: Applications can be submitted up to 11:55pm (UK time) on Sunday 7th June 2026. Please submit your CV & covering letter via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment.

About Heriot-Watt University: At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team. Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community. Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all. Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.