Capital Projects Officer

North Northamptonshire is currently on an exciting journey to transform its buildings and infrastructure. As part of this, we are looking for a Project Officer to join our Capital Projects team. You will work to define, develop and deliver projects ranging from £25k to £10M. Many projects can be considered complex due to the variety of internal and external stakeholders – funders, services, end users, clients and developers. You will lead projects involving external consultant design teams and contractor delivery teams. You will be responsible for the delivery of multiple projects at one time across education, leisure, assets, communities and children’s services, ensuring objectives are delivered, all benefits realised and full governance observed.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Management: Delivery of a suite of projects from brief through design and delivery. Procuring contractors, initiating, planning, executing, managing, and closing the project to achieve specific targets within agreed timescales.
• Stakeholder Management: Develop effective relationships with stakeholders and partners, both internal and external, to ensure that the council’s programme of capital projects are delivered to specification, on time and within budget.
• Governance: Work within legal requirements, policies, financial procedures, governance, procurement, framework rules and recommended practice to protect the council from risk. Ensure all project team members are conversant with those parameters and obtain necessary approvals at required steps.
• Risk & Issue Management: Develop and manage project risk and issues registers, regularly monitoring and updating them to ensure risks are managed.
• Finance: Provide monthly monitoring and forecasting, manage the accounting process from setting up the supplier to receipting invoices and monitoring payments, including value engineering where necessary.
• Procurement: Responsible for the end‑to‑end procurement process for the project, including tendering, selection and awarding of contracts for specialist roles and the principal contractor.
• Leadership: Motivate, manage and set parameters on the project such as time, cost and quality. Define roles and responsibilities within the project team.
• Reporting: Report to the necessary project boards and stakeholders, providing advice on required solutions to issues that have arisen during a project. Keep all parties updated with accurate, up‑to‑date information.
• Communication: Develop a communication plan to maintain effective communication with all stakeholders and the project team throughout the project, establishing methods based on receiver requirements.

Values

Our values define who we are and how we operate, forming the foundation for how we interact with our customers, colleagues and provide our services. They are Customer‑focused, Respectful, Efficient, Supportive and Trustworthy.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will be agile and flexible enough to adapt, ensuring the project has flexibility within its parameters to allow for change if strategy, regulations or outcomes require. The post will be remote, with a requirement to attend site meetings and team meetings in person as needed – anticipated to average about two days a week. You will have good numeracy and literacy skills, and ideally a relevant project management qualification or equivalent, alongside knowledge and experience of managing projects. Knowledge and experience of local authorities is key, particularly with governance, approvals and procurement processes.

Benefits

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee Benefits Scheme with life cover and ill‑health protection
• Well‑being support
• HMRC travel rates
• Support for active Employee Network Groups

Work Environment

Here at North Northamptonshire Council, we’re transforming for the better, using all our creativity and imagination to create the best life for our local people. We offer a vibrant working environment with a competitive salary, a pension scheme with a significant contribution, generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days plus bank holidays, with the option to buy up to an extra 10 days), and hybrid and flexible working arrangements where practicable.