Project Support Officer in Manchester

Site Greater Manchester Cancer Services - E00466 Town Manchester Salary £32,073 - £39,043 Pro Rata, Per Annum Salary period Yearly Closing 02/11/2026 23:59

Job overview

GM Academy+ (the education provider for GM Cancer Alliance and Diagnostics Network) is expanding. We are looking to appoint an experienced and proactive Support Officer to join our team and play a key role in supporting the delivery of our growing programme of work.

The postholder will provide high-quality programme and business support across GM Academy+, including personal executive assistance to the Programme Director. You will support the planning and coordination of education events, webinars and conferences, including our flagship Greater Manchester Cancer and Diagnostics Conference, as well as maintaining programme information, digital platforms and social media.

You will have the opportunity to lead discrete pieces of work, support a range of exciting workforce and education projects, build relationships with colleagues and partners across Greater Manchester, and contribute to the effective delivery of our programme priorities. The role will also support accurate financial and programme record keeping and provide flexible business support across the wider team to ensure continuity of delivery.

This is an exciting opportunity for an organised, confident and collaborative individual who enjoys working across a varied portfolio, managing competing priorities and making things happen.

The post is 1.0 WTE and is fixed term until the end of March 2028.

Main duties of the job

• Provide proactive programme and business support to the GM Academy+ team and personal executive support to the Programme Director.
• Coordinate the administration and delivery of education events, webinars, conferences and engagement activities, including the flagship Greater Manchester Cancer and Diagnostics Conference.
• Lead discrete pieces of work across workforce and education programmes, supporting delivery to agreed timescales and objectives.
• Organise meetings, prepare agendas, papers and presentations, take minutes, track actions and maintain accurate programme documentation.
• Support programme communications and engagement, including maintaining digital platforms, website content and social media channels.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with colleagues, NHS organisations and partner stakeholders across Greater Manchester.
• Support the planning, monitoring and reporting of programmes, including maintaining work plans, performance information, risks and issues.
• Maintain accurate financial and programme records, supporting budget monitoring and expenditure where required.
• Work flexibly across teams, sharing knowledge and providing business and programme support to ensure continuity of service and effective delivery of priorities.

Please see job description for full list of main role and responsibilities.

Working for our organisation

The Christie is one of Europe’s leading cancer centres, looking after more than 64,000 patients a year. We are based in Manchester and serve a population of 3.2 million across Greater Manchester & Cheshire, but as a national specialist around 25% patients are referred to us from other parts of the country.

We are the largest radiotherapy provider in the NHS with one in 20 treatments delivered at The Christie. We have up to 15 linear accelerators operating across our network of sites. We operate the largest chemotherapy unit in the UK on our main site and treatments are also provided at 13 other networked sites, and in patients homes. And as a specialist tertiary surgical centre, we focus on rare cancers, complex procedures, and multidisciplinary approaches to cancer surgery, specialising in colorectal, peritoneal, gynaecological, urological and plastic surgery.

We are also an international leader in research, with world first breakthroughs for over 100 years. We have been named by the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), as one of the best hospitals providing opportunities for patients to participate in clinical research studies, with more than 800 studies open at any time, caring for over 3,000 patients.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Work closely with the team to support the delivery of programmes, projects and events.
• Support the production of programme documentation, including project plans, reports and updates for internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead discrete pieces of work, including education initiatives, programme communications and engagement activities.
• Provide a high-level, professional and confidential Personal Assistant service to the Programme Director, providing proactive diary, meeting, correspondence and organisational support and acting as a key point of contact for stakeholders.
• Apply project management principles to delegated workstreams, ensuring delivery to agreed timescales and objectives.
• Support the development of policies, standard operating procedures and programme documentation.
• Support the planning, implementation and evaluation of programmes, escalating risks and issues where appropriate.
• Produce and maintain accurate programme documentation, ensuring information is distributed appropriately.
• Analyse information, identify solutions and work with team and stakeholders to resolve issues.
• Record minutes and actions from meetings.

COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT

• Support administrative tasks including organising meetings, disseminating information and collating feedback.
• Support the team to prepare reports, papers and presentations for governance groups and stakeholders.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with partner organisations and stakeholders to support programme delivery.
• Represent the team at meetings, providing updates on programme activity and promoting initiatives where appropriate.
• Maintain communication channels, including digital platforms and social media.
• Support the planning, coordination and delivery of education events, webinars, conferences and engagement activities.
• Keep up to date with relevant national guidance and best practice to support programme delivery.

LEADERSHIP AND EXPERTISE

• Represent the team in a professional and positive manner.
• Contribute to the team by developing and sharing knowledge, experience and best practice.
• Follow organisational policies and procedures in all relevant aspects of programme delivery.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the team and wider organisational programmes, providing support across teams and contributing to continuity of business support as required.
• Ensure delegated projects are delivered within agreed resources and timescales, escalating issues where appropriate.
• Support the monitoring of programme budgets where required.
• Influence stakeholders to support successful delivery of programme objectives.
• Keep outcomes that matter to patients and services at the centre of programme delivery.

SET-UP AND ORGANISATION

• Support the administration of workforce and education programmes.
• Prepare agendas, papers and minutes for meetings, following up agreed actions and monitoring progress.
• Build relationships with colleagues across Greater Manchester and partner organisations.
• Contribute to programme plans to support delivery and measure success.
• Support meaningful stakeholder and patient voice involvement across programmes of work.

PLANNING AND REPORTING

• Work with the team to plan short and long-term deliverables, monitoring and adjusting plans as required.
• Support the planning and coordination of activities, events and programme delivery.
• Develop and manage work plans with clear objectives and outcomes.
• Support the reporting of programme status, performance measures and progress to relevant governance groups.
• Assist in tracking progress against agreed outcomes and milestones.
• Support the team in maintaining programme risk registers and escalating risks and issues in accordance with agreed processes.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Degree or relevant professional qualification or equivalent experience
• Formal project management qualification (e.g. PRINCE 2 practitioner or equivalent)

Experience

• Experience of administrative project support and performance
• Experience and knowledge of project management
• Experience of working in a changing environment
• Experience of working effectively with stakeholders and partners
• Experience of managing multiple priorities and meeting deadlines
• Experience of managing multiple priorities and meeting deadlines
• Experience of working in the NHS, Local Authority, voluntary or private sector at a senior level
• Experience of line management

Skills

• Can use Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint software to a high standard
• Can communicate effectively with excellent writing, data entry and presentation skills: capable of constructing and delivering clear information to all stakeholders
• Can create and deliver presentations to a broad range of different stakeholders
• Can influence others to develop a shared vision and own project objectives
• Can challenge other team members and senior colleagues when necessary
• Can analyse complex information from a wide range of sources where material may be conflicting
• Can use experience to make inferences and act where information is incomplete
• Can develop plans for the short and long term for services that extend across multiple organisations and adjust them as required
• Can monitor progress against plans, escalating risks and issues as appropriate
• Resourceful, enthusiastic and can provide excellent administrative support to the team
• Can work flexibly with changing priorities, respond to sudden unexpected demands and cope with uncertainty
• Can make informed decisions in the absence of complete information
• Can work to demanding and changing timescales
• ability to work under pressure in a busy working environment and able to multi-task
• Project Management Skills
• Experience of coordinating the development of plans from a variety of sources and contributors

Knowledge

• Intermediate knowledge of IT systems and software programmes such as ESR, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook.
• Knowledge of project planning, implementation and management gained through experience
• Knowledge of marketing
• Knowledge of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Has an understanding of cancer services in Greater Manchester
• Knowledge of ABPI

Values

• Committed to quality in all that they do
• Values diversity and difference and promotes equality of opportunity
• Committed to working to support Programme Leads/Project Managers to deliver better outcomes for patients
• Operates with integrity and openness
• Committed to service user involvement in the development of health services
• brings enthusiasm and commitment to the team and capable of generating enthusiasm in others
• Committed to personal development and supporting others to do the same
• Challenges received wisdom and acceptance of the status quo

Other

• Work flexibly

The closing date for this post may be extended if there are insufficient applicants or brought forward if there is a high volume of applicants.

Application Information - If you have not heard from us within four weeks of the closing date, I regret that on this occasion your application will have been unsuccessful.

Sponsorship Information - We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

Pre-Employment Checks - To confirm your suitability for the role, we will carry out pre-employment checks in line with NHS Employment Check Standards. These include:

• Identity verification
• Right to work check
• Disclosure and barring service (DBS)/Criminal record check (dependent on role, payment of this will be the applicants responsibility)
• Professional registration and/or qualification check
• Occupational health assessment
• Employment history and reference validation

All applicants external to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust will be required to provide their HMRC employment history to cover the most recent three years employment. This information will used to validate employment history andreferences.

If you require sponsorship, we will assess your eligibility based on current government guidance. If the role is not eligible and you cannot demonstrate your right to work, your conditional offer may be withdrawn.

If You're Offered the Role - you will be agreeing to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.

No Smoking Policy - You should be aware the Trust operates a No Smoking Policy and therefore employees are not permitted to smoke at work.

Additional Information - We want to ensure that everyone who works at the Christie or uses our services is welcomed, valued and treated with dignity and respect. The Christie values diversity and is committed to ensuring equal opportunities for all and fair representation across the organisation at all levels. In support of these commitments, we particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people and people with disabilities for this post. Appointment will be only on merit.

We are committed to creating a balanced and diverse workforce. As such we welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Together we will foster inclusion and tackle inequity and health inequalities in cancer care.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all our activities. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in any of its forms, including slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, and human trafficking. We are fully committed to acting ethically and with transparency in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or supply chains.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Name Ellen Macwilliams Job title Education Manager Email address ellen.macwilliams1@nhs.net Additional information

Jack Quinn
Programme Manager
jack.quinn1@nhs.net

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