Project Support Manager in Cardiff

A public sector organisation in Cardiff is currently looking to recruit a Project Support Manager for a contract until 31st March 2026 on a rate of £240.50/day (Inside IR35).

Responsibilities

• Lead and support project staff, ensuring clear direction and guidance.
• Drive strong individual and team performance.
• Allocate work effectively and ensure adherence to scope and approved changes.
• Support team development and engage with the wider project community.
• Understand and refine the business case for change.
• Coordinate delivery to meet agreed scope, timelines, and quality standards.
• Work with project managers to define scope, objectives, and delivery approaches.
• Build and manage project plans using sound analysis and decision making.
• Define and schedule organisation wide resources to meet project needs.
• Lead updates to the business case and assess feasibility.
• Identify, manage, and escape risks and issues, developing contingencies.
• Maintain governance, track progress, and evaluate outcomes.
• Capture and apply lessons learned, recommending policy or process changes.
• Report KPIs and performance insights to inform decision making.
• Analyse complex information to advise senior stakeholders on project direction.
• Research practices to validate project scope and approach.
• Ensure project briefs, business cases, and procurements reflect best practice.
• Communicate complex information clearly, adapting style for diverse stakeholders.
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships to support delivery.
• Manage competing priorities and expectations across stakeholder groups.
• Support Project Board meetings with updates and briefing materials.
• Act as the project’s communication lead and advocate at all levels.
• Maintain project documentation and logs within programme systems.
• Produce change controls and configuration management materials.
• Track and report progress against milestones.
• Create highlight, end stage, and lessons learned reports using multiple data sources.
• Support budget planning, monitoring, and spend tracking.
• Assist with procurement and deployment of required project tools and resources.

Qualifications

• Educated to a Postgraduate Diploma level in an associated professional field (or equivalent qualification/experience).
• Further evidence of relevant higher-level education and/or training.
• Practical experience, working at this level, across the range of work procedures and practices.
• Evidence of continuous professional development.
• A working knowledge of successfully leading and managing low to moderate complex transformation projects within a large complex environment, or leading and managing projects that have been in a specialist or work.
• Comprehensive knowledge in the identification of key business stakeholders, assessment of their level of power and interests, their needs and their perspectives, to inform the way(s) in which they should be considered and managed.
• Establishing relationships, analysing perspectives and managing stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines.
• Adapting stakeholder engagement style to meet the needs of different audiences.
• Detailed knowledge in working with frameworks and methodologies to ensure compliance with quality and operational standards, with the ability to plan, develop, maintain and apply quality management processes and to ensure the adherence to those standards throughout the project delivery lifecycle.
• Detailed knowledge in the identification, assessment, management and mitigation of programme issues and risks, that could result in time or cost overruns, or failure to deliver programmes that are fit for purpose.
• Detailed knowledge in principles, methods, techniques and tools for the effective management and tracking of programmes, and of related activities, through implementation to the successful achievement of planned business benefits.
• Working knowledge in Business change and implementation with the ability to document and analyse various options and to select the optimal solution, integrate the programme outputs into ‘business as usual’ (BAU) ensuring that activities are planned and completed to enable the business to implement the change and realise the benefits.
• Proficient in identifying, sharing and promoting best practices and lessons learned to create a culture of learning and good practice that supports continuous improvement to optimise programme delivery.
• Effective judgement skills to make decisions at the right time, considering the needs of situations, priorities, constraints, known risks, and the availability of necessary information and resources.
• Interacting with people skills to establish relationships, contributing to an open culture and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines.
• Effective, approachable and sensitive communicator in different communities and cultures.
• Ability to adapt style and approach to meet the needs of different audiences.
• Resilience in ambiguous and changing environments.
• Commitment to diversity, inclusion, and organisational values.
• Relevant professional registration such as: APM Chartered Project Professional or PRINCE2 Practitioner. PRINCE2 Foundation. Project Management Institute (PMI) Certificate in Associate Project Management / Project Management Professional.
• Knowledge of sector.

If you would like to hear more about this opportunity please get in touch.