Project Support Officer - Creative Places Growth Fund in Birmingham

At the West Midlands Combined Authority, we are investing in creativity as a driver of growth, opportunity and regeneration across the region. We are looking for a Project Support Officer to join our Creative Places Growth Fund team, providing essential project support to help deliver a £25 million programme designed to grow the West Midlands' creative economy. This is a key support role within a high-profile programme, helping ensure projects are well coordinated, well governed, and delivered on time and within budget.

You will provide structured project and programme support across the Creative Places Growth Fund, working closely with Project Coordinators, the Delivery Manager, and wider WMCA colleagues. Using established tools, processes and reporting systems, you will help maintain strong programme organisation, accurate reporting, and effective communication across internal teams and external partners. You will also support governance, finance processes, and documentation management, ensuring the programme runs smoothly and meets all reporting and compliance requirements.

This role is being advertised as a fixed-term contract until 31st March 2029.

What you will be doing:

• Provide proactive project support to the Creative Places Growth Fund and Culture & Creative Economy team.
• Support delivery of programme objectives within agreed timelines and budgets.
• Maintain and update key documentation, including plans, RAID logs, budgets and lessons learned logs.
• Assist with the preparation of regular project and programme reports, including change requests.
• Support monitoring of outputs, outcomes and performance data with project teams.
• Coordinate communication with stakeholders to gather, track and share key information.
• Provide administrative support to boards, working groups and governance forums, including agendas, papers and action tracking.
• Support risk, issue and change management processes, ensuring documentation is accurate and up to date.
• Contribute to communications and engagement activity, including preparing materials where required.
• Support grant administration processes, including application rounds and decision-making support.
• Provide finance and procurement support, including purchase orders and invoice processing.
• Liaise with suppliers and contractors to track delivery and ensure timely payment.
• Support monitoring and compliance of grant-funded activity.
• Help improve project and programme management processes through continuous improvement.

What's Essential:

• Experience supporting project or programme delivery processes.
• Experience using reporting tools, dashboards or performance monitoring systems.
• Understanding of project management principles, including risk, issues, change and financial processes.
• Strong attention to detail and analytical skills.
• Clear and confident communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to manage competing priorities.
• Experience working with a range of stakeholders.
• Competent IT skills, including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and virtual meeting tools.
• GCSE (or equivalent) in Maths and English.

Location: The location for this role is Summer Lane with at least 2 days a week spent in the office.

Salary and benefits:

We advertise salary ranges, with new appointments typically starting at the lowest salary point. In exceptional cases, the salary point may be adjusted to secure the best candidate. This approach allows for potential year‑on‑year salary increases, offering progression and appropriate rewards to employees. Requests for salaries above the maximum advertised range will not be considered.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Local Government Pension Scheme - one of the most generous pension schemes in the UK.
• Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• 28 days paid annual leave (with an option to purchase more) + Statutory days.
• EV car benefit scheme.
• Healthcare plans.
• Discounted gym membership, will writing, and mortgage advice.
• An option to buy a bicycle, including e‑bikes and adapted pedal cycles, at a discounted rate.
• 3 days of paid leave each year to volunteer.
• Interest‑free financing through SmartTech to buy the latest technology.
• Discounted shopping with over 2,000 big‑name retailers, and more.
• Costco membership through the WMCA.
• Boundless unlocks unlimited entry to top‑rated UK attractions and loads of extra benefits and discounts.
• Eye Care Scheme offering a free eye test and a financial contribution towards your glasses.

Reasonable adjustments: If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the application or recruitment process, please get in touch with our Recruitment Team (careers@wmca.org.uk).

We are also proud to be a Ban the Box employer, which means we do not ask about criminal convictions at the initial application stage, and will only ask after an offer is made as part of our onboarding checks, which helps us remove barriers for people with past convictions and supporting fair opportunities for all.

We recognise that certain groups, such as women and people of colour, may be less likely to apply for roles if they feel they do not meet all the requirements. However, we encourage individuals who are passionate about the role and want to make a difference to still apply. We value potential and encourage applicants to highlight their skills, including transferable ones, even if they don't fit the traditional “perfect candidate” mould.

We gladly consider part‑time, flexible, and job‑share arrangements, so please don’t let these factors deter you from applying.

Right to Work in the UK: Proof of Right to Work in the UK will be required for all applicants in accordance with UK Home Office requirements, before any employment offer can be confirmed. Non‑UK applicants (excluding Ireland) would be required to hold a relevant Visa from the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI).