Project Manager

Job id: 078971. Salary: £42,405 – £45,932 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 22 November 2023. Closing date: 04 January 2024.

Business unit: IoPPN. Department: Addictions.

Contact details:Rhian Jones. [email protected]

Location: Denmark Hill Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

Job description

The Project Manager is a key post within a new Addictions Policy Research Unit (PRU). The Addictions PRU has recently been commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for England, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and starts in January 2024 for an initial 5-year period.     

The post-holder will be based at King’s College London (King’s) and work closely with the Co-Directors of the PRU (Professor Ann McNeill, King’s and Professor John Holmes, Sheffield University) and Deputy Director (Dr Leonie Brose, King’s). The PRU is a collaboration involving colleagues across 10 UK universities led from the Addictions Department at King’s, the University of Sheffield’s Alcohol Research Group and the University of Glasgow’s Gambling Glasgow Research Centre. Its aim is to inform policymaking relating to alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, other drugs, and gambling.   

The post-holder will be the key point of contact with McNeill for DHSC, NIHR and wider stakeholders. They will be a member of a small Addictions PRU Management Team (AMT) which collectively leads the management of the PRU and be closely involved with the overall running of the PRU on a day to day basis. They will support the AMT in overseeing the progress, delivery and budgets of all PRU projects.    

This post will be offered on a full-time, fixed term contract until 31st December 2028.

Key responsibilities

• Be the key point of contact alongside Ann McNeill for DHSC, NIHR, wider stakeholders and other PRUs.    
• Attend weekly liaison meetings with Ann McNeill and the DHSC Liaison Office.  
• Be an active member of the AMT which collectively leads the management of the PRU. The post-holder will be responsible for setting up meetings, drawing up the agenda with the directors and other AMT members and preparing minutes and action points. The post-holder will lead an item monitoring the progress of all Addictions PRU projects at each AMT meeting.  
• Set up and implement an online policy advice service for policy stakeholders including a booking form for enquiries relating to different addictive behaviours/methodologies. Monitor the booking form and be the first point of contact for stakeholders to raise requests for the initiation of new projects. Liaise with AMT and topic leads to organise responses (by email, online or in-person meetings) and ensure overviews of such contacts and progress are discussed at AMT.   
• Set up and implement an online system for monitoring progress of individual Addictions PRU projects including Project/Team Lead, team member names, a timeline for delivery, budget, outputs, key discussions and dates, communications.  
• Set up a system to monitor budgets, workloads, outputs, and communications, across all projects for discussion in AMT meetings.   
• Track workloads and lead on allocating project teams in discussion with Co-Applicants and AMT.  
• Be link person for involvement of other PRUs in new Addictions PRU work.  Link with AMT for monitoring collaborations with other PRUs.  
• Support communication strategy for each project, for example developing an Addictions PRU website giving details of core and responsive mode projects where appropriate. The post-holder will also help to create a PRU mailing list comprising our existing stakeholders, networks and circulate information on new projects, emerging findings and engagement opportunities and support or lead social media activities.  
• Oversee risk management strategy for the Addictions PRU and any individual project risk registers, escalating any issues to the AMT as appropriate and in a timely manner to enable pre-emptive actions to be taken.  
• Support the development of the Addictions PRU academy (comprising PRU-funded and associated Early Career Researchers, PhD and Master’s students and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement members). For example, the post-holder will advertise relevant ongoing training courses and seminars across the PRU Academy.   
• Act as a central point of contact for the individual project teams associated with the grant. Request and coordinate regular progress updates to the AMT.  
• Support the two project administrators in delivering their work.  
• Oversee completion of reporting required by the funder.  

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.  

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria  

1.        Educated to degree level in relevant subject area.  

2.        Formal project management qualification, such as PRINCE 2. 

3.        A strong track record in research management, including working with multi-disciplinary teams.  

4.        Experience of managing a large, complex, research award with multiple national stake holders from different sectors.  

5.        Significant financial management and reporting experience, including working with multiple partners.  

6.        Experience of assessing and managing risks.  

7.        Excellent interpersonal and networking skills, employing tact and discretion.  

8.        Ability to work on own initiative and meet competing deadlines.  

9.        Excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to produce analytical reports and proposals.  

10.    Excellent time management, planning and organisational skills.  

11.    Ability to think and act strategically and deal with complex problems.  

12.    Ability to plan and organise own work and provide leadership within the project team. 

Desirable criteria

1.       Significant project management experience with ability to document project management standards. 

The post is based at King’s College London (Denmark Hill site) but will require attendance at other key meetings held in Sheffield and Glasgow. The post-holder will be required to travel on an occasional basis within the UK to institutions participating in the project.