Project Manager, Afe Babalola Centre for Transnational Education at King’s – INTERNAL ONLY

Job id: 085906. Salary: £43,205 per annum, including London weighting allowance.

Posted: 06 March 2024. Closing date: 01 April 2024.

Business unit: International, Engagement & Service. Department: International.

Contact details:Jen Angel. [email protected]

Location: Strand Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

Job description
THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

Following the recent approval of plans for the Afe Babalola Centre for Transnational Education at King’s, we are looking to appoint an experienced Project Manager to join the Afe Babalola Centre’s delivery team at a crucial and exciting time. This key role will support the start-up of Centre operations and the delivery of a portfolio of international projects and pilots, including curriculum innovation in and the evaluation of transnational education and multi-organisational collaborations across Africa.

You will work closely with the Director of Strategy for the Afe Babalola Centre, and other senior staff and colleagues from across King’s Faculties and Directorates and international partner institutions. You will be a key member of the team responsible for the delivery of these plans for the Centre which currently sits within the Principal’s Office under the strategic direction of the Vice-Principal (International, Engagement & Service).

Specifically, you will be responsible for:

• Co-ordinating the portfolio of projects that fall within the Centre’s remit
• Planning, budgeting, and managing strategic projects within this portfolio
• Maintaining a strong collaborative working relationship with colleagues in IES and across King’s who are engaged in related initiatives and activities in Africa, as well as colleagues at peer institutions on the continent

The postholder will ensure transparency and organisational effectiveness by assuming responsibility for financial planning and management information reporting, maintaining oversight of the Centre development’s project portfolio, and project management and communications, ensuring activities are being delivered on time and to specification. Internal and external stakeholder relationship management is a crucial part of this post holder’s remit.

If you are a great communicator with first-class organisational skills and a track record of delivery of complex projects, we’d love to hear from you!

This post will be offered on a fixed-term contract for 2 years

This is a full-time post – 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities

• Support the implementation of plans to establish the Centre by scoping, managing and reporting on a portfolio of projects that facilitate the set-up and development of the Centre’s offering and operations. This includes plans for structuring Centre operations; facilitating curriculum development; stakeholder engagement and relationship management; and the delivery of pilots and their evaluation
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with a wide range of academic and professional services staff from across the university and at international partner institutions
• Create and maintain project plans, stakeholder maps, risk registers and action logs, ensuring regular and frequent communications with colleagues including project sponsors and other senior stakeholders as required
• Liaise with Associate Director (Programme Management and Governance), IES to ensure internal reporting meets wider Directorate and University needs
• In collaboration with curriculum, subject and learning technology experts, and other administrators both within and beyond King’s, manage the development and delivery of key projects, including:

1) PG Cert in Professional Development (Education): Pilot for up to 100 educators

2) Establishing a continental hub to co-ordinate and manage Foundation pilots

3) Evaluation of impact: strategy, evidence, intelligence & reporting

• Identify, manage, and resolve risks and issues related to the successful delivery of plans to establish the Centre, escalating as appropriate
• Oversee the financial management, control and reporting of expenditure related to Centre activities, liaising with colleagues in Finance and FSD as required to deliver on donor reporting requirements
• Organise workshops and chair project meetings to foster and facilitate collaboration, and apply creative decision-making approaches to make progress against project goals
• Manage the administration of key boards and working groups, in particular:

1) Project Board; PG Cert Development Group; Technology Working Group

• Recruit and manage temporary / ad hoc clerical support for financial administration, desk research and the coordination of meetings, papers and actions relating to the Centre’s development
• Represent the Centre and Directorate in meetings with internal and external stakeholders, groups and committees, ensuring at all times that positive relationships are established with key stakeholders

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

Recent relevant experience in multi-stakeholder project management demonstrating knowledge and application of sound project management concepts including scoping, business case development, planning, controls & reporting, risk, change and stakeholder management, clear and effective communications and escalation

Strong communication, interpersonal and influencing skills, at all levels

Tenacious, creative & proactive in resolving issues

Flexible; emotionally intelligent; culturally competent; comfortable with ambiguity

Enthusiasm for King’s vision of internationalisation

Ability to liaise effectively with colleagues from a wide range of professional backgrounds

Highly numerate; can develop actionable insight from multiple, complex data sources and construct and monitor budgets

Ability to work to tight deadlines and under pressure; independently and as part of a team; excellent organisational and time management skills

Desirable criteria

Knowledge of the African context

Experience of transnational education and widening access to higher education internationally

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King’s.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
Interviews will take place on the 1 5th April 2024

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’   pages.

This role does not meet the requirements of the Home Office and therefore we are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who require the right to work in the UK.

International, Engagement & Service (IES) is a new Directorate at King’s that brings together the expertise of teams engaging with communities and partners locally, nationally, and globally. IES provides strategic leadership for the university’s engagement at home and abroad, while providing a home for a portfolio of innovative programmes that generate and measure impact, and serve the communities we work with and for. 

This is currently offered as a hybrid role and the role holder will be eligible to spend part of their working week on campus and part of the week working remotely.