Project Manager Level 3

Job Introduction

We’re looking for two exceptional Project Managers to help us make a difference to people and planet. 

Our Project Managers will be responsible for managing a key component of our Weather & Climate Information Services (WISER) projects. The role aligns with Project Manager Level 3 in the UK Governments Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) and will be positioned within the Sustainable Development Team in the Programmes Directorate at the Met Office.

The Met Office WISER family of programmes supports initiatives to build resilience to the effects of climate change through coproducing and strengthening the access and use of weather and climate information services across Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia Pacific Regions. The WISER Programme Team works in partnership with and is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and delivers through the global meteorological community, national governments, development agencies and NGOs. We act as a strategic partner to deliver UK and FCDO objectives and support countries to strengthen their own weather and climate capability, policies and services.

This opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week. The job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work. There is the opportunity for international travel as part of this role and a willingness to travel internationally is essential. 

World changing work

From science to technology, from meteorology to management, and from planning to communication, our expertise helps us stand out as the authority on weather accuracy and climate prediction. We help individuals, industries and government to make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. This is the Met Office. This is who we are.

• We’re a force for good – focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’re experts by nature – always learning and developing to do things better
• We live and breathe it – putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making
• We’re better together – understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater
• We keep evolving – pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Your duties include:

• Oversight of budgets to ensure robust project and programme financial management including through support to project partners and close work with finance colleagues and the WISER Programme Manager.
• Ownership of an aspect of risk management under WISER including the quality governance, communication, and escalation of risks from downstream partners up to the WISER Programme Board as necessary.
• Close work with the WISER Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to co-lead on results reporting to ensure progress is tracked and communicated and that your projects are delivering high quality socio-economic benefits in line with the results framework and objectives.
• Strong relationship management with grantees and other downstream partners to support institutional development, particularly those in-region, and the robust delivery of agreed outputs and outcomes.
• Develop and foster working relationships with other areas of the Met Office also working on WISER, and with FCDO or other key external stakeholders.
• Activity management of a small project team, likely including Regional Coordinator(s), with support from the WISER Programme Manager and Team Leader as part of a matrix management approach.
• Support a proactive package of communications that tell the story of WISER successes with close working with WISER’s allocated communications resource and comms colleagues within the FCDO and our implementing partners.
• Close working with commercial colleagues to support the development and evaluation of new grants and contracts as needed in the delivery of WISER.
• Identification of synergies and opportunities for lesson learning and continuous improvement across WISER regions in support of a dynamic and coherent suite of global WISER projects and programmes.

This post is within the Project Delivery Profession. The Met Office Project Delivery Profession is aligned with the Government Project Delivery Profession, part of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA). Project Delivery Professionals in Government use the Project Delivery Capability Framework , which has three elements to it: 

• A Career Pathway/common set of job roles  
• A set of Competencies  
• A signpost for Development opportunities specific to job roles  

There are 29 Project Delivery Competencies, which are grouped into 2 areas:  

• 19 Technical Competencies – aligned to the APM competencies.  
• 10 Behavioural/Leadership Competencies – aligned to the Civil Service Success Profiles.  

The Project Delivery Competencies are used to indicate the typical skills, knowledge, behaviours and experience required for Met Office posts in the Project Delivery Profession, in addition to the Personal and Corporate Effectiveness competencies outlined above.

Why join us

Our work is life-changing, often life-saving and always life-enhancing. The Met Office is accredited as a ‘Great Place to Work UK 2023’ and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK’s ‘Best Workplaces in Tech’ and ‘Best Workplaces for Women’ lists.

As our Project Manager Level 3, your total reward package will be up to £72,530 annually, which includes:

• £52,799 base pay
• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising to 32.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) after 5 years and option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year of annual leave

Essential Criteria, skills and experience:

1. An experienced Project Manager with evidence of leading multiple moderate/high complexity projects in an international or development context (We’re experts by nature).
2. Willingness to work and travel in complex international environments, with strong experience, understanding and appreciation of cultural sensitivities and gender, equity and social inclusion (GESI) considerations (We live and breathe it).
3. Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with an ability to secure successful outcomes with multiple internal and external stakeholders at all levels (We’re better together).
4. Managing priorities, experience of coordinating multiple activities and shifting demands, with the ability to prioritise and simplify complexity (We keep evolving).
5. Timely decision-making, demonstrating an ability to identify and implement effective solutions that strengthen project delivery capability.
6. A committed team player, who can also work autonomously to deliver high quality work to tight deadlines (We’re better together).
7. Project management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2 Practitioner and/or APM (Association for Project Management) PMQ Certificate, PMD Pro) or equivalent experience and a willingness to work towards certification (We’re experts by nature). 

How to apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you! Click apply to begin your application. Please complete your career history and provide evidence against each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and skills. 

Closing date 20/08/2024 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 02/09/2024. You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

How we can help

If you are considering applying and need support to do so, please contact us via careers@metoffice.gov.uk. You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We understand that great minds don’t always think alike and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK – please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us.