Project Administration Officer

The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do.

To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Government Property Agency is changing the way the Civil Service works and is at the forefront of Government’s transformation agenda; reshaping the relationship civil servants have with their place of work. The Agency is central to the delivery of key Government policies including moving 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030 and tackling climate change by contributing to the Net Zero agenda. To do this we are delivering a major change programme across the UK and consolidating our portfolio in order to save £1.4 Bn over 10 years. 

Beyond the bricks and mortar, the GPA is about providing great workplaces for our people. Through programmes like Hubs, Whitehall Campus and Smart Working you will be in the vanguard of creating model working environments and promoting flexible working practices. 

This is an ambitious and exciting task, for which we need innovative people, with strong commercial acumen, who are passionate about visualising and implementing customer needs. Launched as an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office in 2018, we’re a relatively new department and we are growing fast so we also need people who thrive in ambiguity, can adapt quickly to change and are comfortable stepping outside of their remit to drive outcomes.

You will be joining a growing, diverse and multi-disciplinary team within the Capital Projects directorate at an exciting time as we deliver an ambitious programme, providing world class leading office working environments for our Government clients and customers.

This role offers the opportunity to use your project management, stakeholder and strategic support skills to support the Project Director and Stakeholder and Approvals Manager to deliver the portfolio of Government Hub projects that will directly affect the way civil servants will work for years to come.

Every day will be different and varied, as our programmes mature, precise roles and responsibilities may change, therefore the individual needs to be open, flexible and responsive to this, and have the knowledge, skills and experience to deliver project management support across a wide range of projects.

Reporting to an experienced Stakeholder and Approvals Manager, the post holder will support delivery of the North Region Non-Standard Hubs in the Manchester area business objectives and promote attainment of GPA business objectives. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Support senior management in gathering and reporting on information that will assist delivery of the project, including governance.
• Coordinate between the Capital Projects Project Management Office (PMO) and your project team.
• Responsible for project file management using robust version control. Organise key meetings, and provide secretariat support, incl managing calendars, inbox and preparation for meetings, along with supporting the capture and management of programme issues and enquiries.
• Stakeholder Management  – Assist with maintaining the stakeholder log for internal and external stakeholders. Act as the focal point for project responses to external requests for information, FOI, PMQ etc.
• Manage project documentation, correspondence, asset registers and project-level data including shared folders alongside the IDM (information and Documents Manager)
• Financial control – Assist with the monitoring of project spend and contribute to the compilation of budgets, in particular raising, managing and challenging project Purchase Orders. 
• Risks and Issues – Assist with and maintain risk and issue logs, escalating as appropriate.
• Assist with other business activities associated with the project delivery.

The successful candidate will be expected to cover the cost of their travel to their base.The successful candidate will occasionally be required to travel to site to meet stakeholders, and to GPA’s headquarters in Birmingham.

Experience & technical skills:

• The PAO should have an understanding of programme, project or PMO environment and be familiar with standard processes involved in successful project completion. They will need to update project documentation surrounding governance, general project management, manage the team’s security information and communicate with consultants and contractors to provide requested information where appropriate.
• They will need to be confident in setting up a number of project management related templates and guides for both internal and external team members to follow. 
• They will need to undergo specific training over and above the standard Google Docs training due to the secure, complex nature of these projects. They will need to support the IDM and be confident in providing resilience during busy periods to manage permissions
• Clear and accurate communication/ written skills

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Customer Perspective
• Commercial Acumen
• Property Market Knowledge
• Innovation

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Generous annual leave

Job contact :

• Name : Sallyanne Herbert
• Email : sallyanne.herbert@gpa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gparecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk