Programme Manager - FT Capital Projects

Company Description

By 2050, the planet could be using twice as much electricity compared to today. Are you interested in contributing and helping to shape the future of the world’s energy? If so, read on.

Fusion, the process that powers the Sun and Stars, is one of the most promising options for generating the cleaner, carbon-free energy that our world badly needs.

UKAEA leads the way in realizing fusion energy, partnering with industry and research for ground-breaking advancements. Our goal is to bring fusion electricity to the grid, supported by tomorrow's power stations. In pursuit of our mission, UKAEA embraces core values: Innovative, Committed, Trusted, and Collaborative.

As an employee of UKAEA you will benefit from:

• Outstanding defined benefit pension scheme, details of which can be found at the end of this advert.
• Corporate bonus scheme up to 7% and a Relocation allowance (if eligible).
• Flexible working options including family friendly policies and the right to request flexible working from the start of your employment. 
• Employee Assistance Programme and trained Mental Health First Aiders. 
• Generous annual leave allowance starting with 25 days, plus 3 days Christmas closure and 2.5 privilege days, in addition to UK bank holidays.
• Wide range of career development opportunities.
• A vibrant culture committed to equality and being fully inclusive.

Job Description

• The salary for this role is £91,173 (inclusive of specialist allowance) 
• Onsite working is expected for 4 days each week. 
• This role is based at the following site; Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

This role requires employees to complete an online Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), including The Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks for criminal convictions and possibly a higher clearance level and search of open source data.

UKAEA are always interested in speaking to individuals with a STEM background who are looking to move back in to the sector.

The Role

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to make a difference? Join our team and contribute to the future of fusion energy. As Programme Manager - FT Capital Projects, you will play a pivotal role in providing leadership in project and program set-up, governance, and delivery of a portfolio of exciting first of a kind, one of a kind capital projects contributing to the delivery of fusion energy with a value >£100M.

Each project will contribute to a unique suite of test facilities within the Fusion Technology Facility (FTF) in Rotherham which will offer users validation and verification of materials and components in a fusion environment. You will lead a project team who support execution and delivery of projects, whilst ensuring that quality and cost targets are achieved, developing an integrated programme to make the Fusion Technology Facility the ‘go to’ facility for the delivery of test rigs. In addition, you will represent the UKAEA externally at a senior level and will generate reports for Exco, the UKAEA Board and in some cases the UK Government.

Key Accountabilities:

• Lead and manage the set-up of the projects and programme, ensuring appropriate frameworks are in place. Provide strategic direction to the senior leadership team within the Fusion Technology Facility and the delivery teams (a series of internal project manager/delivery teams) to ensure effective delivery.
• Lead on developing the programme strategy and implementing programme delivery to all relevant stakeholders including business change managers, Exco, Rig Owners and UKIFS.
• Identify and manage benefits across the programme in line with Association of Process Management (APM) best practice to maximise utility to the UKAEA and its partners.
• Lead resource planning across the program using techniques such as, balancing and levelling, in some cases including representing Project Managers to ensure that all projects within the programme are resourced correctly and a robust plan in place for the medium and long term.
• Provide effective and timely management of staff, including, but not limited to: setting resource allocation and recruitment requirements, knowledge transfer, supporting welfare and EDI, setting expectations (inc. behavioural), onboarding and probation, setting SMART performance objectives, performance management, absence management, addressing concerns (e.g. disciplinaries, grievances, etc.), workforce planning, building capability in line with business strategy, supporting learning, skills and professional development, and coaching.
• Ensure suitably qualified and experienced staff are in place to deliver work in accordance with the UKAEA standards, management systems, and relevant regulations.
• Ensure that the safety, health, and welfare of staff is maintained and adhered to in accordance with organisation policies and procedures.
• Lead and manage the project resources across the program matrix, providing direct line management where necessary, undertaking broader coaching and upskilling of reports to build a team of project managers.
• Provide clear leadership to the Project Managers; resolve obstacles to strategy delivery within the programme and lead the identification and employment of solutions to overcome them. Manage the programme budget, including risk allowance and management reserves.
• Manage the programme in compliance with the UKAEA’s Quality Assurance requirements. Lead prioritisation and value engineering exercises on projects within the programme where required. Ensure funding spend remains on track and that the programme is delivered in line with expected quality standards and with the business’ strategic objectives.
• Ensure formal, regular, and relevant reporting arrangements on programme and project progress are in place. The driving aim of this is to provide integrated high quality board level reporting metrics to inform decisions.
• Manage the day to day running of the programme on behalf of the SRO (Senior Responsible Owner) to ensure that desired programme objectives are delivered and that the expected benefits are realised in line with APM best practice.
• Lead contract management as a strategic level with suppliers.
• Manage the programme in compliance with the UKAEA’s legislative and statutory requirement (including Construction Design Management) in conjunction with specialist contractors.
• To act as chair for the FT Capital Projects programme board.
• Work in accordance with the UKAEA policy and undertake any other reasonable tasks or duties requested by Management commensurate with grade.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Extensive experience of safely delivering major and complex engineering or scientific capital projects achieving cost, time and quality objectives in the Programme Management Role.
• Demonstrable ability to constructively interact with, lead, and influence a variety of stakeholders at all levels of the business, internally and externally.
• MSP® Foundation, Practitioner or Advanced Practitioner (or an equivalent programme management certification).
• Project and/or programme management qualification e.g. APM PMQ, Prince2, Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner or Advanced Practitioner.
• Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of NEC contracts (New Engineering Contract).
• Comprehensive knowledge and experience of CDM regulations (Construction Design and Management Regulations).
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to make sound economic decisions that maximise programme value.
• Proven ability to handle ambiguity, uncertainty and high levels of complexity in project delivery.
• Substantial experience in working with a diverse range of senior stakeholders and external partners, ideally with an element of public funding.
• Extensive experience of financial management of significant budgets.
• Demonstratable experience of line managing and coaching.
• Demonstrable experience in building and leading a collaborative, cross-functional team, delivering large projects.
• Experience of contributing to the development and delivery of organisational strategy. 
• Experience in delivering engineering equipment and facilities through industry procurement.
• Pro-active approach to safety, with good appreciation of UK compliance requirements in design.
• Demonstrable experience of leading and managing teams.

Desirable:

• Degree and experience within any scientific or engineering related discipline.
• Understanding of the wider issues impacting the UK science and innovation landscape and/or the fusion community 
• APM Project Professional Qualification (PPQ) or equivalent 
• Project Management Chartership e.g RICS.

Additional Information

A full list of our benefits can be found here https://careers.ukaea.uk/life-at-ukaea/employee-benefits/.  

We welcome talented people from all backgrounds who want to help us achieve our mission. We encourage applications from under-represented groups, particularly from women in STEM, people from Black British Caribbean and African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi British, and other ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and neurotypical individuals. Our Executive team, supported by our 'Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion' (EDI) and Wellbeing and our EDI Networks actively promote Inclusion and takes steps to increase diversity within our organisation. We reinforce best practices in recruitment and selection and evaluate approaches to remove barriers to success.

Please note that vacancies are generally advertised for 4 weeks but may close earlier if we receive a large number of applications. 

For applicants applying from outside the United Kingdom or those who have spent time outside the UK in the last five years, please visit the following link for information on criminal records checks: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criminal-records-checks-for-overseas-applicants If your country of residence or previous residence is not listed on the website or if the UK Government does not have information on obtaining a criminal records check from that state, we regret to inform you that we cannot process your application.