Project Officer

Birmingham City University is a large and diverse place to study right in the heart of the Second City and we currently have an exciting opportunity for Project Officer to join our dynamic team working on the Early Years Career Progression Pathways project. The role will suit anyone who is looking to gain experience of working within project management.

The Early Years Career Progression Pathways Project is part-funded by the European Social Fund and works in partnership with Newman University and West Smethwick Enterprise to increase the skill set of a large amount of residents in the GBS LEP area. The focus of this will be upskilling participants in Early Years related skills to support progression in the Early Years sector. You will be responsible for ensuring the smooth day to day delivery of the project and supporting the Programme Manager in the development of the project.

The Project Officer will work in the central project team and is responsible for a broad range of support activities including:

• Assist in the development and monitoring of project plans.
• Monitor progress against project schedules and prepare progress reports.
• Monitor project budgets and prepare regular budget reports
• Ensure that all project documentation is consistently completed to agreed standards and is accurate and timely.
• Collate and maintain all project data, ensure that meaningful data in useful formats is available and accessible to members of the project team and respond to requests for information.
• Undertake information gathering to support the project as directed by project managers.
• Organise and support project team and other related meetings, workshops, and events. Write and presenting papers to communicate project progress and outcomes. Manage papers and correspondence for working groups.
• Take detailed notes or minutes of meetings; record, compile transcribe and distribute minutes, action points or other notes. Carry out relevant follow up work, advising staff of their allocated actions and follow up and escalate to project managers if necessary.
• Maintain and provide records of progress for future meetings or reports.
• Respond to enquiries about project matters ensuring that any urgent and/or important matters are dealt with or referred appropriately.
• Manage the project team calendar and diaries as needed.

The Project Officer will require the following skills and experience:

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent.
• A demonstrable ability to deliver projects in line with all contractual obligations.
• Ideally possess a Project Management qualification.
• Excellent IT skills in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software, preferably Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Project, and Teams.
• Experience of using CRM systems.
• A demonstrable ability to manage a small team allocating tasks and monitoring performance.
• Excellent organisation skills.
• The ability to negotiate and achieve solutions that benefit all.
• Experience of providing high quality customer service and the ability to work with numerous stakeholders.
• A knowledge of externally funded/European funded provision (or similar).
• A knowledge and understanding of compliance.
• Ability to use their own initiative when completing work.
• Ability to work as part of a team.

With around 24,000 students from 80 countries, Birmingham City University is a large and diverse place to study. We put students at the heart of everything we do, giving them the best opportunities for future success. The University has an enviable reputation for providing quality, student-focused education in a professional and friendly environment. Our superb courses, state-of-the-art facilities, first-rate staff, and focus on practical skills and professional relevance is producing some of the country’s most employable graduates.

We put £270 million into the regional economy and support thousands of jobs in the area. We're investing £260 million in our estate, including a major expansion of our city centre campus at Eastside, providing students with an enviable range of facilities. The Complete University Guide ranked us as a top 30 UK university for spending on facilities in 2015.

Our staff and student community are defined by our core values, which outline who we are as a University and how we will work with each other. Our core values are ‘We Create Opportunity’, ‘We Think Differently’ and ‘We Build Community’.