Project Officers

Role Overview

The Project Officer role is instrumental in ensuring the smooth running of both the Area and National Change Delivery teams. Project Officers will work directly to either Area Change Managers, or in the case of the National Directorates, to the National Head of Change delivery. This role is pivotal in facilitating both the area and national teams to deliver local and national change initiatives.

Project Officers will be expected to use digital systems and tools to enable them to provide effective support to their respective teams. As well as providing general secretariat and coordination for the change delivery teams the Project Officers will also be responsible for liaising with the Change Systems Project Officer who will oversee the Gateway Management System (GMS).

Team Role:
Working collaboratively in order to provide effective secretariat and support to all team colleagues. Provide, and also seek, opportunities to support the professional development of themselves and others where appropriate. To support in the delivery of change initiatives, as appropriate. To uphold civil service values and model principles of equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the team.

Stakeholder Engagement:
Engage, and build effective relationships, with key regional, or national stakeholders across prisons and probations. Maintain good communication to gather requirements, seek feedback, and provide change updates and milestones.

Ensuring compliance with the Gateway Management System (GMS) is a critical aspect of the role. The Project Officer will uphold the professional standards of their team by working in accordance to national expectations as defined in our service level agreement. They will ensure accuracy and completeness of project records and actions and monitor compliance with relevant policies and procedures. In addition they will work collaboratively with Change Systems Project Officers with regards to GMS and Project for the Web.

The Project Officer will support their teams in the application of best practices in change management. They will assist in the management of projects, supporting successful delivery and alignment with organisational goals. Contribution to task and finish groups, project meetings, and focus groups to drive project success.

The Project Officer will be responsible for pulling together performance reports for dissemination to the team and other relevant stakeholders. This will require collaborative working with Change Systems Project Officers. In addition, the Project Officers will be responsible for preparing slides and materials for any area Change Boards or similar meetings and also maintain action logs of meetings and chase attendees for outstanding actions.

They will be responsible for providing regular project updates to line managers, track the impact of changes based on performance data and they will identify and escalates issues where milestones are missed or progress is not being made.

Proactively identify risks, decisions, and opportunities, and develop maintain and update risk registers for change activity, ensuring all potential risks are documented and communicated effectively.

Apply continuous improvement and lean methodologies to identify system improvements and enhance project delivery. To actively seek ways to improve knowledge of operational change and its potential impacts and share insights with the team.

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone's circumstances.

Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review. For nationally advertised roles, the successful candidate(s) will be appointed to a MoJ office location, which may include their nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. This will be discussed and agreed on the completion of pre‑employment checks. Some of MoJ's terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform.

The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on "modernised" terms in their current post or onto "unmodernised" MoJ terms if they are on "unmodernised" terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week excluding breaks which are unpaid. HMPPS welcomes part‑time, flexible and job‑sharing working…