Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager
Slough, Berkshire

Are you an experienced project manager with a background of managing client contracts and suppliers across a challenging and fast-paced portfolio of projects? Want to join an organisation whose mission is to help children and young people get the best education possible? If so, this is an incredible opportunity for an experienced, pragmatic project manager to make a positive, lasting impact with a leading charity.

As a Senior Project Manager, you’ll manage operations for a range of projects in relation to data collections, randomised control trials, assessment projects and surveys. This is not a research post - this role works with our researchers to operationalise research methodologies and collect the data our researchers require to answer research questions for clients.

A key part of your work will be to manage work within our operations team to ensure clients and our research manager’s projects deliver the data they need. This will include ensuring our data processing and quality control procedures are followed and updated where needed and ensuring projects meet the contractual requirements.

You’ll oversee a range of complex projects at any one time to include:

- Working out strategies to engage and retain schools in our activities, making it easy and enjoyable for them to take part
- Supporting schools involved in our randomised controlled trials and managing data collections throughout the project
- Organising online or paper surveys as part of research projects
- Ensuring the quality of all data collected and delivery to our analysis teams
- Organising coding and marking events
- Undertaking contract management of third party suppliers
- Writing proposals, cost and pitches for projects via competitive tendering
- Managing budgets and control costs
- Liaising with clients to understand their needs and ensure they are met

To be successful in this role, you’ll need:

- Large scale, complex operational project management experience
- The ability to assimilate information and translate complex requirements into administrative practicalities and forward plan resources and activities
- The ability to synthesize requirements into plans and ensure your project teams deliver
- Excellent MS Excel skills, to enjoy working with data and the ability to learn and utilise technology with ease
- UK research and supplier management experience
- A degree (or equivalent) which includes a numerical and/or technical element
- Line management experience
- Ideally, experience in the education sector and/or market research/university research sector

Why NFER?
NFER is an independent and highly respected charity with over a 70 year history of carrying out research within education. Our robust and innovative research, assessment, and other services are widely known and used. We have a reputation as an organisation that informs policy and practice, helping to ensure the best possible education for children and young people.

- Salary of £42,746 to £48,109 per annum
- Generous pension scheme
- Free parking
- 42 days’ holiday including bank holidays and discretionary days
- Excellent support for professional development
- Great work/life balance (35 hours worked per week)

Currently teams are working from home, however, this is an office-based role and we are open to talking about flexible working.

Located close to Windsor and Slough town centre, we offer a pleasant office environment surrounded by green space that’s just 15 minutes from London Paddington and an easy drive from the M4 and M40.

We’d love to hear from you if you’ve worked on research or data rich projects in a role such as Senior Project Manager, Survey Project Manager, Research Project Manager, Data Project Manager, or Project Analyst.

The closing date for applications is midnight on 29th November 2020.

NFER is a not-for-profit organisation and an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from all sections of the community.

So, if you are looking for a fresh, new challenge as a Senior Project Manager, apply via the button shown. This vacancy has been placed by Webrecruit on behalf of NFER.

Working hours: 35 hours per week