Swindon Council are looking for an Interim Highways Project Manager to join.

• Minimum £435 per day.
• Inside IR35.

Purpose:

Working as part of the Project & Programme Delivery Team, this role has lead responsibility for undertaking the Project Manager role on Council's key strategic and complex transport and highways projects, ensuring that each project delivers the predicted benefits on time and within budget, through established project management processes, generating exceptional value for the Council.

Manage a portfolio of bespoke projects each with a value of up to £30m, including but not limited to capital delivery, revenue grant projects and major bids. Managing SBC interface and response to major infrastructure projects delivered by other parties (e.g. statutory providers)

Assign and oversee elements of project work to a direct report(s), and the matrix management of specialists in specific technical projects.

Identify and suggest improvements to ways of working, to infrastructure and to processes in order to feedback on what works, what doesn't and what should be done in the future to ensure that Swindon delivers consistently excellent advice and services to the community.

Excellent internal and external communication skills will be required to provide advice and technical guidance within specific areas of specialism, managing streams of activities and using expertise in a specific technical area to deliver outputs, liaising with a number of stakeholders to deliver required outputs, including statutory bodies, key consultees, Elected Members and the public.

The role holder will be expected to translate technical and complex language into documentation (e.g. contracts, briefs, reports and drawings) that can be easily understood by a non-technical audience.

Accountabilities:

• Develop, prepare and manage project documentation for multi-disciplinary in-house and partner project teams, including the development of project briefs and business cases, project plans, forward planning strategic risk registers, issue logs and budget management tools.
• Ensure all project change control processes are initiated, agreed and implemented. Assess the financial operational and political impact of any changes to projects and propose solutions and mitigation.
• Dynamic management project risks via instigation of appropriate interventions and mitigations where achievement of project delivery is at risk.
• Ownership and accountability of the project programme to identify critical paths and resolve problems to ensure milestones are achieved.
• Identify, provide technical advice, manage and administer NEC3 / NEC4 contracts within the NEC suite of contracts to include Term Service, Professional Services and Engineering Construction.
• Prepare documentation for the procurement of goods, services and works using NEC3 / NEC4 Term Service, Professional Service and Engineering Construction Contracts.
• Procure contracts to include the advertising of contracts, management and coordination of the Council's Gateway process, responding to tender clarifications, post tender analysis of submitted documentation and contract award / appointment following the sealing of contract.
• Manage, and where needed, lead on Contract Management of the Principal Contractor and Principal Designer
• Supervise and guide a team of external technical specialists and / or oversee the work of external contractors, to ensure all technical project activity and on-going workloads are delivered effectively, safely, accurately, on time and within budget.
• Establish, monitor and report on project Key Performance Indictors (KPIs)
• Manage and co-ordinate projects based on established project management principles.
• Prepare, monitor and report project updates (written and verbal) including recommendations and decisions to project boards, the Cabinet Member and / or committees, as required.
• Act as a single point of contact for all stakeholders, including external agencies, concerning the progress of projects, and handling of communications upstream and downstream
• Manage and control significant service or project budgets and, in certain cases, take responsibility for developing income-generating services.
• Undertake post project analysis and sharing of lessons learned with wider department colleagues to ensure improvement across SBC and best practice.
• Keep abreast of activities happening across the wider department or Council, with an understanding of how the activities of this role will affect other areas.
• Build strong and positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders and colleagues, to deliver expert technical advice and guidance where necessary and appropriate.
• Represent the Council as subject matter experts with customers, colleagues and external agencies.
• Provide technical advice to ensure all projects are carried out in accordance with SBC, HSE and CDM 2015 health, safety and environmental regulations and procedures.
• Take part in formal communications and provide evidence-based advice and challenge across different levels of the business, including senior management and stakeholders, to influence behaviour and persuade them to think and act differently.