The Project

The VCS Data Sharing project is externally funded by the Local Digital Collaboration Unit in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The project is a collaboration with Camden Council who are undertaking a similar project. Central Bedfordshire are also working with an external facilitator for the project who is providing innovation coaching and working in a similar role with Camden Council.

The aim of the project is to identify ways in which the Council and their Voluntary and Community Sector partners can collaboratively have a bigger impact on low income in Central Bedfordshire through improved data sharing. Given this broad brief, the project has gone through a process of Discovery / problem definition and we have identified two opportunity areas around:

• Developing a Low Income Dashboard and Collaboration
• Improving customer referral pathways

The project will be one of the first to follow an agile methodology in the organisation and is seen as an opportunity to test new ways of working and approaches.

The Role

This is a joint role of Project Manager / Delivery Manager leading the work for the VCS Data Sharing Project in Central Bedfordshire. We are looking for a unique individual who will be able to both undertake delivery management and an element of business analysis for the project. They will lead the development of the two opportunities identified in collaboration with council colleagues and VCS partners.

Purpose of Job

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of the VCS Data Sharing Project; act as project / delivery manager for the VCS Data Sharing Project.
• Leading business analysis for products and services identified in the VCS Data Sharing Project, working in the open with the user at the centre of all you do, in multidisciplinary teams.
• Be a champion for agile delivery, including agile software development practice and modern digital technology and practice.

Main Duties

Product / delivery management

• Prepare a PID to position the data sharing project as a priority project to deliver the Councils Strategic Plan.
• Deliver digital services by being the delivery manager for multidisciplinary product teams. Take responsibility for agile practice in a team; coach other members; remove blockers; deliver a backlog of work in line with user need.
• Lead the delivery of backlogs of work from inception to first delivery and beyond; from scratch, build an evidenced backlog in line with user need; plan for releasable value cycles and milestones; judge when to move between product phases, seeking judgement from others too; plan and deliver product features in line with business need and operational considerations as well as user need.
• Lead team ceremonies across your teams, in line with good agile practice. Lead inspection of team practice; ensure a regular cadence of retrospective; constantly work to optimise flow.
• Coach your teams to improve their ways of working, to get more productive and effective. Encourage open conversation.
• Arrange and take part in user research regularly.

Manage external technology and delivery partners; work to get best value from our digital, data and technology partnerships