74874 - Design & Delivery Lead - BADD - ONEHMPPS

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Role: Design and Delivery Lead HMPPS Band 9 in the Business Applications Design and Delivery workstream

The Business Applications Design & Delivery team will be responsible for enabling the design and implementation of new digital services across all design areas in the Probation Reform Programme and be the point of contact for changes to current authority systems and co-ordinate business activity required.

A key function of the team will be engaging operational staff and maximising impact. This role will focus on effective change management skills to create buy in and land new digital services effectively and positively. You will work closely with digital and operational colleagues and PRP workstream leads to deliver on strategic priorities and ensure our design and delivery of digital services are engaging, innovative, inspiring, impactful and encourage new ways of working.

The job holder will be required to undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

• Build and maintain successful stakeholder relationships with a range of customers at all levels and across boundaries, through consistent, honest and open dialogue. Including supporting decision making, managing stakeholder expectations, and persuading and influencing others.
• Take an active role in driving the digital strategy to embed a continuous improvement culture by ensuring there is ongoing evaluation and gathering of user feedback / experiences.
• Exercise discretion in managing areas of work, respond to changing requirements and managing performance to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time.
• Assist in delivery plans and execution across all our applications, to ensure delivery to time, cost and quality standards and act upon evaluation recommendations.
• Identify best practice and seek ways to share this and incorporate in digital design.
• Champion the development of business applications to inspire and empower individuals delivering Probation Services.
• Effective collaboration and engagement with a range of stakeholders including working closely with digital colleagues to deliver on strategic priorities and ensure our design and delivery of digital services are in line with the Target Operating Model.
• Have an understanding and recognition of the varied roles and responsibilities across the Probation Service and how business applications are used to support those roles.
• Be involved in the development and delivery of robust and measurable organisation wide strategies and plans that deliver impact and positive transformational change.
• Work on their own initiative, deliver through others and ensure that stakeholders are kept informed of risks and issues.
• Work with professional procurement and commercial colleagues to ensure all procurement and contracting activities are carried out on time and deliver effective contracts that support operations but also deliver value for money.

Overview of the job    

The Project Lead is responsible for developing and influencing the strategic direction for the key project area, alongside the initiation, leadership and implementation of the project plan and key milestones. This is a strategic role that will involve influencing internal and external stakeholders to secure buy in to the project and ensure ambitions and benefits are realised. The Project Lead will be establishing, managing and implementing a range of key deliverables.  The post holder will need to work flexibly to adapt to the changing landscape whilst ensuring the project remains a high priority across the organisation, despite competing demands. The Project Lead will be responsible and accountable for the effective delivery of the project, task managing and holding regular checkpoint meetings with multiple workstream leads. The Project Lead will be contributing to effective delivery across the programme due to the range of dependencies on structures and policies.

The need to ensure the rapid pace of change is maintained means the Project lead needs to be innovative and flexible in the way he/she provides project leadership and management. The role needs to ensure that all processes are lean, fit for purpose and applied pragmatically ensuring that systems provide a balance between facilitating decision making and applying suitable governance arrangements.

This role requires an experienced Project lead who has managed high profile, sensitive and mission critical Projects for a minimum of five years.

The post holder will have a practitioner level understanding of applying Managing Successful Projects (MSP) and PRINCE2 principles as well as a working knowledge of Management of Risk (MoR).

Summary    

Responsible for the development, implementation and management of appropriate governance structures and reporting arrangements to ensure that the Project is de- risked and delivers its commitments within time, cost and quality.

The Project Lead works with senior stakeholders from within HMPPS and MoJ to design, agree and operate suitable governance arrangements. The Project Lead is responsible for ensuring that the project undertakes suitable external scrutiny at key points.

The Project lead leads a small team to deliver effective management and specialist support to facilitate the smooth running of the project.

The Project lead has responsibility for the co-ordination of the key work streams in the project covering, specification drafting, development of tender documentation, coordination and management of data collection of required services and TUPE information, liaison with HR on staffing and contract management issues, overseeing Project communications with staff and unions, overseeing the work of HMPPS finance in relation to the project.

This is a specialist role and the post holder has responsibility for, and must be able to develop, define and oversee the running of the activities listed below even though many will be delegated to members of the team with the particular expertise to deliver the required activity.
 
Responsibilities, Activities and Duties    

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

•    To be responsible for the overall definition and conduct of the project.
•    Lead the creation of the Outline Business Case (OBC) to ensure that business options, savings/costs, the configuration of services, method of service delivery and implementation timescales are fully defined.
•    Personally manage the senior project stakeholders at director and deputy director level to ensure risks are mitigated and plans are integrated and on track.
•    Work with a broad range of stakeholders to define and establish appropriate governance arrangements for the Project so that decisions are made by the right people at the right level and are auditable. Review and revise as appropriate as the project progresses.
•    Lead on the definition, implementation and management of appropriate project delivery arrangements providing an effective balance between control and support.
•    Prepare and present reports to Project Board and other Project/PUC Programme meetings. Produce the key reports such as Project Update Reports and Project Finance reports, the content of which is derived from the input of others such as work stream leads and self. These reports and any supplemental information required form the basis of regular reports to NOMC, MoJ Transforming Justice Committee and Cabinet Office Major Projects Authority (MPA).
•    Working with professional procurement and commercial colleagues to ensure all procurement and contracting activities are carried out on time and deliver effective contracts that support operations but also deliver value for money.
•    Provide strong leadership skills.
•    Oversee the definition and initiation stages of the Project and the specific project objectives including assurance and approval arrangements underpinning benefits realisation.
•    Ensure that the project has a schedule of formal Project Board and Checkpoint meetings with effective secretariat facilities provided. In addition, organise, chair, facilitate and support any stakeholder and working group meetings as well as ad-hoc meetings and workshops.
•    Provide timely contributions to responses to Parliamentary and Ministerial questions relating to the project.
•    Manage Project resources and prioritise work within delegated limits to deliver the necessary outputs.
•    Manage the acquisition of resources for the project.
•    Escalate issues to the Programme Board and other governance bodies where these are outside own remit to resolve or where there are conflicting issues or matters which could affect delivery of the project.
•    Ensure stakeholders are kept informed routinely and at key milestones as appropriate. Manage the development and implementation of stakeholder strategy and management plans. Ensure communication plans and tools deal with the management of the difficult and sensitive messages to Staff (unions re: competition and in/out of scope arrangements).
•    Ensure action owners are reminded of outstanding actions from Boards / sub-committees / working groups.
•    Develop and implement appropriate terms of reference for formal meetings (e.g. Project Board, Checkpoint) and advice on the function of these meetings and the appropriateness of any requested agenda items. Ensure the smooth running of the meetings through negotiating with those intending to submit items on the appropriateness of the agenda item and the most appropriate date/time for submission.
•    Oversee appropriate archiving and retrieval arrangements for Project Board and papers, agendas and minutes.
•    Oversee planning with key work stream representatives and suppliers in relation to the activities required to be delivered by the project to produce a detailed and integrated work plan for the overall project.
•    Identify and monitor the critical path, reporting on delivery against agreed milestones and the implications of any changes.  Escalate forecast slippage
 
    beyond agreed tolerances and propose remedial action in response, amending the project plan as appropriate. Discuss the viability of contingency plans with work stream leads and the SRO.
•    Responsible for ensuring the effective coordination of input to and maintenance and management of risks and issues logs for the project, ensuring risks and issues are fully articulated and evaluated and have an identified responsible owner; escalate those that cannot be managed or contained within the Project.
•    Ensures changes to timelines, costs or outputs are fully assessed before they are applied.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Behaviours    

•    Managing a Quality Service
•    Delivering at Pace
•    Leadership
•    Communicating and Influencing
•    Working Together
•    Changing and Improving

Ability  

 •    Working knowledge of business case development and approval.
•    Excellent interpersonal skills and experience of building, influencing and maintaining strategic partnerships with other government departments, agencies, suppliers and other senior level stakeholders.
•    Excellent written communication skills to produce comprehensive reports and briefings for Directors within HMPPS and MoJ.
•    Excellent understanding of MS Office products and particularly in the use of MS Word, MS Excel and MS Project.

Experience    

•    Significant experience of managing large and complex change projects and/ or programmes.
•    Experience of operating at senior level providing briefing and reporting arrangements in a variety of roles across a number of projects/programmes.
•    Comprehensive knowledge and hands on experience of project delivery techniques and management of major projects or programmes.
•    Experience of building and managing a multi-functional team and getting the most out of it in a senior, dynamic and complex environment.
•    Excellent written communication skills to produce comprehensive reports and briefings for Directors within HMPPS and MoJ.

Technical  

 •    Recognised project delivery qualifications, ISEB accreditation, Practitioner or Advanced Practitioner in MSP, Prince2, MoR.