Senior Project Planner

Join us as a Senior Project Planner in Croydon (Full-time, Permanent)

***If you have the appetite to work on issues that directly impact the public and have the drive and determination to play a critical role in enabling change within this exciting role, then read on!***

About Capita

At Capita, we support clients across a range of sectors, including local Government, central Government, education, transport, health, life and pensions, insurance and other private sector organisations. We support with expertise applied by the talent across our business in combination with technology, insight and analytics to keep our clients ahead of change, sharper than competitors and more efficient than ever – and we always need new talent to help us achieve our goals.

We are currently recruiting for interesting and exciting positions at the Home Office. The Home Office keeps the UK secure and prosperous; protects its citizens, residents and visitors and their property; and upholds rights, liberties and the rule of law. We lead on immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime and fire policy, counter-terrorism and work to ensure visible, responsive and accountable policing in the UK.

Why Join Home Office?

This role is an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and innovative person to be at the forefront of change in one of the great Departments of State. We are delivering significant transformation in order to continue keeping our citizens safe and our country secure. New technology and the fast evolving nature of the threats we face mean we must adapt, and adapt fast, and with the UK leaving the EU, the need for change is greater than ever.

Project Planners work with the project/programme teams, other planners and stakeholders, overseeing plans and schedules, challenging and testing project assumptions to ensure that plans and estimates that underpin them are realistic and achievable as the project/programme proceeds.

They play a key role in delivering advice and guidance to the project/programme leadership and their teams on how to best deliver the required outputs, products and activities within the scope of the plan within the Home Office Transformation Portfolio. It is large, complex and challenging, encompassing over 20 major and/or mission critical projects and programmes plus four business portfolios of change. There is a strong focus on agile, modular project delivery, supported by enterprise-wide portfolio management and you could find yourself working on a project for the UK’s critical national infrastructure through to a complex technology enabled business change programme

The Role of a Project Planner

Your role as Project Planner will be to work with stakeholders to ensure all aspects of the project are defined. You will provide clarity on key milestones to define what, when and how activities will be organised to ensure the outcomes of a project can be achieved, with the resources available.

You will lead on all aspects of project planning, which will include the development, updating and monitoring of plans and scheduling. You will identify tasks, activities, interdependencies and outputs for the project and work team to track and monitor progress against the plan throughout the life of the project.

You will have, or show potential for;

An awareness of governance and frameworks & methodologies, a working knowledge of resource management, budgeting & cost management, risk & issue management, change control and knowledge management a practitioner level of experience of planning and scheduling.

Typical Role Responsibilities:

• Delivery & Leadership – Provide visible and effective leadership, lead the planning team and work with the project manager to deliver the business case benefits and outcomes. Develop clear vision and standards and champion the use of best practice project planning standards, tools and processes. Build strong networks both internally and externally
• Project Planning – Apply advanced knowledge in the discipline of planning for the analysis and successful resolution of risks and issues and identification of opportunities
• Resources – Identify future capacity and capability needs of the project planning function and puts in place strategies to meet them
• Stakeholder Management – Build and maintain external networks to access technical and professional best practice
• Project Performance & Controls – Analyse performance data, looking at trends to identify areas for improvement and collaboration, and selecting appropriate methods and tools to resolve them
• Guidance & Support – Provide specialist advice and support to ensure successful delivery of projects. Provide guidance and advice to the Project Manager during project initiation on selection of planning approach, tools, processes and proportionality. Identify and lead the introduction of best practice planning processes, tools and templates, using industry standard best practice as a benchmark. Build planning capability

Additional Specification & Criteria required:

Person Specification:

• A working knowledge of visible leadership
• Conflict resolution
• Inspiring others
• Resilience
• Innovation and culture change
• A practitioner level of experience of credible action
• Working with ambiguity
• Collaboration and influencing

• Strong communication skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Aptitude for analysis

Essential Criteria:

• PRINCE2 Practitioner
• Agile Project Management Practitioner
• APM Project Management Qualification
• APM Practitioner Qualification
• APM Registered Project Professional
• Project Leadership Programme

We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the very best of luck with your application.

Please note successful applicants will be expected to go through vetting and Security Clearance.