Project Support Officer

Join us as a Project Planner with the Home Office (Various Locations, 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.

Typical Role Responsibilities:

• Delivery & Leadership – Lead on planning activity and work with the project support delivery of the business case benefits and outcomes. Support capability building and the use of best practice in planning and reporting. Provide expert advice for team members and project community
• Project Planning – Challenge and test project assumptions to ensure plans are realistic and achievable. Development of breakdown structures, quality criteria, product descriptions and monitoring strategy. Support the Project Manager to identify options to optimise delivery through resources smoothing, resource levelling and rescheduling of activities
• Resources – Manage the planning team whilst identifying, developing and managing the deployment of planning resources. Identify and plan for wider resource requirements for the project
• Stakeholder Management – Ensure that stakeholder responsibilities and needs are understood and addressed in reporting arrangements. Develops peer networks across the department
• Project Performance & Controls – Monitor and analyse information, reporting progress, slippage and highlighting areas of risk and opportunity
• Guidance & Support – Provide expert advice on planning processes throughout the lifecycle of the project

Additional Specification & Criteria required:

Person Specification:

• 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

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