Agri Food Chain Project Support-Higher Executive Officer

130668

£29,179 - £35,888

National: £29,179 - £32,160, London: £32,557 - £35,888

Permanent

DEFRA - Food Farming and Biosecurity (FFaB)

Administration / Corporate Support
Business Management and Improvement
Planning
Project Delivery
Risk Management

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

2

Bristol, London, York

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Agri-Food Chain (AFC) Directorate, Defra.

The AFC Directorate is the cross-Government lead on a diverse and exciting range of Agri-Food policy, working closely with industry and building links across the supply chain, and covering impacts felt by the Covid19 pandemic, the end of the EU Exit Transition Period and other agriculture and food related strategic priorities such Gene Editing, the National Food Strategy and the Government’s Obesity Plan.

The roles may be based in any part of AFC but more generally support the work of the Programme Management Office; which provides confidence and assurance to the AFC Directors and the Food, Farming and Biosecurity Director General that each project or priority strategic activity has a planned and achievable route to delivery, any blockers are escalated and remedial actions undertaken. The PMO provides appropriate support to the AFC Policy teams and Cross Cutting functions to ensure appropriate and proportionate Project & Programme Management controls are used.

Some of your day-to-day activities will include, but are not limited to, taking responsibility and being accountable for the projects/work areas you lead. There will also be a requirement to be flexible as priorities dictate:

• Working in partnership to maintain AFC Programme PPM products eg Risks, Issues and Dependencies ensuring appropriate completion across the AFC Portfolio, spotting any common problems and proposing resolution or escalation.
• Ensure systems to enable effective planning, scheduling, financial and risk management are maintained.
• Support AFC governance and assurance, enabling effective management and decision-making; by ensuring timely, consistent and accurate data collection, analysis and reporting on progress and delivery confidence.
• To work proactively and support the completion of regular reports and commissions.
• Monitor, analyse and prepare project performance reports providing timely insights and information to inform decision making.
• To work in partnership and share knowledge, to support the confidence and assurance assessment of AFC Portfolio delivery.
• To keep up to date with emerging steers on post EU Exit priorities and Covid19 road map impacts.
• Manage professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. Act as the focal point for responses to requests for information and prepare correspondence and briefings accordingly.
• Manage project files using robust version control.
• Organise key meetings, events and provide secretariat support.
• Ensure that individual and organisational learning and talent development opportunities are fully exploited in order to enhance organisational capability.

Responsibilities

We welcome applications from colleagues who can demonstrate:

• Project Delivery experience, either supporting a complex Project or Programme or in a Programme Management Office.
• A good working knowledge of the core PPM products, including planning, RAID, reporting and governance.
• An ability to deliver at pace to urgent deadlines.
• Good experience of working in partnership, across teams and with internal Defra stakeholders to deliver timely, quality products and/or services.
• A high degree of personal resilience, along with the enthusiasm and commitment to deliver in a challenging, high profile project delivery environment.

You will also be able to demonstrate the following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace. This is a busy role requiring fast work to respond to multiple short notice commissions. Ensuring everyone in the team, and the AFC Policy teams/cross cutting teams are clear on their role and supported to produce timely, good quality and accurate material.
• Communicating and Influencing: This includes working with AFC Policy teams and other internal Defra teams to ensure timely, accurate and proportionate AFC delivery confidence and assurance assessments

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace