Project Manager

Moving systems to the cloud is rarely just a technology problem. Contracts expire at different times, suppliers have their own roadmaps, services have competing priorities, technical dependencies surface late and decisions in one area can hold up several others.

We’re looking for a Project Manager who can bring that complexity under control.

WHAT IS INVOLVED?
Digital Services is delivering a significant programme to reduce the Council’s reliance on legacy infrastructure and move suitable systems to modern SaaS, PaaS and supplier-hosted services. The work spans third-party applications, internally developed systems and wider infrastructure dependencies, so you won’t be managing a single implementation with a neat start and finish.

You’ll bring together technical teams, service owners, suppliers, Finance, Procurement, Information Governance and other colleagues to establish what needs to happen, in what order, by whom and by when. You’ll manage dependencies, risks, issues, budgets and decisions, and make sure problems are surfaced early enough for the right people to act on them.

Some migrations will be relatively straightforward. Others may involve procurement, contract changes, data migration, redesign, archive decisions or difficult choices about whether a system should be retained at all. You’ll help make those routes clear and keep work moving where responsibilities cross organisational boundaries.

WHAT WILL I NEED?
You will need to be educated to degree level or equivalent in related discipline and have experience of managing multiple complex projects and delivering significant organisational or technology change.

You’ll be comfortable taking responsibility for work where there are competing priorities, incomplete information and dependencies between different teams and organisations. You should be able to establish structure quickly, work out where delivery is genuinely blocked and keep people focused on the decisions and actions that will move things forward.

You’ll need strong project management skills, including planning, governance, risk and issue management, financial management, change management and benefits realisation.

You’ll also need strong communication and influencing skills. You’ll be working with senior managers, service teams, technical specialists and external suppliers, and will sometimes need to reconcile different priorities or challenge assumptions while maintaining productive working relationships.

We’re looking for someone who can take complex information, understand what matters and present it clearly. You should be comfortable moving between detailed delivery discussions and concise reporting or recommendations for senior colleagues.

Experience of delivering complex digital or ICT projects, including working with suppliers and procurement, would be advantageous. Experience of cloud migration, hosting transformation or similar technology modernisation would also be useful, although specialist cloud knowledge is not required.

Please refer to the attached Person Specification for the full criteria.

HOW TO APPLY
Please note, we do not accept CVs. Use the ‘Person Specification’ section of the form to clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential (and where possible, desirable) criteria. Applications that do not evidence the essential requirements will not be shortlisted.

https://www.northeastjobs.org.uk/job/Project_Manager/304046

✅ All applications must be made online via the North East Jobs portal.