We are looking for a highly motivated, well-organised and enthusiastic Senior Project Manager to join us at the Thames Estuary Partnership (TEP) to review and refresh the Joint Thames Strategies (JTS) in collaboration with our Partner network and stakeholders across the tidal Thames. The Joint Thames Strategies represents the first time that environmental and town planning policy for the Thames Estuary will be coordinated from Surrey to the sea.
The purpose of this exciting and timely role is to Project Manage TEP’s objectives within the Joint Thames Strategies review and refresh, ensuring alignment with the Environment Agency’s Thames Estuary 2100 flood risk policies. There are currently three JTS which will be reviewed and refreshed through a collaborative, partnership approach. TEP will lead on the review of one JTS, Thames Strategy East, and scope the development of a further two where none currently exist.
Each JTS are Supplementary Planning Guidance documents within The London Plan. They were established to support and enable a coordinated approach to planning along and across the river, recognising that in characteristic stretches of the tidal Thames, neighbouring Boroughs often share similar challenges and opportunities.
Once JTS are in place and adopted, councils can use them to ensure new development delivers Thames Estuary 2100 outcomes, such as defence raising and riverside improvements and wider benefits such as improving the public realm and enhancing the environment. By investing in the refresh of the three existing JTS now, the cost of flood defence and climate adaptation works can be minimised, ensuring healthy and climate resilient riverside communities and environments into the future, as well as capturing the unique character of local areas.
The project is being led by The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Council, and delivered in partnership with the three JTS organisations, Thames Landscape Strategy - Weybridge to Kew; Thames Strategy - Kew to Chelsea; and Thames Strategy East – Tower Bridge to Gravesend. The project will also be delivered in collaboration with the City of London to help share learning and support Central Boroughs to develop a JTS in this area. Scoping of a similar approach will also take place below Gravesend, across Essex and Kent to the tidal limit at Shoeburyness and Sheerness.
Main Responsibilities and Accountabilities
Project Planning and Initiation
- Lead on project initiation and planning tasks, co-developing the Project Initiation Documents and key performance indicators for project outcomes and benefits, outputs, risk, cost, and timelines.
- Working within the TEP MS Project system with the JTS Project and TEP Team.
Stakeholder Engagement and Management
- Engage, manage, and develop relationships with partners/stakeholders/clients across the public, private, and third sectors to enable participatory project planning and execution.
Project Management
- Ensure delivery of the project strategy, deliverables, and detailed milestones, using a coherent project management framework, ensuring that outcomes are delivered on time and to budget.
- Ensure cross-pollination and collaboration across TEP projects to create efficiencies and enable contribution to an integrated programme of work.
- Contribute to the evolution and improvement of TEP’s Project Management framework and systems.
Monitoring, controlling, and evaluation
- Monitor, control, and evaluate progress against agreed performance targets, measuring the effectiveness of interventions, identifying, and managing risk, assumptions, issues, and dependencies.
- Lead on reporting to the Project Board, key stakeholders, funders and the TEP Board of Trustees.
Contract Management
- Lead on the procurement process, and manage relationships and work with sub-contractors, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery of outputs.
Financial Management
- Work with the Finance Manager for effective budgeting, monitoring and financial performance, ensuring funding is spent on time and as agreed with the funder and partners.
- Assist in securing and claiming grants and external funding where required.
Line Management of staff
- Manage the project staff, including staff and volunteer line management, ensuring the delivery of high-quality work and job satisfaction.
- Support other Project Mangers whose projects align and interconnect with the JTS Refresh Project
Communication
- Work with the TEP Communications Officer to create a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan.
- Lead on/contribute to the project’s publicity and marketing campaigns.
- Represent the project and TEP at meetings, conferences, and events.
- Work closely with other TEP staff and support them in their roles and projects as necessary.
Business Development
- Work closely with Senior and Executive staff to support and input into TEP business development and day-to-day operations, as necessary.
Best practice and Integrity
- Ensure professional best practice and compliance with relevant regulations, systems, and procedures.
Person Specifications: Knowledge, Skills, and Qualifications
Essential:
- Educated to a degree level or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline
- Have an understanding of environmental planning and management policies and town planning policy and processes in the UK
- A minimum of five years demonstrable experience in project management of complex, large scale projects
- Highly developed project management skills, and a good understanding of project management lifecycles, processes, practices, and governance requirements
- Experience of financial management, procuring, managing commercial and contractual relationships, and financial processes, including a proven track record of managing budgets to control costs
- Excellent leadership skills, including the ability to manage and motivate project teams, coach, and mentor others
- Exceptional interpersonal skills, able to work with colleagues and project partners across dispersed geographical locations
- Exemplary customer service skills, and the ability to build and maintain professional relationships
- A highly organised self-starter with good attention to detail
- Excellent problem solving and influencing skills, able to work confidently with senior leaders
- Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills including public presentation, facilitation, and training experience
- Self-reliant IT skills, in particular Microsoft Office programmes and competent in MS Project
- A willingness to learn about, engage with and support our efforts to become a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organisation
- An enthusiastic, flexible, and positive approach
Desirable:
- A minimum of five years demonstrable experience combining environmental, social, and economic disciplines
- Hold or be working towards a recognised Project Management Qualification and demonstrate evidence of ongoing Continual Professional Development in your career
- Ability to successfully deliver multiple projects to performance targets of scope, quality, outcomes, cost, time, and risk
- Knowledge of the challenges associated with constantly changing horizons
- Experience of managing complex relationships and developing participatory and cooperative practises with diverse partners/stakeholders/clients
- Knowledge and experience of working on urban or rural estuarine and/or coastal management
- Knowledge of climate and flood risk adaptation in tidal and riverside/coastal environments
- Experience of working with local government and public sector organisations, understanding their processes, capacity constraints and priorities
Benefits
TEP is a dynamic organisation covering a wide range of themes that interact with, influence and challenge the Thames and her communities. Our aim is to enable an integrated approach to management and development of the Thames between Chelsea Bridge to the tidal limit at Shoeburyness, Essex and Sheerness, Kent. Our projects are co-designed with partners to meet find solutions to challenges voiced by our stakeholders and based on environmental, social and economic drivers in combination. This may be to fill a gap knowledge or co-create and pilot innovative solutions to process and practice. We have 5000 stakeholders in our network and work with and across all sectors. We create engaging events such as webinars, conferences, walks and talks, boat trips and communications including a successful podcast with international reach. We are part of a national network of Coastal and Estuary Partnerships via the Coastal Partnerships Network which is currently led by TEP's Technical Director.
Due to the wide remit of our work, we are often invited to interesting places that are not publicly accessible such as trips into the Tideway Tunnel or conferences at Fishmonger's Hall. Our team is highly skilled, creative and dedicated. We work collaboratively to ensure cross-pollination of our projects and core work. TEP has been undergoing a refresh of our governance, Strategy and Business Model so it is an exciting time to join the team. By joining the team, you have a chance to be an active and collaborative team member and shape TEP's programme of work and communications and influence the future of the Thames itself.
TEP is registered charity hosted by University College London and as such there are a range of benefits we enjoy as University Associate staff. Some of these include a central London office near Russell Square and Euston, access to scientific journals online, access to numerous events and lectures of interest across disciplines, the potential to input into or deliver work relevant lectures at post graduate level and take part in active research projects, annual leave days (UCL closure days over Easter and Christmas) in addition to 28 days of annual leave plus bank holidays. We enjoy hybrid working with 2-3 days in the office and the rest of the week working from home which can be agreed to fit with our collective work programme and your lifestyle.