Job Description

About the Job.

Are you looking to return to work following a career break of 2 or more years? If you are an experienced professional looking to return to the workplace, this could be the perfect opportunity for you. To apply for this vacancy and join our Returners Programme, applicants must be returning from a career break of 2 or more years or have been freelancing or working in a home business, in that time.

We currently have a vacancy for an Assistant Project Manager within the Operations Portfolio Office. This role assists in the management of the Investment Decision Committee (IDC) process across Operations, including involvement in the Operations Capital Renewals Programme and Operations Designated Funds.

Our team sits in the National Operations Portfolio, Performance and Governance Group (OPOPG) within the Operations Planning & Performance Division. Our group supports the wider Operations Directorate to manage and report on our business-as-usual activity, to explore and adopt new initiatives, and to develop and deliver a 5-year programme of work activity in excess of 2bn per annum, including the development and delivery of the Operations Roads Investment Strategy (RIS3) case.

You will be required to work closely with managers and internal / external stakeholders to discuss their projects and to understand their vision, timescales, and outcomes, communicating effectively across our Programme. To be successful in this role, you will have to be a committed team member working across many parts of Operations and wider within the business.

• Provide flexible business support to ensure projects, programmes, portfolio and work streams deliver impact and value for money. This includes delivery to time, quality, cost, and are compliant with our governance frameworks and statutory accounting requirements.
• Support the management of project budget, schedule and risk. You will identify and evaluate emerging risks, issues, opportunities. dependencies and constraints associated with programmes and divisions, escalating where appropriate and developing solutions to overcome or capture them.
• Working with National Highways regional teams to ensure a full understanding and alignment of project objectives, strategies and within a wider asset management context.
• Developing and maintaining strong collaborative relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, to ensure full mutual understanding of the projects' strategic and delivery objectives, to report on and review project(s) performance, and to agree solutions that resolve complex issues.
• Supporting development of the future case for funding for the Operations Directorate, through the Roads Investment Strategy (RIS) case.
• You will be expected to work at pace within emerging programmes of work.

About you.

• Demonstrable experience of supporting programmes of work through development and / or delivery
• Proven ability to build and maintain successful relationships with key stakeholders
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and experience of working with data and modelling to spot errors
• Analytical skills to develop, analyse and provide performance insights
• Excellent attention to detail

About us.

Here at National Highways, we manage and improve England's motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys. Our priorities are safety, customers and delivery, and at the core of this, are our values of passion, integrity, safety, teamwork and ownership.

Operations is at the heart of keeping the strategic road network moving and ensuring our customers get the best possible experience when using our roads.

We address over 39,000 customer enquiries every month, plan and deliver all maintenance activities on the network, drive efficiencies and improvements across our systems and roads, and respond to incidents across 4,500 miles of motorways and major A-roads that we manage. All to make sure National Highways customers have safer, smoother, and more reliable journeys.

External candidates will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of the pay scale, while current employees will be appointed in accordance with our established pay policy.

We are committed to creating a diverse environment and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

About Us

Why you should join us

At National Highways we believe in a connected country. We are passionate about creating a culture where colleagues feel connected, included and enjoy greater wellbeing to achieve this. We're proud that as an organisation we are continually striving to do better and actively encourage and support our colleagues to do the same with their careers.

So, if you put safety first, take ownership of your work, show passion for what you do, work effectively in a team, and demonstrate integrity in how you do it - then you'll be a great fit for our organisation.

A connected and sustainable working approach has been adopted across National Highways. For some roles, this means being able to work in a hybrid way spending up to 60% of time working from a remote location such as home.

We offer many different ways to work flexibly and we're open to discuss part-time working, job shares, and flexible start and finish times.

Please wait until the interview stage before asking us about flexibility, and we will explore what is possible.

Our benefits package

• Our total reward package includes basic salary, the potential for a performance related bonus
• Contributory pension scheme with employer contribution of up to 10%
• Annual Leave starting at 26 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising by 1 day each year up to 31 days (plus Bank Holidays)
• Flexible hours and an approach driven by connected and sustainable working which includes hybrid working
• Life assurance of 4 times annual salary
• Health and wellbeing support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, available 24/7 365 days and network of mental health first aiders. Plus access to a wellbeing app to enhance your self-care 24/7, Occupational health service and flu vaccines
• A cycle to work scheme for the purchase of a bicycle and equipment for healthy, low carbon travel
• Significant investment in your career development, through learning and development, talent management, coaching, mentoring and on job experience

And we are

• Family friendly with enhanced maternity leave and pay, paternity leave (15 days), shared parental leave, adoption leave. Plus access to financial support for holiday play schemes and paid special leave (up to 5 days pa), eg for caring responsibilities
• Money friendly with access to a discounts platform including over 3000 discounts for supermarkets, eating out, leisure, holidays. Alongside a financial wellbeing programme
• Community friendly - offering paid leave to volunteer, 3 days basic/year

If you are successful, it is key to know all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory completion of our pre-employment checks which include:

• Right to work check
• 3 year employment history references
• DBS criminal record check
• Social media and adverse journalism check
• Driving licence check (if applicable)
• Fit to work questionnaire (for all), followed by a medical check (if applicable)
• Qualifications and/or professional membership check (if applicable)

And finally

We reserve the right to close before the advertisement expires.