Are you able to drive a portfolio of projects from inception through to successful closure?

Are you someone that gets things done?

Are you able to lead others to get things done?

Can you figure out what matters most amongst competing and conflicting demands?

We are looking for a Head of Project Delivery that will drive the necessary changes to the university’s technology. This means leading the implementation of the technology element UEL’s Digital First Transformation Programme (DFTP). DFTP is a multi-£M programme of work comprising over 19 major IT improvement projects ranging from replacement of student administration systems, finance, and HR to technology enabled learning systems and student-facing systems.

The programme has already achieved ambitions that many organisations strive for but have yet to achieve – for example a full migration of production services from our on-premise data centres to public cloud (Microsoft and AWS).

You will be vital member of the Senior Management Team. This role needs someone who can cut through the inertia typically inherent to large and complex organisations; one who is able to focus upon doing the right things at the right time, with the ability to identify and avoid engaging in low-value, high-effort activities. We need someone that can make the Transformation Programme transformative.

Key to this role is the ability to continuously assimilate the complexities of the multiple workstreams in order to lead your project managers to form and maintain an integrated, collegiate approach to delivery of the programme. In simple terms this means maintaining an appropriately detailed understanding of what is going on… and indeed that which is not, that should be!

A significant element of the role is about leadership, stakeholder engagement and governance. But that’s not the whole story: successfully driving the projects forward is made dramatically easier if you have an aptitude (and maybe even a passion) for STEM disciplines. You’ll need a readiness to accept that you’ll be the first to attempt some activities. You’ll need a willingness therefore to learn, innovate, overcome initial failures and the stamina to keep bouncing back until we get it right.

If any of this sounds exciting and you think you have the potential to bring value to the university, then we’d love to hear from you! If you think you already know how do all of this, then please don’t apply!

This is a home-based role, but there may be work on campus as required.

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