Working With Us
The founder and sponsor of the Harris Federation, Lord Harris of Peckham, opened our first school in 1990. We have, over the past thirty years, implemented ideas and initiatives that have transformed the opportunities of pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris academies are widely recognised as a force for social mobility. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.
We now have over 50 schools educating more than 40,000 young people across London and Essex, and employ over 5,000 staff across our academies and head office. With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.
As a provider of employment and education, we value the diversity of our staff and students, and all our staff are equally valued and respected. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment for our students and staff.
Our work will impact many generations to come, and our staff come from all backgrounds and walks of life, coming together to inspire young minds. We promote an inclusive culture that embraces the valuable and enriching contribution that all of our community make. We continue to be proactive in uplifting and supporting all voices at Harris.
To discover more about our culture, ethos and what it is like to work here, visit the Why Work For Us page.
Main Areas of Responsibility
Your responsibilites will include:
- The creation and delivery of programmes of works managed by the IT teams across an organisation of c.45,000 end users across over 50+ sites
- Working with the Head of IT Projects and leadership team to develop the yearly programme plan and agreed projects
- Project management of the IT lifecycle refresh across our academies in partnership with external delivery partners, overseeing a multi-year technology modernisation across our academies
- Managing programme budgets and associated project budgets in the millions of pounds
- Liaison with organisational stakeholders to agree user need, requirements, timescales, budgets and specifications
- Working closely with Directors and Assistant Directors of education to deliver successful outcomes
- Working with internal and external teams including the Estates, Finance, Procurement and building contractors
- Resource management across the programmes, balancing needs of business as usual versus change and transformation projects
- Ensuring effective change management takes place to deliver user centred services
- Ensuring projects are effectively transitioned to a live state
- Preparing requests for proposals and invitation to tenders, conducting all follow activities to ensure procurement policies are followed
- Planning and overseeing the preparation and dissemination of programme and project communications.
- Role modeling behaviours for the wider directorate, living and breathing the team's vision and missions
- Deputising for the Head of IT Projects as required
- Preparing reports for IT User Group, IT Project Board, audit committees and wider federation boards or committees and representing the directorate in these meetings
- Representing the directorate in cross federation activities
What We are Looking For
We would like to hear from you if you have:
- Degree level qualification
- Prince2 qualification, APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) or Agile Practitioner qualification
- At least five years' experience of managing IT infrastructure and software projects of various scope and scale up to millions of pounds of spend, ideally within the education sector
- Confidence in dealing and communicating with all levels of stakeholders
- The ability to apply problem solving techniques and get results
- The ability to troubleshoot, investigate and resolve technical issues
- The ability to react quickly and effectively to issues and opportunities
- The ability to self-manage, organise, and prioritise tasks and work under pressure during troubleshooting and problem-solving
- Strong written and verbal communications skills
- Strong personal drive and willingness to get things done
- Self-motivation and commitment to delivery on time and to a high quality
- Demonstrable experience of balancing priorities and successful delivery of objectives, in a fast paced, constantly changing environment
- The ability to react quickly and effectively to issues, risks and opportunities
- The ability to self-manage, organise, and prioritise tasks and work under pressure in a time critical setting
For a full job description and person specification, please download the Job Pack.
Applying for this Position
If you would like to discuss the opportunity further, or if you have any questions, please contact us via email to arrange a conversation.
Before applying please ensure you download the job pack from our careers website, this will help with completing your application. Please note that we only accept applications submitted online before the closing date.
When applying, you will have the option to import your CV or use a LinkedIn profile which will auto populate the online application.
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