Didcot Garden Town Project Officer
Salary and grade: Grade 6 - £42,576 up to a maximum of £48,530 per year.
Contract Type: Fixed term, 16 months up until March 2026
Hours per week: 37 hours per week
Location: The designated office base is Abbey House, Abingdon. The councils operate in a truly flexible, and hybrid way where the focus is on outcomes not where you work.
Closing Date: 07/10/2024
About the role and what we're looking for
- Our Garden Communities teams work across South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils and sits within the Community Wellbeing service. The Garden Communities teams collaborate on delivery of programmes in all three garden communities in South and Vale: Berinsfield Garden Village, Dalton Barracks Garden Village and Didcot Garden Town (DGT).
- The role will support transitioning the Garden Communities programme from strategic planning to project implementation. This work contributes to meeting our committed targets of delivering 15,000 new homes and 20,000 new jobs complemented by the correct infrastructure in Didcot alone. A further 1,700 in Berinsfield and 3,950 in Dalton Barracks.
- The Didcot Garden Town Project Officer will support the Didcot Garden Town team to help deliver a wide range of projects in the Didcot Garden Town Delivery Plan.
- Our work is collaborative in nature and requires working closely with officers on other work streams and in other agencies. Work will include administrative duties to support the open and transparent management of projects in accordance with corporate protocols for example in the procurement and management of outside contractors to implement projects.
- The work of the team is multi-disciplinary and covers a variety of projects including active travel and wayfinding, advancing the green agenda, the built environment, placemaking, public art, community facilities, community development and stewardship.
- The team will lead the delivery of the Garden Communities working closely with the relevant Board's and Steering Groups. The team will routinely engage with the community and a variety of public and private stakeholders.
About you
Your essential skills, knowledge and experience
- Experience and skills in project management or project work (minimum of two years)
- Supporting reporting to an advisory board or committee setting.
- Planning or managing public events
- Proven experience in supporting various projects, preferably within a multidisciplinary team (minimum of two years).
- Experience in engaging and managing relationships with various stakeholders, including community groups, government agencies, and contractors.
- Experience in providing comprehensive administrative support, including preparing reports, managing documentation, and coordinating meetings and meeting minutes.
- Experience in planning and coordinating public or board meetings, workshops, or community events.
- Experience with supporting community engagement or public consultation related to projects.
- Experience in gathering and analysing data to inform project decisions and evaluate project outcomes.
Your essential qualifications
- educated to degree level or an equivalent level of experience.
- full and current driving licence
If you have the following experience, knowledge or qualifications – it's a bonus!
- In-depth knowledge and experience of one or more of the following technical areas: active travel, biodiversity, landscaping, environment, planning, health and wellbeing, placemaking, development and regeneration (Desirable)
- local government experience and political awareness preferred (Desirable)
About us
Our vision and values are important to the councils, and we expect you to support them and embed them in the way we work.
The benefits we offer
- A basic 25 days annual leave per annum, rising to 30 days after five years. You also have all the bank holidays to look forward to and time off between Christmas and New Year.
- Flexible working and annualised hours – a flexible approach to work that our employees love!
- Salary pay awards – most jobs give scope for a pay increase after six months or the following April (depending on your start date) and we also review salaries each April.
- A generous career average pension scheme which includes life insurance of three times your salary
- The opportunity to purchase a bike through Cyclescheme (cheaper than directly through a store) so that you can cycle to work!
- Various schemes to keep you healthy (reduced gym membership, free swims, free eye tests for DSE users and more)
- We give you two days per year to volunteer within the local community.
- A range of resources, support, and activities to help you maintain your wellbeing including a monthly wellbeing hour in addition to annualised hours (the ability to work flexibly as long as, over the course of the year, you complete your contracted hours) and annual leave.
We look forward to hearing from you.
You may also have experience in the following: Administration Assistant, Administrator, Admin Support, Customer Service, Project Coordinator, Project Management, Project Admin, Project Support Coordinator etc.
REF-216 957