Principal Programme Officer

Good Growth

Good Growth is responsible for delivering and implementing the Mayor’s environment, transport and economic strategies and for the effective implementation of the London Plan. The Directorate is also responsible for regeneration (where the programme is not housing led), enterprise, growth, capital projects and design work.

About the team

Are you looking to join a team that’s all about improving infrastructure delivery, partnering with industry and local authorities to push for smarter ways of upgrading London’s infrastructure for the benefit of Londoners? Are you passionate about driving change through delivery of innovative projects and best practice? If so, the Mayor’s Infrastructure Coordination Service (ICS) wants to hear from you.

The ICS is an innovative, award-winning, multi-disciplinary team partnering with the infrastructure sector across a range of projects. The team you will join is high performing, benefiting from strong working relationships across industry and the wider sector through the Mayor’s London Infrastructure Group. Key outputs of the team in recent years have included leading on the pioneering London Infrastructure Mapping Application, regulatory reform, and local area energy/water planning.

About the role

A key focus of the ICS is deploying the dig-once approach to streetworks—where utilities, telecoms, boroughs and others reduce disruption across London by digging up the road, together. This is a major shift as we transition to making this way of working ‘Business As Usual,’ thereby improving air quality and well-being for Londoners.

Your focus will be on managing a portfolio of collaborative streetworks projects, making use of strong project management, organisational and communication skills to take collaborative streetworks projects from ‘start to finish’, and reporting on them to management, funders and stakeholders within industry. This is a critical delivery role within a fast-moving team, with high levels of external engagement, especially with utilities, contractors and highway authorities. The right candidate will be able to manage an evolving pipeline of projects, by laying out a plan, proactively engaging stakeholders, and overcoming delivery roadblocks with problem solving and sensitive, persuasive communication. Project reporting to internal and external stakeholders, ie communications, governance and record keeping are also critical components in the day-to-day delivery of the Streets programme.

The right candidate will be able to engage with technically complex issues, articulating concepts and solutions to a wide range of audiences. You will feel confident in taking responsibility for a set of projects and their outcomes. Although a technical background is not expected, an ideal candidate would have a degree or work experience related to infrastructure. The role would benefit from someone who proactively looks for opportunities to champion sustainability and better ways of working.

We welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds. The key in your application is to demonstrate how your experience and skills are relevant and/or transferrable to the position.

What your day will look like

-Leading on providing thinking on people, political sensitivities and process on collaborative streetworks projects, including overseeing external consultants and internal team members.

-Achieving high-quality solutions to challenges encountered with the Streets service’s collaborative streetworks pipeline by working with partners to problem solve sensitively - challenges will include relationship management across utilities and Highway Authorities, meeting and reporting on funder and Mayoral objectives, process efficiencies improvement across pipeline management and data tools, and resource management across internal delivery staff and collaboration specialists at utilities.

-Leading programme reporting to capture and develop best practice, communicating successes and new concepts to industry, recording case studies, and promoting the team’s work to influence industry beyond the timeframe of the current funding.

-Providing expert insight to the team into utilities’ business processes, constraints, and related topics.

-Championing innovation, setting an industry standard in terms of collaborative working within the Streets team, within the GLA, and with both utilities and Highway Authorities.

Skills, knowledge and experience

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

Experience of or knowledge of one or more of the following;
-Engineering (preference for civil)
-Project and programme management
-Governance and reporting
-Utilities and Capital delivery
-Urban design
-Healthy streets

Strong experience of new project development and innovation, including problem solving, planning and monitoring delivery against plans and budgets

Behavioural Competencies

Building and Managing Relationships

… is developing rapport and wo

Level 3 indicators of effective performance:

Actively engages partners and encourages others to build relationships that support GLA objectives
Understands and recognises the contributions that staff at all levels make to delivering priorities
Proactively manages partner relationships, preventing or resolving any conflict
Adapts style to work effectively with partners, building consensus, trust and respect
Delivers objectives by bringing together diverse stakeholders to work effectively in partnership

Problem solving

… is analyzing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Level 3 indicators of effective performance:

Clarifies ambiguous problems, questioning assumptions to reach a fuller understanding
Actively challenges the status quo to find new ways of doing things, looking for good practice
Seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives to help produce workable strategies to address complex issues
Initiates consultation on opportunities to improve work processes
Supports the organisation to implement innovative suggestions

Planning and Organising

… is thinking ahead; managing time, priorities and risk; and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard.

Level 3 indicators of effective performance:

Monitors allocation of resources, anticipating changing requirements that may impact work delivery
Ensures evaluation processes are in place to measure project benefits
Gains buy-in and commitment to project delivery from diverse stakeholders
Implements quality measures to ensure directorate output is of a high standard
Translates political vision into action plans and deliverables

How to apply

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

Up to date CV
Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria outlined above in the advert.

Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘CV and Cover Letters’ section’ of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.

Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g., “CV – applicant name - 012345)

As part of GLA’s continuing commitment to be an inclusive and equal opportunity employer we will be removing personal identifiable information from CVs and Personal Statements that could cause discrimination.

If you have questions about the role

If you have a question about the roles, please contact the hiring manager, Ananya Jaidev at Ananya.Jaidev@london.gov.uk

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, contact the glaopdcrecruitment@tfl.gov.uk who support the GLA with recruitment.

Assessment process

Once you have submitted an application, your details will be reviewed by a panel.

If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview.

The interviews will be held week commencing 1 September (date may be moved)

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.

We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share.

Please note we are a Disability Confident Employer so for candidates who wish to be considered under the scheme and meet the essential criteria, they will automatically be invited to interview. Please note, should you require any adjustments through the process, we will accommodate as much as possible. Please contact the recruitment team for further information if required.

Benefits

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

In addition to a good salary package, you will be paid every four weeks, providing frequent salary payments. We also offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

Additional Information

Please note, all candidates will need to confirm that the information provided in this application form is true and correct. Should a candidate deliberately give false information, including the use of AI software, they understand that this would disqualify them from consideration.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record (DBS) check but some roles may require additional security screening.

Find out which DBS check is right for your employee - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are a GLA employee applying for an internal fixed-term position, as an internal secondment opportunity, you must ensure you satisfy the following secondment policy criteria listed below before applying

On a permanent contract or a fixed term contract where the time left on the contract at the point at which you apply for secondment is longer than the secondment period;
successfully completed your probation period and are performing to the required standard for your current role; and
at least 18 months service with the GLA

If you do meet the criteria listed above, you will need to complete the Approval for secondment application form and gain line manager approval, before emailing the fully completed form to the Resourcing Assistant who is managing the vacancy. This form must be received by the closing date of the vacancy. Failure to provide this form will mean your application cannot be progressed.

If you are unable to satisfy all of the criteria, unfortunately, you are not eligible to apply for this vacancy as an internal secondment. For further information, please see Secondment Policy and Procedure.

IMPORTANT: If you are a current GLA employee on a fixed-term contract, which is due to end BEFORE the end date of this vacancy, you DO NOT NEED to complete the Approval for secondment application form as it is not a secondment.

If you are successful in securing this secondment opportunity, you will need to be released from your existing role, so please ensure that you make your line manager aware of your application

More Support

If you have a disability which makes submitting an online application form difficult, please contact resourcingteam@london.gov.uk.

The GLA is proud to be a Level 2: Disability Confident employer. We are committed to becoming a more inclusive and accessible organisation, and creating a truly inclusive and accessible workplace and culture for our disabled staff. We have named Disability Equality as a key corporate priority within our EDI Strategy. We welcome and encourage applications from disabled applicants. Should you wish to opt into the scheme, please let us know during your application.