Project Manager   

Full time / Part time   

Salary:  £44,297- £49,813pa, with potential for further progression to £56,082pa with our pay progression scheme.   

Location: Manchester   

Contracted to our Manchester office. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.     

Why work for the ICO?   

• Pay progression scheme.  

• Hybrid and flexible working options.    

• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.   

• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).   

• Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).   

• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.   

• Health Cash Plan.   

• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.   

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .   

Job summary  

We are looking for adaptable Project Managers to lead high-impact digital, regulatory, operational, transformation and service improvement projects. Working within a strategic priority team, you will turn objectives into effective delivery and achieve measurable outcomes through multidisciplinary teams. 

 You will: 

• Lead projects from planning to implementation, delivering agreed scope, timescales, budgets and outcomes. 

• Develop practical project plans and manage progress, risks, issues, dependencies and opportunities. 

• Bring together specialists from across policy, regulatory, operational, legal, communications, digital, data and delivery. 

• Provide assurance and reporting to project and programme boards to support timely and informed decisions. 

• Build effective relationships and use influencing and negotiation skills to keep delivery on track. 

• Support change, communications, learning and engagement to embed outcomes and realise benefits. 

• Coach project teams, facilitate lessons learned and strengthen delivery practice across the ICO. 

You will use digital tools and select the most appropriate delivery approach for each project, whether Agile, waterfall, hybrid or iterative. 

This is an opportunity to deliver projects that support the ICO’s priorities, influence how change is delivered and promote collaboration, learning and continuous improvement. 

You will have experience relevant to the role responsibilities and person specification and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualification or experience.  

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.   

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.   

 Essential criteria assessed at application stage:  

• Experience of managing and delivering projects in public or private sector environments.  

• Evidence of successful implementation of projects that deliver strategic value across varied domains including digital, data, regulatory, and transformational workstreams (also assessed at interview).  

• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications. 

• Ability to deliver projects under strategic oversight, working in partnership with the Programme Manager or Digital Programme Manager to ensure alignment with organisational priorities (also assessed at interview).  

• Demonstrated leadership in managing project teams, with experience in coaching, mentoring, and developing capability across a matrix environment (also assessed at interview).  

• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with the ability to represent project interests across governance forums and enable effective decision-making (also assessed at interview).  

• Commitment to continuous improvement, with experience in leading lessons learned exercises and embedding findings into delivery practice (also assessed at interview).   

• Regulatory or public policy knowledge is desirable but not essential where the candidate can demonstrate the ability to learn the context and operate effectively with specialist colleagues.    

Essential criteria assessed during interview:  

• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to negotiate and to build and maintain good working relationships both internally and externally, up to and including senior management level. 

• Knowledge of project and delivery methodologies and the ability to select and apply the most appropriate approach (e.g. agile, waterfall, hybrid or iterative approaches) based on the nature of the work. 

• Understanding of portfolio governance and project assurance, with the ability to contribute to reporting and decision-making processes.   

• Excellent judgement and the ability to deal with a changing environment both on a day-to-day and long-term basis.    

• Ability to operate effectively within a regulatory, policy, operational or transformation environment and quickly develop sufficient understanding of the relevant context to support successful project delivery.    

Equality, diversity, and inclusion     

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.        

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.   

As part of the ICO’s commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy      

If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk   

Closing Date      

Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59, Sunday 22 November. Your cover letter should be no more than 1,000 words and should clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.  

Interviews will be held in person at our offices in central Manchester on 8 and 9 December.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at recruitment@ico.org.uk.   

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.   

All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.  

Clearance Required for this role: