Project Manager - Skills Capital Funding Programme
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Total years of experience :15 years, 6 Months
Project Manager (PRINCE2 Qualified) for the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) at WYCA.
Skills Capital programme:
Through the Government Devolution Growth Deal, the LEP secured £79m towards funding for the Skills Capital Programme, which focuses on delivering economic regeneration through investing in Further Education Colleges.
As Project Manager:
• Project manage each aspect of the bids, from Starting Up A Project to Project Closure. This requires working with the Colleges in submitting a robust business case to present to the Skills Capital panel, the Investment Committee & Combined Authority Board. Thereafter managing the Project Delivery of each bid, ensuring key milestones are achieved and monitored through various tools such as Highlight Reports, Risk Registers & Exception Reports. Further to this overseeing and monitoring project costs, reviewing project invoices and approving grant spend on eligible expenditure.
• Establish positive working relationships with each College through formal communication, meetings & site visits, including being present on the construction site and overseeing the capital build.
• Lead on post project monitoring, evaluating performance against target outputs and outcomes (KPI's).
• Working with various departments at each stage across the LEP, such as Marketing & Communications, Legals, Regional Economics, Employment & Skills, and Audit in the delivery of the bids.
As mentioned above I have successfully completed the PRINCE2 Project Management Foundation and Practitioner course, achieving the qualification in October 2015.
I have had the opportunity to implement and establish a number of short, medium and long term projects for commercial clients at the NLS, mainly within the water industry. My client portfolio consists of 11 key accounts, with income revenues per account ranging from £25k per year to £800, 000 per year, totalling circa £1.4million per annum.
In addition to all the Customer Service role requirements, I have had to incorporate a number of account management skill sets and role duties such as:
• Stakeholder management, internally & externally.
• Project Management, working in accordance to LightTouch, an internal project management guideline based on the PRINCE qualification.
• Project & Client performance reviews > operational & financial, working to Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and Service Level Agreements (SLA’s).
• Forecasting and budget reviews to aid Commercial Contracts Manager and wider Environment Agency, identifying demand for analytical tests, industry reviews and financial trends.
• Undertaking contract review meetings and building business relationships (networking) through frequent client visits and telecons, working in accordance to an Account Management Plan.
• Business Development, identifying sales leads targeting new clients as well as growing existing clients.
• Tender submissions, PQQ, evaluating and working on project bids, processing the NLS Tender submissions working alongside the Commercial Contracts Manager.
• Undertaking invoicing duties and the updating of financial information, working with FSC, the Environment Agency finance department.
• Giving presentations, internally & externally, on projects, new developments, staff training, and general laboratory updates.
• Providing emergency support out of hours when required, meaning numerous occasions of working at home.
• Attending training courses via the Environment Agency such as Presentation Skills, Communication Skills and Personal & Career Development.
• Deputising for the Customer Services Team Leader and Commercial Contracts Manager, ensuring all queries are completed, whilst also developing my Team Leader and Tender Management skills.
• Providing internal training, coaching, and support for customer services and Analysts, aiding the Customer Services Team Leader and taking on more leadership roles across the NLS.
• Undertaking candidate profiling and holding interviews for Customer Service recruitment and Key Account Manager recruitment, for the NLS commercial department.
Key Personal Achievements:
2012 to present: Led on the implementation and contract delivery of the largest contract held by the NLS, worth £800k per annum.
2014-2015: Successfully turned a £10k account in to a £35k account, with expectation for the 2015-2016 income for this account to be circa £80k.
2014-2015 IPP: Successfully met and went beyond Key Account Manager Individual Performance Plan, leading to a pay rise and recognition across the NLS.
I achieved a 2:1 BA Degree grade. Modules Studied over the three years: Economics for Management Accounting & Corporate Finance Project Management Marketing International Finance Organisational Behaviour & Analysis Operations Management Strategy and Processes Business Ethics International Business Human Resource Management
A-Levels Business Studies Grade B English Language Grade B Psychology Grade B General Studies B