Requisition ID: 26085
Location:
Newcastle, GB
Contract Type: Fixed Term
Working Pattern: Full Time
Posted Date: 1 Sep 2023
Salary: £45,585 to £48,350 with progression to £54,395 per annum
Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
Closing Date: 07 September 2023
The Role
Are you an experienced project manager with experience of translational research and improving care delivery in Duchenne muscular dystrophy? (DMD)
We are looking for someone to oversee, manage, lead and further develop coordination of Newcastle University’s neuromuscular disease (NMD) Standards of Care (SoC) programme with specific responsibility for strategic and operational management of the well-established DMD Care UK.
If this sounds of interest, we’d love to hear from you!
In this role, you’ll be based at our Newcastle Upon Tyne campus that has fantastic transport links and state of the art facilities.
We are an organisation that champions collaboration and, in this role, you’ll be responsible for the day-to-day management of work streams within the allocated project (DMD Care UK); working closely with clinicians, patients, collaborators, the clinical research team, University Research Institutes and professional services staff.
What will I be doing?
You will manage and advise a team of colleagues within the John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Centre (WMDRC), Translational and Clinical Research Institute (Faculty of Medical Sciences) to deliver a comprehensive project management and professional support service that shapes and delivers SoC development, implementation and research in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
Advise on the establishment of new SoC programmes in other NMDs. Coordinate and manage input of specialist external Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from other academic/clinical institutions around the UK; lead collaborations with key project partners from the patient community; oversee a project budget of > £1.1million over 3 years to deliver and improve psychosocial care in DMD; initiate collaborations with international clinical and patient KOLs, across multiple sites and disciplines.
With expert knowledge of UK neuromuscular care delivery, patient and clinical networks and neuromuscular diseases, advise, develop, manage and deliver a flexible workload plan to meet the challenging needs and deliverables of the complex programme across multiple partners and collaborators, moving and utilising resources as required.
To be responsible for the day-to-day management of work streams within the allocated project (DMD Care UK); working closely with clinicians, patients, collaborators, the clinical research team, University Research Institutes and professional services staff. To monitor and ensure progress of projects against financial and milestone targets, highlighting and managing risks as appropriate.
What do we need from you?
To apply for the position, we’ll need your CV and a personal statement outlining how you are suitable for the role using evidence to highlight how you meet the essential criteria in the knowledge, skills and experience as listed in the job description.
For informal enquiries please get in touch with the hiring manager Emma Heslop emma.heslop@newcastle.ac.uk
Key Accountabilities
- Take responsibility for both strategic and day-to-day decisions relating to the project needs and team’s activities.
- Take the lead in liaising with academic staff (internal and external) to provide guidance, advice and support in determining and addressing the needs of the project, allocating work to the project staff as appropriate.
- Create and manage a workload plan to ensure project management support is provided to the research project as required and without delay. Assess the need for additional staff to deliver the work of the project and work with the JWMDRC Network Strand Lead to develop a strategy for the JWMDRC network team.
- Take overall responsibility for coordinating and managing the DMD Care UK Programme team’s activities, ensuring all milestones and deliverables assigned to the team are completed on time and to the required standard.
- Mentor, motivate and line manage the DMD Care UK team, providing strategic support and advice to all members of the team to ensure they have the skills, experience and expertise required to deliver their annual objectives and support projects to achieve their long-term goals.
- Act as the primary point of contact for all parties involved in DMD Care UK on a day-to-day basis, communicating clearly with work stream teams, collaborators, stakeholders and university professional services staff for all project performance and management responsibilities, including meeting the funders’ financial and deliverable reporting deadlines.
- On behalf of the PI and work stream partners, prepare detailed study/research timelines and milestone reports, monitoring progress on a continuous basis with a clear understanding of any impact on the critical path.
- Actively manage project progress in association with the research, support and clinical teams, also across different centres, to achieve milestones within set timescales. This will involve collaboration with other organisations e.g. Universities or NHS Trusts, as well as the day-to-day management of project team support staff and coordination of staff recruitment.
- Recruitment and line management of additional project staff including project managers.
- Have an understanding of clinical governance and good clinical practice (GCP) to facilitate the management of low-risk clinical research as part of DMD Care UK.
- Ensure the early identification of potential risks to meeting required objectives and coordinate the development of plans to recover the situation where possible, liaising with the funding bodies as appropriate, keeping the Investigator and team fully appraised throughout.
- Manage the £1.1 million plus total project finances including: negotiating and applying for additional funding to meet the demands and additional tasks of DMD Care UK, forecasting, liaison with the University’s Contract Financial Management Team to ensure financial transactions and reporting are managed in line with the contract and holding regular meetings with work stream leads to ensure effective budget management.
- Organise and oversee regular project update meetings, maintaining appropriate communication with all stakeholders.
- Ensuring actions are created in line with the project objectives/timeline. Ensure agreed actions are undertaken by those assigned responsibility.
- Establish, organise and contribute to project management groups as required to support the project e.g. Advisory Boards, Steering Groups, inter- disciplinary working groups.
- Further develop an understanding of the scientific, regulatory and technical elements of the project in order to cross communicate between different work packages.
- Manage the relationship with the funder, also ensuring compliance with reporting requirements.
- Coordinate and take a lead role in authoring, submitting and presenting peer-reviewed papers, posters and conference presentations for academic and patient community audiences.
- Take responsibility for identifying own learning needs and those of the team, including identifying appropriate courses to ensure up to date knowledge in the funding streams available to support care improvement, care delivery, influencing policy and conducting research for self and others; as well as developing an awareness of the regulations governing these.
- Participate actively in the Management Team of the JWMDRC. Identify opportunities to meet the strategic vision of the JWMDRC including funding, research collaborations and promotional opportunities.
- Take leadership and an advisory role in JWMDRC’s PPIE strategy and activities, helping colleagues to develop and establish this as a growing area of strength.
- Undertake other reasonable duties or responsibilities as appropriate for a senior member of staff.
The Person (Essential)
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Demonstrable understanding and experience of translational research and improving care delivery in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)
- Extensive experience of working with patient organisations, especially in DMD and an excellent understanding of their needs
- Ability to communicate effectively about all aspects of DMD confidently and knowledgeably with a wide range of stakeholders – including paediatric patients, adults and families, policy makers, pharma, academics both in the UK and internationally
- Experience presenting at conferences preparing peer-reviewed papers
- Significant experience of working in a research environment
- Advanced knowledge of project management methodology and relevant business operating procedures including financial management.
- Significant experience of working in a project management role demonstrable through a series of progressively demanding roles
- A proven ability to manage projects in neuromuscular care improvement across paediatrics but also linking to adult services to defined deliverables and meet audit requirements
- Excellent organisational and management skills with proven ability to organise resources and deliver results on time
- Experience of leading, managing and developing a team with demonstrable people-management skills and the ability to guide and motivate colleagues to achieve deliverables
- Experience of requirements and delivery of PPIE
- Developing and implementing policies and procedures
Attributes and Behaviour
- Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate clearly and concisely in writing and verbally
- Excellent organisational and time management skills
- Excellent financial management skills
- An ability to work to deadlines, organise own workload and work independently
- Attention to detail
- A proven ability to be adaptable, innovative and proactive in project work
- A positive and supportive attitude; ability to work flexibly and cooperatively with others
- Excellent IT skills, including competent use of Microsoft Office including MS Project, Excel and Access
- Ability to motivate others and seek solutions to challenges
- Ability to work independently
- Flexibility with respect to working hours
- Willingness to travel internationally
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent professional qualification) in a relevant discipline and significant experience of working in project management
- Postgraduate degree in a relevant discipline
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.
We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.
At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.
In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.
Requisition ID: 26085