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Form of work
SalaryPosition: BOOST (EDI) Project Manager (KTP ASSOCIATE)
Based at: Southway Housing Trust, Manchester
Salary: £34,000
Contract: Fixed term for 24 months
The role:
An exciting opportunity has become available to work full time for two years on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Southway Housing Trust, Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP), and Manchester Metropolitan University. You will develop BOOST: an industry-first programme that will facilitate cultural and organisational change so that ethnically diverse colleagues can progress and thrive in leadership roles. BOOST will enable Southway and GMHP to achieve their aim of becoming sector leading diverse employers.
Working with support from academics at Manchester Metropolitan University and staff at Southway and the wider GMHP partnership, you will co-ordinate and help to lead the next phase in the BOOST programme. The BOOST Project Manager has a critical role in co-ordinating the partners involved in BOOST, managing and driving the BOOST programme and delivering aspects of the project. This includes co-ordinating a Movement of Change, Disruptive Mentoring programme and change projects that enable ethnically diverse colleagues to progress and thrive in up to 24 housing providers. They also lead on project monitoring and supporting Manchester Metropolitan University to evaluate and research the programme.
The BOOST Project Manager is employed by Manchester Metropolitan University as a KTP Associate and seconded to Southway Housing Trust where they work day-to-day as part of the Human Resource Management Team. They will be intensively developed as an innovator, attending Innovate UK residentials, developing a bespoke training programme supported by a generous professional development budget and learning on-the-job with a senior group of professionals. As you will be working with GMHP partners, there is an expectation that you will be travelling frequently across the Greater Manchester region.
THE PROJECT:
To develop and embed BOOST, an organisational change and fair leadership pathway programme that will enable ethnically diverse colleagues to progress into senior/leadership roles and to innovate services for ethnically diverse customers.
Through the project, you will not only develop a programme that will help to address long-standing diversity issues in the social housing sector but take a leading role in an unheralded opportunity to roll the initiative out amongst a partnership of like-minded organisations and drive real societal change.
This mKTP received financial support from the UK government department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through Innovate UK.
Company information:
Southway are part of Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP), a collective of 24 housing providers who aim to provide safe, decent and affordable homes across Greater Manchester.
GMHP is a unique partnership of housing providers working together to make a positive difference to people and communities across Greater Manchester. Their collaborative work spans health and social care, social value, employment and skills, poverty reduction, zero carbon and environmental sustainability, placemaking, community safety, equality, social inclusion, and beyond.
Through this work they are making a significant difference to the lives of tenants, customers and colleagues, the neighbourhoods in which they live, and the wider city region.
To find out more about GMHP, please go to https://gmhousing.co.uk/
Southway Housing Trust is a forward-thinking not-for-profit local housing company that is passionate about providing excellent homes and outstanding customer care.
They provide services for tenants, residents, the environment, and wider community of south Manchester and beyond. Southway is a community based social business that works towards a vision of Thriving Communities and does this by providing good quality homes in neighbourhoods that are a high standard, and by making social investments for the people and communities that live there, improving quality of life, promoting neighbourliness, and supporting people in achieving their potential.
To find out more about Southway, please go to www.southwayhousing.co.uk.
Qualifications we require:
An undergraduate degree, preferably in business, housing or another social science. It would be advantageous, but not essential, to also hold a relevant post-graduate degree, e.g., in a social science (which may include a research degree), and a relevant professional qualification, e.g., in human resource management, housing, business, or leadership. Equivalent experience to postgraduate qualifications will also be recognised; we are seeking a practical Project Manager who is also able to engage in evidence and help with evaluation and research to develop the BOOST programme as an evidence-based innovation.
Application requirements:
The BOOST Project Manager role is both exciting and demanding. Working in a friendly, ambitious team, you will be willing to take responsibility for co-ordinating the project and to rapidly building on your existing skills and experience to drive the innovation we seek, at pace. Some of the systems in BOOST are established but this is an innovation project and you should be keen to refine processes and to develop new systems to deliver multiple work packages that will change over time as innovation progresses. Our aim is to develop an evidence-based project and so you must be keen and able to be part of the process of learning from external best practice and research to inform programme design and then support monitoring, evaluation and sharing of learning from BOOST.
The BOOST Project Manager should have the following knowledge and skills (or demonstrate ability and commitment to go on a rapid development process – including both training and on-the-job learning – to develop this wide range of skills, at the same time as delivering the project):
- Passionate commitment to drive change so that ethnically diverse leaders can emerge and thrive and knowledge about the barriers that must be overcome to create more diversity in leadership.
- Ability to co-ordinate a multi-partner intervention, in terms of the BOOST participants and the BOOST management group.
- Willingness and ability to take responsibility for driving the project and to act as a project champion.
- Excellent communication skills, ideally including some multi-media experience (e.g. developing web pages, infographics, video, podcasts, webinars).
- Familiarisation with developing and using project management and monitoring techniques and in planning/delivering events.
- Interpersonal and group facilitation skills, including the ability to mediate challenges.
- Keen interest and ability to engage with evidence and to create an evidence-informed programme.
- IT skills (MS suite) and willingness to learn new systems where needed.
Benefits:
- The opportunity to lead an exciting strategic innovation project that focuses on generating real world impact
- The opportunity to develop a blend of technical, commercial, and leadership skills that will help to fast track your career
- £3,000 per year to spend on personal training and development
- Attendance at two residential managerial workshops (each of one week's duration) to develop your leadership skills
- Opportunity of a permanent position with the company; 70% of host companies make a permanent job offer to their KTP Associate at the end of the project, and
- The opportunity to be recognised as a ‘Future Leader' at Innovate UK's annual KTP awards
For an informal discussion, please contact Professor Julia Rouse j.rouse@mmu.ac.uk.
Apply at https://manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs by submitting a CV and a covering letter detailing how you meet the criteria for the role. Only applications with a covering letter will be considered.
Due to the nature of KTP funding, those who have already completed more than 1 year of a KTP are not eligible to apply.
Interviews and assessment will take place on 15th July 2024 at Southway Housing Trust.
