Project Design & Engagement Manager - Innovative Social Consultancy

Project Designer & Engagement Manager Job Description 

About us

Collaborate CIC is an Innovative Social Consultancy building the thinking, culture and practice of collaboration to help us meet the challenges of today, together.  We work towards a vision of a collaborative society - one that is equitable, caring and sustainable.

To achieve this vision, we act as transformation partners to public and voluntary sector organisations. We do this by helping to put people at the centre of their work, create shared vision, develop collaborative and system leadership skills, engage with civil society, local people and service users, and understand the importance of learning in creating change.

To date, we have helped organisations including the Ministry of Justice, Save the Children UK and a wide range of public sector and NHS, local government and civil society organisations to do this work. Current clients include Wigan Council, London Councils, Essex County Council, SOLACE, The British Science Association, MOPAC, Client Earth, Sport England and Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership.

Ultimately, we believe that people and organisations can create a better future together than they can alone, and we bring this conviction, blending it with cutting-edge thinking, to all our work.

Please see our website for more information about what we do.

About the role

This position was developed at Collaborate to play a key role on project teams in influencing the design of projects, particularly through the engagement phases, where we typically work with a wide range of stakeholders. You will work closely with the Heads of Practice in these aspects of projects, who are usually the Project Leads, as well as working with Directors and Project Managers.

You can expect to work with different combinations of our team on approximately 4-6 projects at any one time, and your roles and responsibilities will vary somewhat project by project, depending upon the specific needs of the project and the collective skillset of the project team.

The team is encouraged to be involved in all aspects of our work, to gain learning and see connections. Over time, you may seek to develop one or two areas of specialism by focusing on particular strands of our work suited to your skills, experience and motivation, and to the needs of the organisation.

This role has been designed to support a development pathway for future project leaders, so we encourage applicants who want to learn on the job and progress within the organisation.

Challenges of this role – all roles have their challenges and we think it’s helpful to be open about these and set them out for you to consider if these are challenges you would embrace:

• being responsive to change and able to adapt projects while maintaining momentum of the work and staying focused on its wider purpose
• ‘managing up’ – to enable the success and progress of the work, you need to make requests of and send reminders to colleagues and stakeholders setting the direction, but do this in a way that maintains positive working relationships, tasks which require communication and relationship-building skills
• being situated between less and more experienced colleagues and being alive to the development needs of you and others
• working across different subject areas and in different contexts and attending to related sensitivities – we might work with clients relating to early years provision, loneliness and isolation, or the environment

Job responsibilities

Over the course of a range of different projects, this role may include (but is not limited to) the following:

Project design and delivery

• Work closely with the project lead to design the overall approach for projects, determining project objectives (what) and processes (how)
• Input into development of a rigorous project plan
• Establish and develop client, partner and team relationships, building trust and agreed ways of working, backed by relevant platforms and agreements
• Identify priority factors / considerations that will guide the project’s approach to achieving its objectives, including considerations of equity, access, and inclusion

Engagement design and delivery

• Work with project lead to determine who to engage, how, when, where, using which methods to ensure consent, meaningful participation, and richness of insights from diverse perspectives
• Design and deliver research, including literature reviews, stakeholder mapping, stakeholder interviews and wider desk research
• Design and deliver engagement activities, such as surveys, interviews and focus groups
• Design and facilitate workshops for diverse participants, from residents to senior officials
• Draw out key insights from workshops
• Lead sensemaking activities and facilitate discussions on insights generated through the projects
• Write reports or write-ups of engagement or research

Practice and organisational development

• Draw on the tools and frameworks developed by Collaborate and contribute to their continuing iteration through application and innovation
• Develop meaningful processes and tools for working in ways that centre equity and power, imagination and emergent strategy, e.g. methods, frameworks, visuals, curricula, principles
• Commit to ongoing learning and development for you, other team members and for Collaborate’s thought leadership
• Attending and contributing to team learning sessions and discussions
• Supporting business development, by contributing to bid writing by way of engagement and/or Project Design, budget development, proof reading or creating project visuals

About you

We don't expect that you will already have experience of doing all the tasks above. We believe in appointing based on potential rather than simply on past performance. You should have some demonstrable experience in the skills below, which could come from a combination of work, voluntary and/or personal experiences.

Experience

N.B. we don’t expect you to have expert experience of all the following, but some exposure to and demonstrable experience of these types of tasks.

You could be the right person for this job if you have experience of:

• engaging with communities
• facilitating conversations between people with different perspectives
• adapting to different contexts - building relationships and communicating with people from different backgrounds, in roles at different levels of seniority
• how to build considerations of inclusivity and accessibility into engagement
• some experience or understanding of local government would be an advantage

Skills

• Confident building relationships of different kinds. You’ll be engaging with local communities, facilitating meetings/workshops with service providers and building working relationships with clients and different combinations of internal project teams
• An excellent written communicator, ensuring tone, language and content are focused on purpose and considers audience
• Highly organised, good at prioritising multiple (and sometimes complex) tasks and managing your time to complete them·    
• Keen to solve problems, proactive in identifying them and in making recommendations to deliver improvements
• Happy working in a strong team culture, being responsive to the dynamics of different teams
• Passionate about improving outcomes and experiences of the public and curious about how to achieve that goal. You are likely to have interests in issues that affect society and perhaps already have some experience (be it personal/professional/voluntary) in trying to achieve social change

About your application

Important to know:

• Salary range: £32-42,000, based on experience
• Location: We’re a national organisation with an office in London. All our team works in a hybrid way, which varies depending on role and location. This role requires at least 1 day per week in the office, with more as part of the initial onboarding
• Working hours: part-time (minimum of 30-hour week) or full-time, open to exploring flexible working requests that match organisational needs with personal needs/preferences
• Additional holiday over the winter holidays, on top of 25 days' holiday and bank holidays
• Pension contribution
• Options for multi-purpose loans, bike-to-work scheme, eye tests, enhanced parental leave pay and we're open to exploring more...
• Being part of an inclusive, team-led, learning environment!

Next steps

Firstly, we would like to invite you please join our Information and Question & Answer Webinar, (Meeting ID: 883 4424 4608, Passcode: 701624) on Friday 9th February 12-12.45, where you will be able to hear a bit about Collaborate, why we’re recruiting and more about the role and what sort of person we think would suit it, as well as answer your questions.

• Apply here before 5pm Monday 19th February. You’ll answer questions that are related to your interest in this role and your experiences and skills that would help you to do it. After the job closes, your answers will be anonymised, randomised and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers to ensure that every application is treated fairly and without bias.
• First interviews 5-6th March: you will meet 2 members of the team to discuss your experience and skills and to complete a short task.
• Second interviews 13-14th March: the opportunity to meet 2 more members of our team and to talk about you and the role with us further.
• We hope to make an offer by mid-end of March!

Also, we love giving and receiving feedback, so at the end of the application process you'll receive insights into how well you performed and be invited to give anonymous feedback to us, or feel free to reach out to us to give more personalised input.

We are an equal opportunities employer

Collaborate supports flexible working and enables the potential for growth within this role and the organisation.

We seek to be a genuinely collaborative organisation, sharing ideas across the team through weekly team meetings and regular learning sessions. We collectively consider our broader strategy, examine and share learning across our projects, and explore how we might develop our work and our thinking.

As a Living Wage employer, we believe in paying our team fairly and are committed to
promoting equity of opportunity for all.

Being equitable, inclusive and fair is not easy or simple and we are challenging ourselves, talking, working and learning about how we can continue to do this better. We aim to create an inclusive working environment in which all individuals are able to make the best use of their skills and are enabled to thrive.

We actively welcome applicants from those with identities and experiences who are underrepresented in our organisation, recognising that diversity of perspective supports innovation and develops fairness and equity in our society.

Please email Hannah if you have questions.