Strategic Project Manager

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About us:

King's Business School is part of King's College London, one of the world's leading research-intensive universities. Located at Bush House on the Strand Campus, the School brings together internationally recognised academics, students and professional services colleagues to deliver outstanding education, research and civic impact.

The Business Operations function is central to delivering King's Business School's strategic ambitions, working in close partnership with academic leadership to provide strong governance, operational support and strategic delivery. The function comprises both Strategic Project and Operations roles, combining day-to-day operational expertise with the leadership of complex projects and change initiatives that enhance how KBS operates and supports staff and students.

About the role:

The Strategic Project Manager plays a critical role in supporting the delivery of King's Business School's strategic priorities through the successful leadership of high-impact, complex projects. Sitting within the Faculty's Business Operations function and reporting to the Head of Business Operations, the postholder will manage a portfolio of projects that respond to the School's evolving needs and strategic ambitions.

The role involves leading and managing projects across the full lifecycle, from shaping strategic objectives into clear, evidence-based business cases and delivery plans, through to implementation, benefits realisation and transition into business as usual. Projects will vary in focus and scope, requiring the postholder to be comfortable working across multiple workstreams, navigating ambiguity and adapting to shifting priorities.

Working closely with senior academic leaders, professional services colleagues and central teams, the Strategic Project Manager will act as a trusted adviser, providing insight, challenge and recommendations to inform decision-making. Strong stakeholder engagement is central to the role, including designing and facilitating workshops, consultations and other engagement activity to ensure that diverse perspectives are understood and appropriately reflected.

The postholder will be responsible for managing project governance arrangements, reporting, risks and interdependencies, and for ensuring that projects are delivered to agreed timescales, budgets and quality standards. The role also includes collaborating with colleagues across the College and external partners to ensure alignment and effective coordination.

In addition to direct project delivery, the Strategic Project Manager will support broader strategic development within KBS, contributing to the continuous improvement of project and change management practices. This includes promoting data-informed decision-making, supporting sustainable change, and helping embed consistent, professional approaches to delivering strategic initiatives across the School.

This is a full time role and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Proven experience of leading and delivering large and complex projects within a similarly complex organisation, including scoping projects, planning, reporting, risk management and benefit management.
2. Ability to translate strategic objectives into structured programmes of work, producing high-quality business cases, project plans and supporting documentation with minimal supervision.
3. Strong analytical skills, including the ability to source, interpret and consolidate quantitative and qualitative data, apply appropriate analysis methods, and present clear, actionable insight to inform senior-level decision-making.
4. Flexible approach to work with high levels of emotional intelligence, comfortable working in an environment where there can be ambiguity and where priorities may change.
5. Excellent stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills, with experience designing and delivering workshops, consultations or survey activity and ensuring diverse viewpoints are captured and incorporated into project development.
6. Highly effective communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to negotiate with, challenge and secure the commitment of senior academic and professional services colleagues.
7. Strong risk, governance and change management capability, including experience managing project boards, articulating risks and interdependencies, and supporting the transition of projects into business-as-usual to embed sustainable change.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of managing strategic projects within a Higher Education context.
2. A recognised project management qualification.
3. Experience of process review and improvement methods.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

At King's, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King's guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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