Head of project management

Band 8b · Project manager · 600 job evaluation points

A head of project management leads the organisation's project management practice and the project managers who deliver its digital change.

Responsibilities

Lead the project management practice, including its methods, standards, tools, and assurance.
Allocate project managers to the organisation's projects and manage the practice's capacity.
Build project management capability, including recruitment, training, and career paths.
Advise executive leaders on project health, delivery risks, and lessons learned.
Manage the practice's budget.

Skills

Skill	Expected level	What this level means
Project managementThis reference	Expert (4)	You can: manage large, complex, or high-risk projects set project management standards and coach project managers recover failing projects
PlanningUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: lead a continual planning process in a very complex environment plan beyond product delivery identify dependencies in plans across services and co-ordinate delivery coach other teams as the central point of expertise
Stakeholder relationship managementUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: direct the stakeholder relationship strategy for your teams ensure stakeholder's objectives are set and support teams to meet them influence and negotiate with senior stakeholders to resolve issues and enable progress
Managing decisions and risksUK GDaD PCF	Expert (4)	You can: make and justify decisions characterised by high levels of risk, impact and complexity build consensus between organisations (private or public) or highly independent and diverse stakeholders be trusted by senior risk owners as an expert in security apply risk methodologies at the most complex levels of risk guide others in applying risk methodologies in proportion to the risk
Leadership and guidanceUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase build consensus between services or independent stakeholders identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in facilitate the best team makeup depending on the situation
Financial managementUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: negotiate, influence or set budgets in complex environments write or input into business cases and can communicate business-value propositions
Organisational risk managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: run the risk process for a directorate or programme assess risks against the risk appetite and escalate them report on risks to committees
Understanding health and care servicesThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: analyse how a service fits into care pathways across organisations work with clinicians, care staff, and patients to shape digital services explain the effect of digital decisions on care, safety, and staff workload
People managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: line manage a team, setting objectives and running appraisals support wellbeing and manage attendance, performance, and conduct plan the team's development and succession
Budget managementThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: hold and manage a budget, forecasting and explaining variances build a business case with costs and benefits

Typical qualifications and experience

Extensive experience of leading projects and project managers, with a recognised project management qualification or equivalent experience.

Band 8b outline

Knowledge: Expert knowledge across several disciplines or a large service.
Autonomy: Shapes policy and strategy for a large area.
Scope: Several services or teams, or a principal-level discipline.
Leadership: Manages managers, or is the principal authority in a discipline.
Accountability: Several services, their staff, and their budgets.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

Factor	Level	Level summary	Points
Communication and relationship skills	5	Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.	45
Knowledge, training, and experience	7	Highly developed specialist knowledge across the range of the specialism (master's level or equivalent).	196
Analytical and judgemental skills	5	Judgements on highly complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.	60
Planning and organisational skills	5	Forms long-term strategic plans, with uncertainty and effects across the organisation.	60
Physical skills	2	Skills gained through practice, such as standard keyboard use or driving.	15
Responsibility for patient and client care	1	Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.	4
Responsibility for policy and service development	5	Implements and develops a range of policies or services for a directorate.	45
Responsibility for financial and physical resources	4	Holds or sets the budget for a department or service, or buys or maintains its assets.	32
Responsibility for people	4	Line manages a function or department, designs training programmes as a main duty, or delivers a full range of HR services.	32
Responsibility for information resources	5	Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.	34
Responsibility for research and development	1	Carries out surveys or audits for own work; occasionally takes part in research or testing.	5
Freedom to act	5	Works within general policies, and in most cases decides how to interpret them.	45
Physical effort	1	Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.	3
Mental effort	3	Frequent concentration on unpredictable work, or occasional prolonged concentration.	12
Emotional effort	1	Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.	5
Working conditions	2	Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.	7
Total (Band 8b: 585 to 629)			600