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Job description

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive who is the Atlas Project Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), the Atlas Project Manager is responsible for leading the delivery of a new and large laboratory building housing scientific and administrative functions. As a member of the Leadership Board, the postholder will play a full role in contributing to the development of FSNI’s wider business strategies and plans. Please see employer website for full job details & person specification.

Responsibilities

• Completion of RIBA Stage 4 design. Construction, commission and handover of new Atlas building. The development and delivery of decant plans to ensure a seamless move of staff and work operations to the new Atlas building;
• The planning for and procurement of specialist scientific equipment; Completion of a post-project evaluation; The postholder will be responsible for:; Day-to-day management and leadership of the project and the project team;
• Managing the Integrated Consultant Team; Providing effective leadership and management controls; Setting project controls and ‘stop / go’ decision points; Designing the project structure and organisation appropriate to stage;
• Setting appropriate delivery methodologies; Managing effective transition between project phases; Developing the budget and managing that it is on track;
• Identifying skill requirements at all stages of the project, recruiting resources within budget constraints, overseeing effective deployment of resources, developing capability and fostering innovation;
• Delivering the agreed business case benefits and outcomes. Ensuring benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked and owned;
• Ensuring appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place and monitoring longer term delivery of benefits against the business case;
• Working collaboratively with the SRO to jointly manage senior stakeholders;
• Ensuring stakeholder interests are identified and addressed;
• Managing stakeholder communications and ensuring buy-in; Attendance at meetings, which on occasion may include travel, and forming collaborative relationships with key stakeholders both internally and externally;
• Building consensus across a large and often diverse group of stakeholders;
• Managing risks and issues and escalating to SRO where appropriate;
• Ensuring strategic and operational risks and issues are identified, prioritised, assessed and mitigation actions developed, implemented and monitored throughout the life of the project;
• Ensuring senior stakeholders are briefed, updated and where appropriate, enrolled in the management and control of key risks. Identifying and engaging specialists as appropriate;
• Providing all reporting as required by the SRO including regular updates to the Project Board. Establishing and managing Quality Assurance and Change Management processes;
• Engaging with assurance reviews and acting on recommendations. Organising assurance processes such as gateway reviews, as required by the SRO;
• Ensuring effective change management processes are in place to agree and document changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders;
• Managing the government soft landing period of extended maintenance of the Atlas building and the management of the FSNI estate.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential Skills

• Applicants must, by the closing date for applications, demonstrate in their application form that they meet the following essential criteria: 1. Successful completion of at least one of the following:
• A stand-alone executive-level project or programme leadership development programme, delivered by a recognised university or business school and accredited by the Association of Project Management (APM).
• Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner Level. PRINCE II Practitioner Level.
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience of applying the principles of good project management, including management of resources, governance and business case development.
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience of leading complex construction/building project(s) in a scientific or business context with individual project budgets more than £10 million in value.
• Complex in this context means construction/building projects that incorporate multiple interconnected components and a range of functions simultaneously.
• These projects are characterized by their scale, the diversity of their components, and the multifunctionality they offer often requiring coordination among various stakeholders, including architects, engineers and contractors.
• At least 2 years’ experience of developing and maintaining positive, collaborative partnerships and effectively engaging and managing a diverse range of internal and/or external stakeholders to ensure the delivery of project objectives.

Further Information

Location: FSNI, Seapark. NICS Application form only, Vacancy closing date 9th January 2026 at 12 noon. Applications from Protestants, females, young people (people under the age of 35), people with a disability and people from minority ethnic communities are particularly welcomed for this post. The Northern Ireland Civil Service is an Equal Opportunities Employer. All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit. In addition, applicants should be aware that after an eligibility sift, should it be necessary to shortlist candidates to go forward to interview the panel will carry out an objective evaluation of the breadth and depth of information provided by candidates in response to eligibility criterion. This will be completed on a scored basis and only the highest scoring applicants will proceed to interview.