Assistant Project Director - MEP Commercial

This is an exciting opportunity to work on developing a world leading renewable energy project with the Welsh Government. The successful candidate will work on a range of commercial and financial issues for the project, working at pace to deliver benefits for Wales. This role will be well suited to a proactive, commercially minded professional, looking to take the next step in their career.

About us

Local Partnerships LLP is jointly owned by the Local Government Association, HM Treasury and the Welsh Government. We occupy a unique position in the public sector, facilitating change through working impartially and collaboratively across all parts of central, local and regional government, and devolved administrations.

Our vision is as simple as it is challenging: to strengthen the public sector to deliver more effectively, achieve more swiftly, and give value for money to the taxpayer and customer.

The Marine Energy Programme was established in 2020 to support the Welsh Government to maximise the benefit from Marine Renewables in Wales through addressing barriers to delivery.

Local Partnerships provides a team to support the Marine Energy Programme to deliver the interventions including strategic, commercial, procurement and project management support.

This role will be specifically focussed on the Tidal Lagoon Challenge, one of three projects within the Marine Energy Programme. The project is seeking to deliver a Tidal Lagoon Challenge, to unlock a first of a kind tidal lagoon in Wales.

To support this programme, there is a need to recruit an Assistant Project Director, with some specialism in the Commercial, Legal and Financial aspects to support the Project team in these activities.

The role

Assistant Project Directors are responsible for driving and overseeing the successful delivery of activity within specific project workstreams for Local Partnerships, ensuring that the objectives are clearly defined and achieved within the agreed time, cost and quality constraints.

Assistant Project Directors may work on their own but will more often form part of a team of different specialists undertaking an assignment stretching over weeks or months, or occasionally years, for a client who will typically be a central government department or one or more councils.

Assistant Project Directors may be based anywhere in the UK. They will need to travel to clients' offices around the country. For the Marine Energy Programme travel to and within Wales on a regular basis is anticipated.

To support the Marine Energy Programme, the Assistant Project Director will need to be able to manage and engage with appointed Commercial and Legal advisors on the Programme and liaise between them and the project team and other key stakeholders, providing specialist advice and expertise where required.

The requirements

• Educated to a degree standard, with professional qualifications appropriate to the role
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and management skills including the ability to deliver solutions that meet collective needs and communicate in a variety of different ways
• Able to work as part of effective teams within organisational structures to deliver projects and commissions
• Experience of advising procuring authorities of contractual, commercial and operational issues
• Experience of working on high profile complex projects with a track record of effective delivery
• An understanding of government (local and central) strategic and commercial management, outsourcing, governance issues and change management, procurement methods and contracts

From a specific MEP programme perspective, we are looking for:

• Experience of working on the procurement of large infrastructure projects
• Experience of developing business cases using the Treasury's five case model
• Experience of engaging with the market and supply chain development
• Experience of risk management approaches, and ability to identify risks and approaches to mitigate them
• Experience of working with external parties such as legal advisors, commercial advisors and UK Government departments
• Experience and expertise in the financing / commercial arrangements for the delivery of Renewable Energy programmes and projects
• Experience of working with complex financial models, including identifying and testing scenarios

You must have the right to work in the UK, the LGA are unfortunately unable to offer sponsorship visas. Evidence for the right to work in the UK will be requested at the interview stage.

Closing date: 5pm, Friday 10 December 2021
Interview date: Monday 10 December 2022

We value diversity and encourage applications from all sections of the community