Project Manager, Publications portfolio
About Evaluation Associates
Evaluation Associates exists to raise achievement and reduce disparity for learners in this country. We do this in a range of ways – providing professional learning and development services, supporting principals and school leaders, and carrying out assessment and evaluation work. Our team is made up of a stunning group of education professionals. We hold ourselves to demonstrably high standards as making a difference for learners is what drives us all. This year we celebrate our 21st anniversary of working with New Zealand schools.
We have a team of 100, and offices in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. We would prefer the successful candidate was based in Wellington. However, we want the very best person for the job, and so will consider applicants across the country.
The opportunity
We are looking for an experienced project manager to join our curriculum publications team. This role will report to the National Manager, Publications. The successful candidate will provide project management expertise to our curriculum resource development projects. See detailed job description for more details.
- You might consider applying for the role if you have most, or all, of the following:
- You are excited by the opportunity to join a team of high performing professionals
- You have significant expertise in managing the creation of curriculum resources for the education sector
- You have, or are committed to developing, a working knowledge of te reo Māori
- You have a good reputation and strong networks within the education sector
- You care deeply about quality and impact – unrelenting in pursuit of excellence
- You understand the imperative to measure and evaluate evidence of impact
- You have a strong commitment to supporting work in both English-medium and Māori-medium settings and share our commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi
- You’ve got great relationship skills – you are honest, respectful and say what needs to be said and are open to learning from others
- You’re a great writer and clear communicator – you are a dab hand at proposal writing
- You’re comfortable collaborating with extraordinarily capable team members
Detailed Job Description
Job description - Project Manager, Publications, Evaluation Associates Ltd.
Responsible to: Jane Nicholls (Publications lead)
Office Location: TBC
General Responsibilities
- To work in ways that further the vision and growth of the company to provide exceptional quality education services to New Zealand schools and kura.
- To actively seek opportunities to develop additional business and promote the work of our organisation and colleagues.
- To liaise with and provide advice to the EAL leadership team about business opportunities.
Specific Responsibilities – Content writer
- Proactively secure and deliver work which meets targets set by the organisation for your time.
- Provide support to the National Manager, Publications
- Supporting portfolio communications
- Support in the development of proposals for bids related to the portfolio
- Undertake project management for Publications projects as requested.
- Represent the Portfolio on assigned committees / groups
- Effectively deliver contracted services. In particular this will involve providing project management of the TKI Channel Support Project.
- Lead, inspire and empower the project team
- Helping team members manage their work and administrative commitments (using key systems such as the Staff Hours Spreadsheet, WorkFlow Max, Evaluative Journal) accurately and in a timely manner
- Supporting the wellbeing and engagement of group members
- Manage team workflow and task allocation
- Complete annual reviews with team members
- Communicate regularly with project team on progress, successes, and areas for improvement
- Identify and remove roadblocks holding back the team
- Actively develop and maintain strong networks and undertake activities which promote Evaluation Associates and the quality of our services in the wider education community
- Carry out all reasonable tasks requested including leadership of pieces of work as allocated and contributing to the writing of requests for proposals as requested
- Enjoy yourself by working with wonderful people in schools who are trying to make a difference
Key skills, characteristics, and dispositions. You are:
- Passionate about making a difference for all ākonga
- Organised and consider the impact of your work on others
- Able to maintain great relationships and leading by learning skills – honest, respectful and says what needs to be said and open to learning from others
- A strong communicator and collaborator. Oral communication skills are clear, use correct pronunciation, and ability to respond flexibly to the audience (presenting to groups, facilitating staff meetings, seminars, etc.)
- Able to demonstrate care for others’ hauora
- An effective listener and able to objectively synthesise key ideas
- Able to work through complex situations and to support others to do similarly
- Focused on quality and impact – unrelenting in pursuit of excellence
- Committed to supporting work in both Māori and English-medium settings and share our commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Key capabilities
Relationship capabilities. You:
- Support leaders and teachers to meet the needs of all students through the provision of quality curriculum support services.
- Represent Evaluation Associates in meetings with clients and key stakeholders
- Conduct all relationships and communications in a professional and learning-focused manner.
- Contribute to a positive and collaborative team culture
Technical capabilities. You have:
- Knowledge and experience with complex web content management system and publishing systems such as eZPublish and Silverstripe and learning management systems such as Canvas.
- Experience with the use of metadata management processes and systems
- Ability to gather, collate, manipulate, and interpret information including Google Analytics to provide advice and make recommendations for improvement.
- Understanding of the processes for archival and migration of web content.
- Experience with various software such as Confluence, Jira, and link checking (Integrity).
- Ability to liaise with Ministry web services and other technical providers.
- Understanding of usability, user experience, and quality content management processes
- Ability to write clear and concise curriculum content for online environments.
Educational knowledge capabilities. You:
- Understand the Ministry’s teaching and learning, and cultural requirements, including the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Ao Māori, Ka Hikitia, The Action Plan for Pacific Education, the Learning Support Action Plan, and other Ministry strategic objectives.
- Understand strategies that will improve the rate of progress for Māori and Pasifika students, English language learners and students with additional learning needs, and to model and demonstrate these strategies through content development and management.
- Know how to support schools to build effective educative partnerships with parents and whānau and school communities that impact positively on student achievement.
- Know current e-learning technologies and the extent to which they can be used to enhance learning for leaders, teachers, students and their whānau.
- Commit to ensuring that Māori experience educational success as Maori, and that all learners are supported to learn in a climate that respects their identity, language, and culture.
Management capabilities. You:
- Support proposal drafting and project brief / SOW development
- Contribute to translating client requirements into project deliverables
- Contribute to developing the project budget
- Ensure contracts/SOW are signed and filed
- Facilitate the development of the project vision, strategy, and plan
- Work with key stakeholders to identify and communicate shared understandings and expectations, for example in developing action plans, organising and/or facilitating workshops with stakeholders/contributors
- Write project plan in consultation with sponsor, team, and client as appropriate:
- identify project outputs and outcomes measures
- identify, communicate, and review project benefits
- identify and confirm project resource availability
- Manage internal and external relationships
- Identify who owns relationships and effective lines of communication
- Communicate with and manage external contractors
- Manage project budget
- Record expenditure, including people’s time
- Ensure action planning aligns with the available budget
- Communicate with sponsor about possible over-runs
- Prioritise expenditure ensuring value for money
- Manage project schedule
- Create project gantt chart/timeline of tasks to achieve deliverables
- Identify any issues with the timeline, find solutions, and communicate effectively to the team and stakeholders
- Manage project quality
- Ensure effective QA processes are established and followed
- Assess deliverables against the success criteria in the SOW and/or project plan
- Access external QA resource if required
- Communicate effectively with the team and sponsor about quality
- Manage risks and issues
- Set up and maintain the Issues, Risk, and Lessons Learned registers
- Escalate required information to sponsor/SLT/client
- Stakeholder identification and analysis
- Prepare communication plan as needed
- Establish and schedule reporting/meeting cycles
- Manage project reporting
- Written communication skills are accurate, well-constructed, evidence-based and provide the level of detail required (e.g. data reports, milestones, proposals).
- Close the project
- Ensure final reports and invoices sent
- Gather and communicate client feedback on the project delivery
- Facilitate and record project team retrospective
- Archive project documents
- Self-manage and are organised (meeting accountabilities and deadlines, attention to detail in all aspects of accountabilities).
To apply
The closing date for all applications is 5pm 11 January 2021.
Please note we require a full CV and covering letter.
Please include in your covering letter:
- Your current location
- The names and contact details of two referees
CLICK HERE TO APPLY. Please note you will be re-directed to an external site.