Senior Programme Manager - Commonwealth games

Senior Programme Manager

Department: CCQ (Cultural Programme & Live Sites)
Report s to: Executiv e Producer, Cultural Programme & Live Sites
Position Type: Full -Time

       1. JOB PURPOSE

       In July 2022, Birmingham will host the XXII Commonwealth Games, the largest
       multi-sport event to be held in England in 10 years. Approximately 6,500 athletes
       and team officials from 72 nations and territories across the Commonwealth will
       come together in a 12-day celebration of sport and culture. Events will take place
       across Birmingham and the West Midlands, entertaining more than one million
       ticketed spectators and reaching a global broadcast audience of more than one
       billion.

       Each of the signatories to the Host City Contract (HCC); the Commonwealth Games
       Federation (CGF), UK Government, Birmingham City Council and Commonwealth
       Games England (CGE) together with the Organising Committee have key roles role
       in the planning and delivery of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, both individually
       and collectively to ensure that the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the host
       community legacies derived from hosting the Games are a huge success.

       The parties to the HCC have established Birmingham Organising Committee for the
       2022 Commonwealth Games Ltd as the Organising Committee. The scope of the
       Organising Committee’s role is broad and complex and ranges from ensuring the
       physical readiness of the venues and temporary facilities, to the planning,
       coordination and delivery of more than 40 operational functions such as transport,
       security and catering to meet the needs of the Games, including the athletes,

technical officials, spectators, press, broadcasters and other Games Family and
stakeholders.

The Organising Committee and partners are committed to delivering the Games as
efficiently and effectively as possible to ensure the event is sustainable and
accessible to all in the long term. We are seeking individuals to join us who are
innovative, commercially astute and have a genuine passion and interest in
delivering the most sustainable, inclusive and accessible Commonwealth Games to
date.

Culture has always been part of the vision for Birmingham 2022; developed in
parallel with the sporting Games will be a number of flagship creative projects held in
one Ceremonies, Culture and Queen’s Baton Relay (CCQ) division: the Opening &
Closing Ceremonies, a six-month Cultural Programme, the Queen’s Baton Relay, a
series of Games’ time Lives Sites, a Sport Presentation programme and a creative
Learning Programme.

The Senior Programme Manager will play a pivotal role across three CCQ areas –
the Cultural Programme, Live Sites and the Learning Programme - enabling them to
operationalise efficiently and collaboratively from beginning to end. They will
establish and manage all artistic commissioning contracts and oversee project
administration, ensuring integration with Organising Committee functional areas.

The postholder will be a meticulous planner and an ever-present team player with
significant experience of managing complex, large-scale programmes to successful
delivery (on time and within budget) within the arts, heritage, education or charitable
sector. They will bring bags of ideas and realistic suggestions to solve high-level
administrative problems and understand the needs of cultural producers to create
effective systems and tools that can be used on a daily basis. They will have
extensive contracts experience - from design and issue through to management and
closure. It is expected that the successful candidate will have some pre-existing
knowledge of the cultural and/or public sectors of Birmingham and the West
Midlands, specifically to lead the contracting of creative and community
organisations/artists/freelances from the region.

A methodical yet flexible approach to achieving goals will be key to the successful
undertaking of this role, as will be the ability to manage the diverse requirements and
pressures that come with a multi-stakeholder environment.

2. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND
   ACCOUNTABILITIES

Responsibilities of the role will evolve during the lifespan of the Organising
Committee and it is likely that the role profile will evolve with the changing needs of
the organisation.

Direct reports: Grants Programme Manager, Administrator and Programme
Coordinator (from Oct 2021).

The post reports to the Executive Producer (Cultural Programme and Live Sites) to
deliver against the following responsibilities:

Programme Management
    •   As a senior member of the team, supporting rapid decision-making across
        the business to advance programme delivery and maintain progress.
    •   Playing a key role in ensuring the programmes deliver on their ambitions to
        increase diversity and representation of audiences, artists and participants
        with long term outcomes for the region’s cultural sector and young people.
    •   Overseeing programme integrated planning (PIP) and working with
        designated PIP leads to monitor key milestones, risks and issues,
        interdependencies and deliverables.
    •   Working across teams to develop an integrated approach to delivery,
        identifying opportunities for collaboration and ensure efficiency.
    •   Actively inputting to OC-wide production, logistics and operational planning.
    •   Managing programme information, statistics, presentation content and
        messaging for effective and swift communications/reporting.
    •   Supporting project and programme leads to ensure that all team projects are
        compliant with OC Health & Safety and Safeguarding requirements.
    •   Devising accessible systems that support the team to deliver within available
        resources and agreed project timescales.
    •   Working collaboratively with the Partnerships & Development Manager and
        Evaluation Manager to activate a 360-degree approach across project
        fundraising, delivery, monitoring and impact evaluation.
    •   Working with the Sustainability Manager, oversee and collate sustainability
        priorities and ensure these are embedded in our work.
    •   Working with the Accessibility Manager, oversee and collate access priorities
        and ensure these are embedded in our work.

Artistic Commissioning and Contract Management
   • Leading on all project and programmed contracts, implementing robust
      mechanisms for their issue, return and management across the life of the
      projects.
   • Managing relationships with high-level contracted/commissioned suppliers,
      particularly in respect of delivery management and assisting in the provision
      of planning information.
   • Preparing Scopes of Work for external suppliers.
   • Supporting project teams to build sourcing pipelines and document their
      operating model.
   • Onboarding commissioned partners and suppliers to ensure their efficient and
      coordinated integration into the business.
   • Managing contract payment schedules and processing payments within
      Organising Committee financial regulations.
   • Working with procurement to manage sourcing that is compliant with the
      Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and any other controls or regulation placed
      upon the entity.
   • Working with the Legal department to continually streamline our contract
      management processes.

Artistic & Project Administrator
   • Develop Devising administrative approaches and systems that are
      appropriate to scale and suitable for purpose: - ensure systems are able to
      service grant funding/partnership agreements.
   • Create and maintain a centralised and legally compliant system for data and
      information capture and storage that meets the needs of the Organising
      Committee and external funders.
   • Active participation in CCQ and Organising Committee team meetings to
      maximise decision-making and information sharing.
   • Ensuring the CCQ finance lead is furnished with the required information
      necessary to produce monthly and quarterly reports and to produce
      expenditure claims and reports for funders.
   • Team diary management for key internal and external meetings, project
      milestones and Organising Committee-wide events.
   • Plan and manage programme workforce recruitment and onboarding.
   • Develop systems and approaches that actively support equal opportunities,
      diversity and representation, and inclusion.

Stakeholder Relations
  • Be a key point of contact for Organising Committee Host City Integration and
     wider West Midlands local authorities to ensure operational plans are
     effectively communicated.
  • Work in genuine partnership with the cultural sector and creative community
     of Birmingham and the West Midlands to deliver a Commonwealth Games
     that leaves the cultural ecology stronger.
  • Work to satisfy differing needs of multiple stakeholders; ensuring the best
     outcome for the Games, including athletes, spectators, Games Partners,
     sponsors and Local Government.

3. PERSON SPECIFICATION
a) Skills and experience required

    AREA                  ESSENTIAL                          DESIRABLE

Qualifications                                            • Educated to degree
                                                             level or equivalent in
                                                             relevant subject.
                                                          • Relevant Project
                                                             Management
                                                             qualification (i.e.
                                                             PRINCE2).

Skills &         •    Exceptional planning and        •    Excellent design and
Abilities             programme management                 visual presentation
                      skills.                              skills.
                 •    Ability to apply both           •    Ability to communicate
                      creative and logistical              ideas and information
                      thinking to solve problems           through public speaking.
                      at speed.
                 •    Ability to find clarity and
                      direction in a multi-
                      stakeholder creative
                      environment in order to
                      deliver a high-quality
                      event.
                 •    Excellent attention to detail
                      across written, financial

and visual
    communications.
•   Excellent communication,
    diplomatic and
    interpersonal skills; the
    ability to enthuse,
    negotiate and influence
    across a variety of forms of
    communication.
•   Ability to build
    relationships, with speed
    and credibility, with people
    at all levels (internal and
    external).
•   Strong analytical skills in
    solving multifaceted
    problems.
•   Strong financial
    management skills, with a
    track record of working
    with complex budgets.
•   Excellent IT skills; the
    ability to problem solve and
    manage processes through
    IT functions, and across a
    range of Microsoft
    applications.
•   Ability to communicate own
    and others’ ideas through
    presentations and
    meetings.
•   Ability to understand
    programme management
    in a creative delivery
    setting, and its integration
    with business or corporate
    functions.

Knowledge &   •   Significant relevant           •   Senior management
Experience        industry experience in a           experience within the
                  cultural, educational,             arts, heritage,
                  charitable or                      education, community or
                  public/statutory funding           public/local authority
                  sector environment.                funding sectors.
              •   Significant experience of      •   Experience of writing
                  writing and developing             and developing artistic
                  contracts and agreements           commissioning
                  with a robust                      contracts and
                  understanding of legal             agreements.
                  obligations such IP, GDPR      •   Knowledge of, or
                  and compliance.                    experience in, public
              •   Proven experience of               procurement.
                  working closely with           •   Strong working
                  cultural professionals to          knowledge of Arts
                  deliver high-quality               Council England’s
                  outcomes.                          Creative Case for
              •   Proven experience of               Diversity.
                  budget management for          •   Experience of working
                  rapidly evolving time-             closely with Marketing
                  limited projects.                  and Communication
              •   Experience of                      departments to deliver
                  organisational/HR policies         audience development
                  and procedures.                    objectives.
              •   Knowledge of public,
                  statutory or private funding
                  structures.

b) Personal Qualities

Teamwork         • Embraces diversity and displays respect and loyalty to
                     colleagues, the organisation and partners;
                 • Engages effectively, and is helpful and supportive towards
                     others;
                 • Highly collaborative, taking the time to engage with team
                     members;
                 • Reliable and committed to success of the team;
                 • Embraces change and is adaptable;

Communication • Natural communicator at all levels, approachable and
                knowledgeable;
                 • Open and transparent but also maintains trust and
                     confidentiality;
                 • Prepared to challenge information and bureaucracy;
                 • Embraces and absorbs new information.

Commitment       • Excellent communication, diplomatic and interpersonal skills;
and results          the ability to enthuse, negotiate and influence across a variety
delivery             of forms of communication;
                 • Demonstrate an ability to interpret a range of information or
                     tasks, making decisions that have an impact on the wider sport
                     team and project;
                 • An ability to mentor team members, developing their
                     capabilities through support, guidance and exposure to
                     opportunities.

Motivation and   •   Demonstrates enjoyment in their work;
drive            •   Professional, polite and approachable manner;
                 •   Positive attitude and optimistic;
                 •   Resilient, calm and in control of emotions;
                 •   Self-motivated and proud to be part of the experience;

 Birmingham 2022 is working towards achieving Leaders in Diversity through
the National Centre for Diversity. The principles “FREDIE” Fairness - Respect -
Equality - Diversity - Inclusion and Engagement support our aim of delivering a
                       truly inclusive and accessible games.