Principal Project Officer

Communities and Skills is led by Executive Director, Tunde Olayinka and is comprised of the following units: Civil Society & Sport, Communities & Social Policy, Group Public Health Unit, Skills and Employment and Health, Children and Young Londoners.

About the team

The Skills & Employment unit is responsible for overseeing adult skills delivery in London following delegation of the Adult Skills Fund from the DfE to the Greater London Authority in 2019 and the introduction of Skills Bootcamps in 2022.

About the role

We are looking for two Principal Officers to join the Greater London Authority's Skills and Employment Unit's Funding Policy and Systems Team.

The first role will lead on the technical aspects of adult skills funded programme delivery for the Greater London Authority bringing further education sector knowledge and MIS experience to the job role.

The second role will lead on programme reporting and managing stakeholder relationships with our internal customers in the Skills and Employment Unit.

These roles are based at London Fire Brigade's Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL)

Note: Internal GLA job title for this role is Principal Policy Officer

What your day will look like Technical Role

Lead relationships with key stakeholders including Education Skills Funding Agency's technical teams, adult skills funded providers and internal programme management leads applying expertise around detailed technical issues relating to adult skills funded programmes.

Apply expertise and understanding of programme requirements to define data reporting requirements for GLA delivery teams in the Skills & Employment Unit.

Produce technical guidance and other materials to support providers and GLA delivery teams to understand data coding and validation requirements underpinning the Funding Rules

Contribute to monthly collection and processing of operational programme data

Contribute to collaborative work with ESFA and other devolved authority technical leads, to develop mutually beneficial adaptations of national data collection systems to support GLA objectives

Programme Reporting Role

• Lead relationship with key internal stakeholders, including Skills and Employment delivery leads
• Apply expertise and understanding of programme requirements to define data reporting and data system requirements and translate those requirements into well-designed data products that meet needs of stakeholders
• Develop, manage and facilitate prioritisation of roadmap for work on data products and systems
• Apply an emotionally intelligent and inclusive approach to stakeholder and line management

Skills, knowledge and experience To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

Both roles:

• Ability to apply an emotionally intelligent and inclusive approach to stakeholder and line management

Technical role:

• Expert knowledge of technical elements forming the skills data collection, validation and funding system and their inter-relation, including ILR, EAS, funding rules, validation rules, FALA, Ofqual etc
• Operational experience of how GLA-funded Adult Skills Fund (ASF) provision fits into the overall data collection and validation system for FE and skills providers
• Ability to understand and investigate technical data coding and validation issues, and provide appropriate advice on potential causes and solutions

Programme Reporting role:

• Have or develop expert knowledge of skills programme funding rules and wider data collection and funding system
• Experience advising programme leads on use of data
• Ability to understand and investigate data and reporting needs across internal stakeholder groups
• Ability to draw on expertise to advise on data requests and developing alternatives if needed