The Church of England
Project and Secretariat Manager
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Job Description
The Safeguarding Structures programme is a transformation and change programme aimed to set up and delivery independent safeguarding and complaints processes.
The postholder must have a strong understanding of project management processes and methodologies and the ability to apply them effectively to this complex and multifaceted programme.
This is an intensive piece of work to deliver a project rigorously and at pace. The postholder will be supported by and work closely with the Programme Director.
If you would like an informal conversation about the role or have any questions, please email: safestructures@churchofengland.org
Responsibilities
Project Management:
- Leading the development and maintenance of the overall plan, flagging any risks and issues, recording and managing decisions, dependencies and opportunities.
- Line managing the programme coordination function.
- Ensuring the agreed definitions of programme/project scope, goals and deliverables are adhered to in all documentation.
- Coordination and writing of all project management documents for the Programme.
- Completing update reports for key governance bodies.
- Ensuring compliance with quality assurance framework for project management and change control.
- Operational stakeholder engagement, relationship building and communication, including with business partners within the NCIs. Supporting the Survivor Participation Officer to ensure alignment with survivor engagement protocols across the team.
Secretariat Management
- Support the programme board and advisory groups with planning agendas, setting priorities, and ensure boards and committees operate effectively and in line with agreed governance standards
- Act as Programme Board Secretary, providing formal secretariat support across Programme, and associated committees and groups.
- Lead the planning and coordination of board and committee cycles, including forward planning, agenda setting, alerting senior staff to key deadlines in advance and scheduling in line with the programme timetable.
- Ensure the timely preparation, quality assurance, and circulation of board and committee papers, including consistency with agreed templates, governance standards, and decision requirements.
- Maintain accurate governance records.
- Record, track, and follow up decisions, actions, risks, and issues arising from boards and committees, ensuring clear ownership and timely escalation where required.
- Ensure effective delegation of governance responsibilities and project tasks to appropriate team members.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Your job description is intended to reflect your main tasks and areas of work, but is not exhaustive. Changes may occur over time and you will be expected to agree any reasonable changes to your job description that are commensurate with your banding and in line with the general nature of your post. You will be consulted about any changes to your job description before these are implemented.
Qualifications
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups.
Essential
Skills/Aptitudes:
-
Knowledge
- Strong understanding of project management methodologies (e.g. PRINCE2, Agile, or equivalent).
- Knowledge of governance frameworks, committee structures, and secretariat functions.
- Familiarity with risk management, reporting, and assurance processes.
- Awareness of relevant regulatory, policy, or sector-specific requirements (where applicable).
-
Skills
- Excellent organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, including drafting high-quality papers, briefings, and minutes.
- Proven stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to engage senior leaders.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office tools (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and project management software.
-
Experience
- Demonstrable experience in project or programme management, ideally in a complex or multi-stakeholder environment.
- Experience providing secretariat support to boards, committees, or senior leadership groups.
- Experience of producing reports, governance papers, and briefing materials.
- Proven track record of managing stakeholders across different levels and organisations.
- Experience of monitoring progress, risks, and actions within a structured governance framework.
Desirable
- Formal qualification in Project Management e.g. PMP (PMI), Prince2 Practitioner (Axelos), PPQ (APM) or equivalent certification, or working towards it.
- Experience of working in one or more of these fields: safeguarding, regulatory bodies, scrutiny and audit, change management, HR, people and culture, and/or organisational development.
- Experience of line management.
- Understanding of the structures of the Church of England
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
About Us
Please note that you will not be able to view the role description after the closing date. We suggest that you save a copy of this page before you submit your application.
About The NCIs
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
Use of AI in your application
We appreciate that you may want to use AI tools to help you with your application. We're happy for you to use AI to come up with ideas and help structure your thoughts, but you shouldn't use AI to fabricate information or write your whole application for you. One of our values is integrity, and although we want you to demonstrate your best self, we don't want an AI-generated persona. If you simply copy and paste AI-generated content into your application, this will reduce your chances of success.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location