Job description
Launched in 2016, The UK Public Health Rapid Support Team ( UK-PHRST) is a government partnership funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and co-led by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Its aim is to prevent and control epidemics of infectious diseases in countries eligible for UK Official Development Assistance.
The Business Coordinator position in UK-PHRST will support day-to-day management of finance and HR administration effectively and efficiently. This will involve providing a high-level business management function, supporting project leads and ensuring the work is carried out collaboratively across the partnership.
This role works across HR, Finance, Business Management and Procurement, and is critical to ensuring that the UK-PHRST can meet the requirements of corporate policies around financial management, governance, recruitment, workforce and people management, tendering and management of contracts and business planning.
- Fixed term role until 30th November 2023 with possible extension
- Hybrid role with travel to Canary Wharf 1/2 a week
- Leading on the UK-PHRST forecasting for planned programme activity and systematic verification of spend to ensure value for money.
- Lead on UK-PHRST operational finance providing timely reports to UK-PHRST senior staff and UKHSA finance leads and the DHSC as requested
- Support strategic decision making on UK-PHRST finances alongside senior UK-PHRST staff and deputise for the Programme Manager on financial issues.
- Provide financial support to all projects across the programme that involve UKHSA staff.
- Work closely with colleagues at LSHTM to ensure strong and consistent financial monitoring and management across the programme.
- Lead on maintenance of all finance guidance, audits, standard operating procedures and communication with team to ensure timely and accurate finance reporting and spend. Including with LSHTM on integrated reporting.
- Act as the key operational focal point for UK-PHRST finance with the UKHSA finance teams ensuring regular communication, reporting and actions are maintained at each point in the financial year.
- Act as the key point of contact with customers in own project area and ensure establishment, operation and completion of projects to the customer’s satisfaction.
- Ensure prompt delivery of reports for customers, directors and board members which fit with strategic and business plans. Provide management information to other parts of the organisation as required
- Ensure all financial and project activities comply with Department, Site, Divisional and Organisational safety and quality systems. Contribute to the safety and quality policies within the Department through interpretation of organisational policies. Including contribution to risk registers.
- Manage Purchase Orders, payment of invoices and recharges to the UK-PHRST from external and internal partners alongside the Project Support Administrator.
- Work closely with the Global Public Health Project Business Coordinator and Business Manager to ensure intradepartmental alignment.
- Undertake day to day human resource related tasks such as preparation of workforce returns, liaising with HR corporate team & supporting the completion of recruitment and other HR related paperwork for the UK-PHRST team.
- Work closely with the Programme Manager to manage and support recruitment including business cases, job descriptions and interviews etc.
- Provide project management support
- Support critical business objectives such as business planning, UK and overseas travel bookings, development of implementation plan and annual review.
- Provide senior level support to procurement processes across the team to ensure all procurement is timely and in line with policy and process.
- Support contract management of third-party suppliers.
- Degree in business related subject or career equivalent experience
- Extensive experience of budget setting, financial management, costing and pricing projects and funding bids
- Project management experience including project design, scheduling, communication, resourcing, monitoring and reporting
- Experience in delivering projects to time/quality/budget
- Management experience / working as part of a team
- Experience of dealing with internal and external customers, negotiating, and agreeing work programmes, reporting progress, dealing with issues to ensure delivery and customer satisfaction
- You must be able to process a large amount of complex information quickly and efficiently and work collaboratively with various teams
- High level of initiative and motivation, and ability to make decisions within own limits of authority and aware when to escalate decisions. Excellent time management skills and reasonable flexibility required to adapt to changing priorities
- Ability to solve problems ranging in complexity and to critically evaluate information and reach appropriate conclusions.
- High level of interpersonal skills.