Programme / Business Support Officer

Our Central Government client is currently looking for a Programme / Business Support Officer to work on a contract initially through until the end of March 2013. This is an immediate requirement to be based in Central London.
We are looking for a confident, self starter who has the ability to challenge upwards. This post will be responsible for supporting an extremely busy vendor management team including developing a mini project plan and taking responsibility for driving the team to meet deadlines and capture milestones. A major part of this role will also involve process mapping and design. Looking at current processes, how they work and map this using Visio and Flow diagrams. This post will also involve diary management - ensuring that when meetings are being scheduled that people are not being overbooked.

Main Duties/ Responsibilities
•Support the Vendor Managers with managing the supplier relationships associated with long term complex IT contracts and involving virtual teams
•Create a mini project plan for the team to help them meet deadlines and capture milestones
•Management of procurement and transactional financial processes - such as raising PO's
•Balancing the resources of the team with the requirements of the demand, staying abreast of changes that affect the volume of work received.
•Contribution to refinement and improvement of processes by driving activities relating to the 'Manage Supplier' process
•Organise, manage and act as the secretariat for Boards, Forums and Management Team Meetings
•Coordinating and Support the evaluation process to measure any Vendor Relationships
•Support the Vendor Management Team

Skills/ Experience Required
•A proactive 'self starter', with good inter-personal, negotiation, influencing skills
•A confident and capable problem solver, comfortable numerically
•Excellent written and oral communication skills and able to establish effective working relationships with people at all levels
•A team player with a positive and professional attitude
•Able to co-ordinate several activities at once, quickly analyse and resolve specific problems and cope with deadlines
•Understanding of methodology in managing transactional activities which impact expenditure
•Excellent Excel skills and working knowledge of other Microsoft office skills including MS Project
•Experience in driving process models in large government department or other large organisation is desirable
•Highly organised with well developed planning skills and attention to detail

Formal qualifications
ITIL qualification would be an advantage but not essential

Additional Comments
Please note that the successful candidate will be required to undergo a Basic Security Check, which is at a cost of £25.