Research Project Manager - CSIRO Land & Water - [Archived Advertisement]

The Opportunity

• Lead and coordinate delivery outputs across large & complex projects
• Contribute to critical national projects for the newly formed Australian Climate Service 
• Showcase your research project management skills involving teams with multiple skillsets 

At CSIRO, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We are Australia's national science agency and innovation catalyst, collaborating to boost Australia's innovation performance. We have partnered with the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics in creating the newly established Australian Climate Service (ACS) to address recommendations into National Natural Hazard Arrangements. The ACS will be the Commonwealth’s trusted provider of data, information and knowledge to support improved preparation for, response to and recovery from natural disasters, reducing risk and building resilience, in Australia. It brings together Australia’s leading climate and natural disaster information and expertise in a customer-led and mission-focussed national capability.

A number of newly created roles are available to support delivery of the ACS portfolio of projects and will be based within CSIRO Land & Water (L&W). Through an integrated systems research approach CSIRO L&W provides the information and technologies required by government, industry and the Australian and international communities to protect, restore, and manage natural and built environments. These projects will build national capabilities to provide Australian national bushfire intelligence, to inform relief, recovery and longer-term disaster risk reduction activities; improve the capture, standardisation and use of disaster impact and consequence data across all elements of the disaster cycle; catalyse and scale-up investment in disaster risk reduction, adaptation and resilience.

As a Research Project Manager, you will play a key role in coordinating the delivery of one of these large complex projects. You will work closely with Project leaders and CSIRO’s ACS coordinator to help lead the delivery of CSIRO’s ACS work, and ensure alignment and coherence of individual projects in the ACS portfolio. You will work with project leads, research teams and business development officers in CSIRO, along with partners within the Australian Climate Service, and other external stakeholders, to ensure projects are delivered, successfully, within scope and budget. You will also be responsible for developing and overseeing project budgets, workflows and progress reporting; developing and managing contracting and IP arrangements in cooperation with CSIRO legal, business and contracts support services; identifying and planning capability requirements with Project Leaders; overseeing project logistics; managing processes for ethics and privacy compliance; and supervising and supporting administration roles.

Applications are invited across two job classification levels and the successful candidate will be appointed at the level commensurate with their skills and experience.

Your duties will include:

• Liaise with internal and external ACS stakeholders to ensure projects are delivered on-time, within scope and within budget
• Assist in the definition of project scope and objectives, working closely with Project Leaders and CSIRO’s ACS Coordinator, with involvement of all relevant stakeholders to ensure feasibility with regards to resource availability, allocation and timing
• Provide regular reporting plans to monitor and track progress through communication with Project Leaders, Business Development, Finance, Contracts and Legal teams, and all relevant ACS committees
• Perform risk management analysis including tracking to minimise project risks
• Manage changes to project scope, schedule and costs using appropriate verification techniques 
• Create and maintain comprehensive project documentation, including spreadsheets, diagrams and process maps to document needs related to project planning, project scheduling, relevant interdependencies between projects, project risks and risk mitigation strategies 
• Co-ordinate the completion of regular project finance and progress reports as required by ACS

Location: Canberra or Melbourne preferred, other locations negotiable
Salary: AU$117k - AU$157k per annum (pro-rata for part-time), plus up to 15.4% superannuation
Tenure: Specified term of 4 years
Reference: 80802

To be considered you will need:

• Bachelor degree in a relevant field, and/or extensive relevant experience in project management and research operations in a science environment
• Demonstrated knowledge and skills in project management techniques, tools and methodologies, covering all phases of the project life-cycle.
• Proven experience in managing the successful delivery of complex R&D projects to schedule and quality objectives, in multi-disciplinary teams with a customer orientation. 
• Proven ability to investigate and solve complex problems, readily adapt to changing circumstances and maintain professionalism and flexibility, in order to achieve successful project outcomes.
• Highly developed time management and organisational skills with the ability to prioritise demands, and escalate issues as appropriate; establish priorities for managing multiple tasks and deadlines, and approach challenges and pressurised situations with a constructive mindset.
• Ability to proactively manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders, to understand and respond to client needs, delivering information relevant to diverse audiences, and appropriate channel selection.

For full details about this role please review the Position Description

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this role, you must be an Australian/New Zealand Citizen, Australian Permanent Resident or Australian Temporary Resident with an existing visa and valid work rights to cover the duration of the specified term (at least until March 2026), without the requirement of sponsorship from CSIRO.   

The successful applicant will be required to obtain and provide a National Police Check or equivalent and may be subject to other security/medical/character check requirements.

Flexible Working Arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. 

Diversity and Inclusion

We are working hard to recruit people representing the diversity across our society, and ensure that all our people feel supported to do their best work and feel empowered to let their ideas flourish. 

About CSIRO

At CSIRO Australia's national science agency, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. We put the safety and wellbeing of our people above all else and earn trust everywhere because we only deal in facts. We collaborate widely and generously and deliver solutions with real impact. 

Join us and start creating tomorrow today!

How to Apply

Please apply on-line and provide a cover letter and CV that best demonstrate your motivation and ability to meet the requirements of this role.

Applications Close

This role will remain open until filled however we encourage you to apply early as we will begin assessing applications from 31 January 2022.