Project Manager

Job summary

Shape the Future of England and Wales Through Data That Matters

At the Office for National Statistics (ONS), our work helps shape decisions that impact millions of lives. We are looking for talented project professionals to join us in one of two exciting and high-profile roles, both offering the opportunity to lead nationally significant programmes that support the production of trusted official statistics.

Whether you are inspired by delivering one of the UK's largest data collection exercises or leading the implementation of a major international classification standard, these roles offer the chance to work at the forefront of public service, collaborate with experts across multiple disciplines, and make a lasting impact on how data is collected, analysed and used to inform decisions across government and society.

Job description

Role 1: Project Manager – Census 2031

Join one of the UK's most significant public programmes and help shape the future of England and Wales. Census 2031 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to deliver a national data collection operation that informs policy decisions, public services, funding allocations and community planning for years to come.

As a Project Manager, you'll play a key role in delivering complex projects across a large and diverse programme, working with a wide range of stakeholders, partners and specialists. You'll help drive innovative approaches to ensuring every household and community is represented, contributing to a project that impacts every person across England and Wales. This is a unique opportunity to build your project delivery career on a high-profile national programme, influence key decisions and be part of a collaborative team tackling some of the most interesting and complex delivery challenges in government.

Role 2: Project Manager – Life Events Transformation

Take the lead on a major transformation project that will modernise how cause of death statistics are produced across England and Wales. Working within the Population Statistics Directorate, you'll manage the implementation of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the latest international standard for classifying causes of death, supporting the future of world-leading mortality statistics.

As Project Manager, you'll coordinate multiple interconnected workstreams, bringing together operational, digital and analytical teams to deliver this complex, multi-year project. You'll be responsible for ensuring effective governance, managing delivery against key milestones and maintaining momentum across a project of national and international significance. This is an excellent opportunity to drive meaningful change, develop expertise in large-scale transformation delivery and contribute to statistics that support critical public health research, policy development and decision-making across the UK.

Role 3 : Project Manager - Population Statistics Research to Support Census 2031

Join a busy directorate delivering transformation projects while helping teams embed a culture of continuous improvement in the development of population statistics. Our work supports the estimation of the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, providing vital evidence for policy development, public service planning and decision-making across the UK.

As a Project Manager, you will work with a diverse range of stakeholders, coordinating activities across multiple workstreams to ensure successful delivery. You will be responsible for applying appropriate project management methodologies, developing and maintaining project plans, and implementing effective controls to monitor progress against key milestones. You will lead project governance activities, manage risks, issues and dependencies, and provide clear reporting to support informed decision-making and ensure that project objectives are clearly defined and delivered within agreed timescales, budgets and quality standards.

This is a unique opportunity to develop your project delivery career while contributing to innovative research and development activities that will help shape the future of population statistics and support preparations for Census 2031.

The role

As a Project Manager, you will lead the day-to-day delivery of projects, ensuring they are effectively planned, governed and delivered to achieve agreed objectives within time, cost and quality expectations. Working closely with a range of stakeholders, you will provide leadership, direction and coordination to project teams, helping to drive progress, manage risks and resolve issues as they arise.

You will play a key role in project governance, maintaining robust reporting and assurance arrangements while building strong relationships across teams and disciplines. By ensuring project outputs are delivered successfully, you will support the realisation of strategic benefits and contribute to ONS's wider organisational objectives.

Our Project Managers work across a diverse portfolio of initiatives, supporting the delivery of projects and programmes that help shape the future of official statistics and public services. Assignments vary considerably in size, scope and complexity, providing opportunities to work on both targeted improvements and large-scale transformational change.

Depending on the project, you may be responsible for managing work with a high degree of certainty and clearly defined stakeholder groups, or navigating complex environments involving multiple workstreams, competing priorities, technical challenges and a broad range of internal and external partners. In all cases, you will apply project management best practice to ensure successful delivery, adapting approaches where required to meet the needs of the project or programme.

This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated project professional who enjoys working collaboratively, influencing stakeholders, and delivering outcomes that make a real difference.

Responsibilities

• Create and lead the project to deliver the agreed outcomes within time, cost and quality constraints.
• Day to day management and leadership of the project and the project team. Set project controls. Design the project structure appropriate to stage. Select and apply appropriate delivery methodologies.
• Coordinate development of the Business Case.
• Track delivery within budget.
• Schedule / manage resources to deliver the project. May work independently or with a small team.
• Ensure benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked and owned.
• Ensure appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place and monitor longer term delivery of benefits against the Business Case.
• Identify key stakeholders and develop effective relationships.
• Identify and monitor project risks and issues. Develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate.
• Provide key reports and support effective governance and decision making.
• Support or set appropriate project assurance.
• Ensure effective Change Management processes are in place to agree and document changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders.
• Seek appropriate support, guidance and coaching from the project community. Show commitment to personal development. Promote effective individual and team performance.
• Build Project Plan and apply appropriate project principles to deliver stated objectives. Identify and set appropriate Project Controls. Track and report delivery against milestones.

Person specification

Essential Skills Criteria:

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate experience of:

1. Delivering projects or work packages within agreed time, cost and quality constraints, applying appropriate project management methodologies, tools and techniques to support successful outcomes. (Lead Criteria - to be addressed through a targeted question at application stage, see the selection process for further details)
2. Managing project plans, risks, issues, dependencies and assumptions, identifying potential impacts on delivery and taking appropriate action to maintain progress.
3. Gathering, analysing and presenting information to support decision-making, producing clear reporting and briefings for stakeholders, and contributing to project governance activities.
4. Managing competing priorities and workloads effectively, demonstrating resilience and adaptability to respond to changing requirements and deliver agreed outcomes.
5. Working collaboratively across teams and stakeholder groups, building effective relationships, supporting delivery through positive influence and communication, and contributing to an inclusive and professional working environment.

Desirable Qualifications

Any of the following qualifications would be advantageous for the role, but we welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate equivalent experience or capability:

• PRINCE2 Practitioner
• Agile Project Management Practitioner
• APM Project Management Qualification
• APM Practitioner Qualification

We encourage applicants who have relevant experience, transferable skills, or are working towards these qualifications.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Frameworks & Methodologies - Working : Project Delivery Capability Framework
• Planning - Working : Project Delivery Capability Framework

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 4-stage process

Stage 1: Work history, CV, skills and experience

Stage 2: Personal Statement

Stage 3: Question

Stage 4: Interview

Stage 1 – CV

The assessment process at stage 1 will be based on your work history, CV, skills and experience.

Stage 2 – Personal Statement

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 750 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed below (criterion 2-5 from the Person Specification). As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

2. Managing project plans, risks, issues, dependencies and assumptions, identifying potential impacts on delivery and taking appropriate action to maintain progress.

3. Gathering, analysing and presenting information to support decision-making, producing clear reporting and briefings for stakeholders, and contributing to project governance activities.

4. Managing competing priorities and workloads effectively, demonstrating resilience and adaptability to respond to changing requirements and deliver agreed outcomes.

5. Working collaboratively across teams and stakeholder groups, building effective relationships, supporting delivery through positive influence and communication, and contributing to an inclusive and professional working environment.

Stage 3 - Question

500 word answer to the following question which is aligned to the Lead Essential Criteria (Criterion 1):

Please provide an example of how you have planned and managed the delivery of a project, work package or significant piece of work.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the lead Essential Criteria, which you will address through Stage 3 of the process. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to interview.

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 4 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews will be carried out Via Ms Teams.

Our main locations are Newport (South Wales) and Titchfield.

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for period of up to 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Candidates should note this is a multi-location campaign and therefore the reserve list is recorded by location in merit order.

Important Dates:

The Sift will be conducted from 23/07/2026

Interviews will be conducted from 10/08/2026

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : recruitment operations
• Email : recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitmentoperations@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

ONS_Vacancy_Terms(Permanent) Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)Role3_Census1_Requirements Opens in new window (pdf, 78kB)