As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do.

We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other.

Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More about your role

As our Project Support Officer (SOV), you'll provide proactive and confidential project support across multiple workstreams, working with senior colleagues, internal teams and external partners. You'll coordinate meetings and workshops, prepare agendas and papers, capture decisions and actions, and keep deadlines and approvals on track. You'll also help prepare briefings, reports and presentations, maintain accurate project records and use Microsoft 365 tools to help the team work effectively and deliver priorities at pace.

Essential criteria

To be considered for this role, you'll need:

• Experience providing project support in a busy, complex and fast-paced environment.
• Strong organisational and time management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple meetings, deadlines, actions and priorities across an evolving project or work plan.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including producing clear meeting notes or minutes, action trackers, briefings and professional correspondence.
• Confident stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work professionally and discreetly with senior leaders, colleagues, external partners and Government stakeholders.
• Strong attention to detail and digital capability, including proof-reading, formatting and using Microsoft Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint effectively.

Preferred:

• Experience of supporting senior leaders, Executive Assistants or governance-style meetings, including preparing papers, tracking actions and managing follow-up activity.
• Experience of working across multiple organisations, partner groups, workstreams or stakeholder forums, including supporting events, workshops, site visits or face-to-face meetings.
• Experience of using Microsoft 365 collaboration tools such as SharePoint, Planner, Lists or OneNote, ideally within a social housing, public policy, regulated or partnership environment.

More about you

You'll be organised, comfortable managing several priorities at once and able to keep things moving when plans change. You'll bring strong attention to detail and confidence working with senior colleagues and external stakeholders, including Government stakeholders where required. You'll be comfortable using Microsoft 365 and turning complex information into clear summaries, actions and well-presented documents. Experience supporting senior-level meetings, formal governance or complex projects, and using tools such as SharePoint, Copilot or Facilitator, would be an advantage.

What you'll get

We know rewarding work deserves rewarding benefits. That's why, alongside a competitive salary, you'll have access to a package designed to support you at work and beyond.
You'll receive:

• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
  • Bonus scheme for colleagues up to 2%
  • 35 days holiday (including bank holidays) with the option to buy or sell days
  • Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs, with private GP and health support services available
  • Comprehensive wellbeing support including counselling, flu jabs, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and access to our Wellbeing Hub, supporting your mental, physical and financial wellbeing
  • Access to Our Place Rewards, offering discounts and savings on groceries, travel, shopping, home products and other lifestyle purchases
  • Ongoing training, professional qualifications, internal development programmes and career progression opportunities
  • Recognition programmes including Star Awards and Colleague Awards, celebrating achievements and recognising great work
  • Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
  • Free membership to Places Gyms
  • Life Assurance to provide financial security for your loved ones, alongside access to will writing services to help you plan for the future with confidence

What's next?

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then apply following our simple 5 minute application process, upload a CV and a supporting statement which demonstrates how you meet the requirements of the role. If you have any questions please email the recruitment team recruitment@placesforpeople.co.uk 

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided you meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. 

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you're looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on skillsemployment@placesforpeople.co.uk. 

Please note that we may bring the closing date forward, if we receive a large number of quality applications. If you are interested in this role we would advise applying immediately to avoid disappointment.

If you are using a mobile device such as an iPad then ensure your CV is stored in the cloud, we currently support Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.  

If you are a recruitment agency please note we operate a PSL and do not take cold calls

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. 

We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. 

By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities