Project Support Officer

The Project Support Officer will support the Digital Project and Programme Managers in ensuring that all project management artefacts are maintained and updated to the frequency and level of quality expected.

You will play a key role in ensuring that project process and standards are followed.

What you’ll be doing as a Project Support Officer

• Project Coordination: Support Digital Project and Programme Managers by maintaining accurate project documentation, including plans, risk logs, issue registers, and progress reports.
• Financial Management: Assist with tracking programme budgets, raising purchase orders, managing financial approvals, and ensuring spend is aligned with forecasts. Provide early warnings for potential budget deviations.
• Governance & Reporting: Coordinate and prepare materials for governance meetings (e.g. steering boards, architectural reviews), take minutes, and follow up on agreed actions.
• Portfolio Support: Help maintain an overarching 3–5 year roadmap for project and product delivery, ensuring outcomes and benefits are tracked and any changes are formally managed.
• Performance Reporting: Contribute to the preparation of monthly performance and portfolio reports, summarising key milestones, risks, issues, financials, and resource utilisation.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with Digital Engineering, PMO, Finance, and Product Management teams to ensure alignment and compliance with Thames Water’s delivery standards.
• Process & Quality Assurance: Support project quality assurance reviews and ensure project artefacts comply with internal governance processes and documentation standards.
• Administrative Support: Support procurement, onboarding/offboarding, and supplier management activities as required by the portfolio or product management teams.

What you should bring to the role
Essential

• Proven experience working within a Digital or IT project environment in a PSO or similar coordination role, with a strong focus on financial governance and reporting.
• Extensive project accounting experience, including budget tracking, cost control, purchase order management, and financial forecasting across complex digital portfolios.
• Strategic financial planning skills, with the ability to analyse spend trends, anticipate variances, and provide clear insight to project and programme leads.
• Accounting background or qualification, demonstrating strong understanding of financial principles, processes, and compliance requirements.
• Working knowledge of Agile and/or Product Management delivery methodologies, particularly how financial tracking and reporting integrate within iterative delivery models.
• Understanding of financial elements in cyber or digital transformation projects, such as cost management of cyber security initiatives, supplier contracts, and risk mitigation investments.

Desirable

• Advanced Excel or SharePoint qualifications/skills
• From a programme environment
• Exposure to JIRA or ADO
• Knowledge of how to create Power BI reports

What’s in it for you?

• Daily Pay rate: £500
• IR35 determination: Inside IR35
• Location: Hybrid – Clear Water Court Reading
• Length of assignment: 6 months (with potential to go permanent)
• Required Start date: ASAP

Please note you will be on assignment at Thames Water via Pertemps

Who are we?
At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life’s essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive.
 
Water is life’s great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day. From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we’re committed to taking care of it for us all.
 
But keeping water flowing is becoming harder. From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers. We need to keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever. Are you ready to play your part?

Working at Thames Water
At Thames Water we recognise that people are at the heart of our business. To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge. We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, background, and differences that each individual brings.

Our over-arching diversity and inclusion aim is to ensure Thames Water is a diverse and inclusive great place to work. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.

Find out more about working at Thames Water.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business, meet colleagues and earn some extra money along the way.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.