National Programme Coordinator

Role:                       National Programme Coordinator

Directorate:           Operations

Team:                     National Competitions

Manager:               Senior National Competitions Manager

Direct reports:    N/A

Role purpose

The purpose of this role is to support the National Programme Team with the implementation of operational plans that deliver successful national skills competitions. This will include supporting the activities and actions relating to the national programme cycle, projects across diversity and inclusion and transfer of global standards to maximise local and national activity in the UK.

Key tasks and responsibilities

·       To contribute to the successful delivery of WorldSkills UK’s strategic priorities and annual business objectives.

·       To support skills competitions that raise standards of teaching and learning and serve as a key vehicle for practitioner development across the vocational education and training sector and the workplace, including Apprenticeship/Traineeships.

·       To co-ordinate activities relating to requesting, tracking and quality assuring key documents required from our Competition Organising Partners (COPs), ensuring documents are received within set deadlines.

·       To co-ordinate and support the planning and event delivery of national skills competition activity across the UK, including booking travel, venues, accommodation and catering.

·       To administer and co-ordinate the local and national projects i.e. Competitor Support Fund, and Evaluations.

·       To administer and co-ordinate project plans, reporting, finance, systems, processes (i.e. Quality Assurance) and document management.

·       To support improved engagement in skills competitions by all Stakeholder groups and audiences.

·       To support the organisation by producing reports and data requests using the organisational database and systems.

·       To support the National Competitions Delivery Managers in the organisation of skills competitions, to include administration and research of new skills competitions.

·       To co-ordinate and provide support on the implementation of the quality assurance process and ensure that accurate information is recorded at the bi-annual reviews with the COPs.

·       To support the recruitment and briefing of volunteers as required for the national competition cycle.

·       To organise and support communication with competitors, their organisations and COPs through monitoring the Competitions email inbox, allocating queries to team members and responding to requests for information and providing support to the team in answering queries from staff, external stakeholders and suppliers.

·       To maintain and update competition management systems, records and files, handling confidential information in compliance with the organisations procedures.

·       To effectively co-ordinate resources (including agencies, suppliers, contractors) so that all project elements are delivered to acceptable standards on time, to budget and meet the required specification(s)/objective(s) and assisting the team with financial processes such as raising purchase orders.

·       To support activities/tasks in accordance with the agreed project plan to ensure delivery on time and to budget.

General:

In addition to the key tasks and responsibilities set out above, all employees at this level are expected to:

·       Contribute to the successful delivery of WorldSkills UK’s strategic priorities and annual business objectives.

·       Promote and comply with WorldSkills UK’s Employee Handbook and the policies contained therein with particular reference to those related to Health and Safety and on equity, diversity and inclusion.

·       Carry out any other duty as may be reasonably assigned that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility. Any significant changes will be made in consultation with the post holder acknowledging experience, education and ability.

Person specification

Key: [E] Essential / [D] Desirable.

Qualifications and experience:

·       Demonstrable experience or qualifications relevant to project coordination or administrative support [E].

·       Apprenticeship or other relevant project experience [D].

·       Experience of providing support to programmes in the public sector [D].

·       Experience of organising events [D].

·       An understanding of basic project management principles [D].

Knowledge and skills:

·       Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Office suite skills as well as using bespoke software programmes for data reporting [D].

·       Highly developed administration skills [E].

·       Good verbal, written and presentation skills [E].

·       Knowledge of further education, apprenticeships and skills [D].

Personal qualities and attributes:

·       Consistently dependable and acts with integrity in all professional matters [E].

·       Able to work on own initiative with broad direction [E].

·       Able to contribute to solving problems by offering practical or innovative approaches [E].

·       Possess a strong work ethic and desire to achieve results [E].

·       Flexible in working methods and ideas [E].

·       Able to work collaboratively with others and contribute positively to team outcomes [E].

·       Demonstrates commitment to the organisation’s mission and can support and encourage others [E].

·       Respect for diversity and inclusion with practical ideas for their implementation within the scope of the post [E].

Special circumstances:

·       Prepared occasionally to work outside normal hours [E].

·       Prepared to travel within the United Kingdom [E].

·       Able to spend time away from home [E].

Summary of terms and conditions

·       Permanent.

·       The salary for this role is £28,000.

·       WorldSkills UK offers a maximum employer’s contribution to your pension of 6% of your basic salary, on the condition that you make an employee contribution to your pension of at least 3%. You may choose to contribute a higher percentage of your salary to your pension, subject to statutory limits.

·       Group Death in Service (Life insurance) 3 x annual salary.

·       Health Care Cash plan.

·       Normal place of work is Third Floor, 52-54 St John Street, London EC1M 4HF. This role is office based (as above) but with flexible hybrid working. It is expected the postholder will attend the office at least once or twice a week.

·       Full time working hours are a minimum of 35 hours per week, normal working hours are 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday although we pride ourselves on having a flexible approach to our working practices and service delivery and are happy to discuss flexible working options, with suitable candidates.

·       25 days’ annual leave [which will increase by one additional day for each completed year of service up to a maximum of 30 days] plus public and bank holidays.

·       The post is subject to six months’ probationary period with two weeks’ notice during the probationary period and one month thereafter.

·       The offer of appointment will be subject to satisfactory references.

·       Salaries are paid monthly by direct transfer on or about 21st of the month.

How to apply

WorldSkills UK is committed to making appointments on merit by fair and open processes and use a blind recruitment approach. Please ensure that you submit your application in Word (curriculum vitae and cover letter) to help us in this process.

Applications should be submitted by email and must include:

·       Curriculum vitae outlining your full career history. Please remove any identifying information to support our anonymised recruitment process. This includes your name, email address, date of birth, nationality, languages spoken other than English, photographs, and links to personal profiles (e.g. LinkedIn). Applications that contain identifying information in the CV may not be considered.

·       Supporting statement outlining your suitability for the role, addressing the points listed in the role description and person specification. Throughout the recruitment process we will be looking for clear examples and evidence of your experience, knowledge and skills.

·       Separate document containing your name, contact details (email and phone number) and confirmation of your right to work in the UK.

Interview process and timeline

It is intended that the interview process will have two stages:

·       Stage 1 – online via MS Teams. The interviews will be held on Wednesday 15 April 2026.

 ·       Stage 2 – in person. Candidates progressing to the second stage will be invited to attend an in-person interview at our office: Third Floor, 52–54 St John Street, London EC1M 4HF. This stage of the interview process will take place on Wednesday 22 April 2026.

Candidates will be asked to complete a 30-minute interview task, the details of which will be provided to those invited to the interview.

Reasonable adjustments will be offered to all candidates during the recruitment process. For further information please contact our Senior HR Manager.

Application deadline

The deadline for applications is Monday 6 April 2026 at 17:00. Please note that late or incomplete applications will not be considered.