Projects & Change Manager

Who we are:
HLK are an IP powerhouse comprising over 200 people in 5 locations, providing a full suite of IP services advising across the globe and in all technical and scientific disciplines. We secure intellectual property rights for our clients, who are at the forefront of technological development in the electronics, engineering, chemical and biotechnology sectors.

Why work for HLK:
Our clients expect only the best from us and that is what we deliver. The work here is progressive and challenging yet rewarding. We're aware that our people are at the heart of everything we do, it's why we invest in each employee's professional development, run a yearly wellbeing programme, and not only listen to feedback, but act on it.

What will you be doing?
The Projects & Change Manager is a newly created role, and the first dedicated projects role at HLK. It reflects the firm's investment in its growth and in a busy, exciting programme of projects and change across the business.

This is a hands-on, varied role with real scope to shape how things are done. The role holder will work with colleagues across the firm to build a practical, proportionate approach to projects: more structure for larger initiatives and a lighter touch for smaller operational change. They will then put that approach into practice, leading projects from start to finish and acting as project manager, coordinator, business analyst and testing support as each project needs.

There is no fixed methodology or existing toolset, so the role holder will help choose both, and grow the role as the firm's project capability develops.

Like the wider support team, the role holder will keep our clients, and the fee earners who serve them, at the heart of every project, so that change always strengthens the service the firm provides.

Role Details
Job title: Projects & Change Manager

Reports to: Zoe Jackson, Head of Operations

Direct reports: None

Works closely with: Project sponsors, management committee, fee earners, business services teams and external suppliers

Location: Bristol or London, with hybrid working in line with firm policy

Type: New role, permanent, full time

Key Responsibilities
Shaping HLK's project approach

• Design a flexible, proportionate project framework, scaled to the size and complexity of each piece of work.
• Define the stages a project moves through, from idea and approval to delivery, handover and review.
• Create simple, reusable templates, including project charters, RAID logs, status reports and closure reports.
• Recommend and implement project and collaboration tools, making good use of what the firm already has.
• Introduce a consistent way to prioritise and track the portfolio of projects, and report on it to the management committee.
• Help colleagues get the most from the approach, and keep improving it based on what works well.

Delivering projects and change

• Shape each project around the needs of our clients and the fee earners who serve them, keeping disruption to their work to a minimum.
• Manage multiple cross-functional projects at once, from initiation through to closure.
• Agree scope, objectives, timelines, budgets and success measures with project sponsors.
• Build and maintain project plans, keeping projects on track.
• Identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies and changes in scope, escalating where needed.
• Coordinate internal teams and external suppliers.
• Plan the people side of change, including communications, training and handover into business as usual.

Governance and administration

• Set up and run project meetings, steering groups and check-ins, with clear agendas.
• Record decisions and actions, circulate them promptly and follow up until they are closed.
• Work with stakeholders to keep commitments on track, constructively and consistently.
• Keep project documentation, logs and reports accurate and current.

Business analysis and testing

• Map current processes and gather requirements from users and stakeholders.
• Turn requirements into clear documents, user stories or specifications.
• Support the business with writing user acceptance testing (UAT) scripts, and help track any issues raised through to resolution.
• Run post-implementation reviews and share lessons learned.

Stakeholder engagement

• Build strong working relationships with fee earners, business services teams and leadership.
• Communicate progress clearly and in plain language, adapting to the audience.
• Act as the central point of contact for project and change activity across the firm.

Person Specification
Essential

• Experience managing or coordinating projects or business change, ideally several at once.
• Hands-on use of core project tools and documents, such as plans, RAID logs and status reports.
• Experience running meetings, taking clear notes and following up on actions.
• Some exposure to requirements gathering, process mapping or user testing.
• Strong organisation and prioritisation across competing deadlines.
• Clear, confident written and verbal communication with people at all levels.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft 365, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint.

Desirable

• Experience in professional services, such as a law, IP, accountancy or consultancy firm.
• Experience setting up project processes or tools where none existed before.
• Familiarity with project or work-management tools such as Microsoft Planner or Project, Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet or Jira.
• Awareness of more than one way of working, such as waterfall, agile or hybrid.
• A project qualification such as PRINCE2 Foundation, APM PFQ, CAPM or Agile PM. Equivalent practical experience is equally welcome.

Personal Qualities

• Self-motivated and comfortable working independently.
• Pragmatic, applying the right level of structure and flexing where needed.
• A doer who enjoys the detail and the organisation as much as the bigger picture.
• Tenacious and diplomatic in following up on actions.
• Curious, quick to learn the business and keen to grow with the role.