Project Coordinator

We’re looking for a super organised Project Coordinator to join our team at The First Word. Join us to manage our team’s time, keep our projects on track and our clients happy. In return, we’ll give you a competitive salary and an opportunity to grow in a small, friendly agency with big clients and a great work-life balance.

This is initially a one-year maternity cover role, with a view to becoming permanent and growing in the role, if we’re the right fit for each other.

Who we’re looking for

To keep our busy team organised, we’re looking for someone who:

• has brilliant time management, is known for being organised and able to prioritise multiple tasks
  
  
• is a great communicator, confident to collaborate with colleagues and communicate with clients
  
  
• can happily find their way around an Excel spreadsheet, MS Office and Google Docs
  
  
• has a keen eye for detail
  
  
• is comfortable working independently as part of a small, close-knit, high-performing team – mostly remotely but with regular online calls and meetups
  
  
• has project administration or project management experience (creative agency experience a plus but not a deal breaker)
  
  
• is looking for a one-year maternity cover role – with a view to becoming permanent and growing in the role, if we’re the right fit for each other
  
  
• is based in (or within a short commute to) London or Manchester.
  
  If you’re successful, you’ll need to get BPSS clearance so you can work with our UK Government clients.
  
  What you’ll do
  
  Day to day, you’ll:
  
  
• coordinate our teams, including our freelancers, to make sure we all keep to our project deadlines
  
  
• create and update detailed project plans (in MS Excel or other project software if you prefer) to keep our projects on track
  
  
• set up meetings and help manage the team’s diaries
  
  
• quality check our work to make sure we deliver the high standards our clients keep coming back for
  
  
• keep in regular contact with our clients with project updates (and friendly nudges where you need to)
  
  
• join client and team meetings and send out follow-up emails confirming everyone’s next steps
  
  
• collate and file project documents so our team can easily find what they need to carry out their work
  
  
• manage client invoices so we have all the details we need to submit them on time
  
  
• work with our clients to arrange everything we need for our training workshops – including room bookings, travel and expenses, delegate lists and feedback surveys
  
  
• help the team with general admin as needed to keep all our moving parts moving.
  
  Who you’ll be joining
  
  At The First Word, we’re on a mission to turn business blah into brilliant communications. That means banishing jargon and business speak (you won’t be doing any ‘synergising’ here!) and helping our clients sound like human beings, not corporate robots.
  
  We turn blah into brilliant by:
  
  
• helping our clients find their unique tone of voice
  
  
• bringing words to life for their teams with training, coaching and digital learning
  
  
• writing clear, empathetic communications that get results.
  
  We’re a close-knit team of writers, trainers, account handlers and designers. We work mostly from home or our shared workspaces in London and Manchester, but with regular catchups, ‘working together days’ and team socials. We also sometimes work from our clients’ offices, across the UK and beyond, for training, events or meetings.
  
  Join us and you’ll get
  
  Real responsibility and a work-life balance that you won’t get in a larger workplace. You won’t be just a number – you’ll have a direct line to the directors who’ll give you a voice in the company and support your development.
  
  Lots of variety – you won’t be stuck on one client. You’ll get to work on different brands and projects every day. And we may be small, but our clients are big, including household names across UK and global businesses.
  
  A competitive salary and lots of benefits, including a company pension, 21 days holiday (plus a day off on your birthday) and regular team socials.
  
  The job in a nutshell
  
  
• c. £27k – £35k, depending on your experience
  
  
• Full-time, Monday to Friday
  
  
• 1-year maternity cover contract, with a view to becoming permanent and growing in the role, if we’re the right fit for each other
  
  
• Flexibility to work from home or our shared workspaces in London or Manchester
  
  
• Regular team socials and ‘working-together days’ in London and Manchester
  
  
• Matched pension contributions in line with Workplace Pension regulations after you’ve passed your three-month probation
  
  
• 21 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays, a day off on your birthday and Christmas closure. If we both agree to make the role permanent following the maternity cover, your annual holiday entitlement will increase by one day per year, to a maximum of 25 days.
  
  
• Focus Fridays (no meetings)
  
  
• Expected start date: 3 June 2025
  
  How to apply
  
  Send us your CV with a cover note telling us why you’re the one we want in no more than 200 words. (We’re all about the power of words, so you don’t want to skip this part!)
  
  We’re looking forward to finding out if you’re the next member of our blah-banisher team