Programme Director

This contract with our central government client is for a Programme Director with a proven track record of leading highly complex change programmes in the public sector. The role is for 6 months, with a hybrid requirement - UK-wide - of 2 days per week in any office except London.  

The successful person will be accountable to the programme SRO in leading the successful delivery of a complex transformation programme, which is a key initiative in their business change portfolio.  

Job Purpose:  

Being accountable to the Programme SRO, the post-holder will be responsible for a defined set of interdependent projects and the associated business change activities within the programme. They will have primary responsibility for successful delivery of the required outcomes, including: the establishment of appropriate governance that fully integrates with organisational governance and assurance, monitoring progress, managing risks and issues, and ensuring business readiness for change. The post-holder may have one or more Project Managers / Directors reporting to them, who will be responsible for the successful delivery of their projects within the programme but ultimately accountable to the Programme Director. The role will be suitable to an individual who is an experienced Government Project Delivery professional who has successfully managed highly complex projects and programmes (high complexity initiatives are generally characterised as having a high degree of uncertainty, are large in size, politically sensitive, technically complex, have many stakeholders and often need procedures and methodologies to be adapted to suit unique situations).  

This is a key Project Delivery leadership role, where you will align your ways of working to the Government Project Delivery Function, using the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery (002) and IPA Project Delivery Toolkit as your benchmark for success, championing the Project Delivery profession across the organisation and ensuring successful delivery of the programme’s strategic objectives. You will be an integral part of the Enterprise Portfolio and Change senior leadership team and contribute to the wider leadership of the Agency, in accordance with the client's values and behaviours, and the behavioural competencies of the Government Project Delivery Profession.  

Key accountabilities and responsibilities  

The post holder will:  

• Business Case: be accountable for and lead the development of the business case, ensuring alignment with senior stakeholders, and gaining business case approval through the required governance framework.  

• Governance & Assurance be responsible for establishing a governance framework for the programme that fully integrates with existing organisational governance and assurance. The post holder will be held to account through these governance processes, including the provision of all reporting. They will be accountable for establishing and managing Quality Assurance and Change Management processes, engaging with assurance reviews, and acting on recommendations.  

• Programme Delivery: be accountable to the SRO for creating and leading the programme to deliver the agreed outcomes.  

• Stakeholder Management & Communication: work collaboratively with the programme SRO to jointly manage senior stakeholders, ensuring stakeholder interests are identified and addressed. They will be accountable for leading, managing and directing stakeholder communications across multiple groups to achieve buy-in to programme objectives and delivery of outcomes.  

• Leadership & Guidance: be accountable for providing leadership, strategic direction, and guidance to the programme team, and more broadly cross-organisation where applicable.  

• Resource Management: be accountable for building and maintaining a strong delivery-focused programme team. Provide leadership, and direct larger multi-disciplinary teams to deliver successfully. The post-holder will be accountable for ensuring all projects within the programme have identified skills requirements at all stages and that resources are recruited within budget constraints.  

• Budget Management: be accountable for and lead the development of the programme budget, and ensuring the programme is tracked and delivered within budget.  

• Risks & Issues Management: be accountable for ensuring strategic and operational risks and issues are identified, prioritised, assessed, and mitigated. Ensuring senior stakeholders are briefed, updated and where appropriate, enrolled in the management and control of key risks. Identify and engage specialists where appropriate.  

• Benefits Management: be accountable for providing strategic leadership in the effective monitoring and management of benefits, and to maximise benefits from the programme. This will include ensuring benefits are identified, understood, owned, measured, tracked, and owned. The post-holder will also ensure an appropriate Benefit Realisation Strategy is in place and be accountable for ensuring longer term delivery of benefits is appropriately owned and being monitored against the business case.  

• Performance & Controls: be accountable for developing and agreeing the vision and measurable success criteria with the SRO. They will be accountable for ensuring projects have developed and maintained project plans and are integrated with other inter-dependent projects. They will be accountable for ensuring the progress and performance of projects are appropriately monitored and controlled in line with standards, good practice and that lessons learned are sought and applied. They will be accountable for ensuring the transition of deliverables are well defined and agreed with stakeholders and they will be accountable for the effective management of project / programme closure and sign off.  

• Dependency Management: own strategic, cross-organisational, and key supplier dependencies, ensuring dependencies are re-aligned to reflect changes in the programme’s environment.

Key skills and knowledge  

The post-holder will:  

• hold a recognised project delivery leadership certification i.e. APM Chartered Project Professional or Major Projects Leadership Academy, or equivalent.  

• hold a recognised PPM practitioner certification i.e. Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), APM Chartered Project Professional, PRINCE2 / Agile, or equivalent.  

• hold a graduate or post-graduate degree in a relevant area, or equivalent professional qualification.  

• be able to demonstrate considerable depth and breadth of experience in leading and delivering highly complex business change programmes in the public sector.  

• have experience and knowledge of applying different methodologies to project delivery (waterfall / agile / hybrid) and applying the DDaT perspective, GDS Service Manual and Standard, and the Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery (002)  

• be experienced in leading and establishing governance frameworks for a complex change programme, including defining roles and responsibilities, accountabilities, controls, and approval routes appropriate to each stage of a programme / project to monitor progress and compliance.  

• be experienced in leading how financial budgets and resources are managed in the context of a complex change programme, including how resources should be allocated to optimise return on investment, and providing decision-making on when activity should be stopped, started, or continued to best support successful delivery of programme objectives.  

• be experienced in leading the effective management of programme risks and issues in a complex change programme and planning how to successfully mitigate them.  

• be experienced in leading the management of dependencies across a complex change programme.  

• Be experienced in leading the management of benefits across a complex change programme.  

Key Essential Skills:  

- Experience Implementing IT model – Strong outsourcing focus.  

- Decommissioning legacy estates.  

- Background in multi million pound programme delivery.  

- Experience of IT operating models.