Delivery Manager

We’re looking for a Delivery Manager to join our Publishing & HR Systems Centre of Excellence on a permanent basis in London. Reporting to the Head of Publishing Systems, you’ll help shape how change is delivered across some of our most important enterprise platforms, including BiblioSuite and Dayforce. Working closely with Product Managers, internal technology teams and external partners, you’ll bring together the people, processes and dependencies needed to move change forward effectively. You’ll also help evolve the delivery frameworks and ways of working that underpin this change, strengthening handoffs and delivery rhythms across teams and suppliers, making progress, quality, risks and dependencies more visible, and using meaningful measures to identify where delivery can improve. There is real scope to shape practical, lightweight approaches that make delivery more predictable, transparent and effective.

About the team

The Technology team provides expertise and effective solutions to Penguin Random House. We integrate flexibility and agility which supports our consistent way of working. We set ourselves up for success by holding ourselves accountable and welcoming change. Each member of the Technology team brings skill and initiative to their role; we take personal ownership within a one team culture, working collaboratively to meet expectations from our stakeholders who trust us to deliver.

The role

The role spans both Publishing and HR Systems, bringing a consistent delivery approach across BAU enhancements and larger programmes.

Key responsibilities

• Own, document and continuously improve delivery frameworks and governance across Publishing & HR systems, keeping ways of working clear, lightweight and repeatable.
• Bring Product, Architecture, Test & Release, Support, Security, Change, Service Introduction and external vendors together around integrated delivery plans, clear responsibilities and visible dependencies.
• Establish effective delivery rhythms with technology vendors, making commitments, handoffs, acceptance criteria and escalation paths explicit.
• Use meaningful delivery measures, including throughput, predictability, quality, defects and rework, to create an objective view of performance and drive improvement with teams and suppliers.
• Standardise intake, readiness and handoffs, identifying opportunities to simplify or automate the delivery lifecycle and reduce manual coordination.
• Maintain a visible view of delivery risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies, driving mitigation actions and decisions to closure.
• Coordinate complex change into production across SaaS and enterprise platforms, including cutover, environment dependencies, testing, service introduction and operational readiness.
• Ensure runbooks, rollback plans and post-implementation reviews are in place for releases and significant change events.
• Coordinate end-to-end Security Compliance Assessments, ensuring evidence is gathered, actions tracked and approvals secured.
• Work closely with Product Managers on scope, priorities, readiness and acceptance, and with Architecture to translate design and integration decisions into deliverable plans.
• Communicate progress, quality, risks and decisions clearly to stakeholders, creating a shared and evidence-based view of delivery.

What you’ll bring

• Proven Delivery Manager experience coordinating complex enterprise technology change across multiple internal teams and external suppliers.
• A track record of maturing practical delivery frameworks, governance and ways of working, including in environments where the delivery model is still evolving.
• Strong vendor delivery management skills; able to establish clear expectations and delivery rhythms, use measures to understand performance, and hold suppliers constructively to account.
• Experience coordinating SaaS or enterprise platform change through testing, security/compliance, cutover, service introduction and operational readiness.
• Excellent planning, risk, issue and dependency management and stakeholder communication skills; comfortable balancing multiple concurrent change streams.
• Familiarity with integration-heavy systems and enterprise change; ERP/HRIS and/or publishing systems experience advantageous.
• Knowledge of BiblioSuite and/or Dayforce delivery models.
• Exposure to architecture and integration concepts; able to collaborate effectively with architects and translate design decisions into delivery plans.
• Understanding of ITIL/service management and release management best practice.
• Experience with delivery tooling (e.g., Jira/Confluence) and metrics for flow, throughput and quality.

Disability Confident

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview. We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.

AI

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team. We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.

The salary for this opportunity is c.£65,000, depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus a generous bonus scheme and benefits. While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from our London office in Embassy Gardens 2 days per week (typically Tuesday & Thursday), with flexibility to travel to our site in Colchester when required.