Senior Manager - Strategic Projects in Harwell

Senior Manager - Strategic Projects Bicester Village•Bicester, GB, OX WD

About the Role

The Senior Manager of Strategic Projects is responsible for translating senior leadership priorities into coordinated and well‑executed initiatives across the business.

Reporting into senior executive leadership, the role ensures that strategic ambitions are converted into clear delivery plans, mobilised across the right stakeholders, and executed with discipline and pace.

The position drives forward planning, performance transparency, and investment rigor, ensuring that all major initiatives are financially sound, strategically ambitious, and execution‑ready.

The position plays a critical role in driving alignment, momentum, and accountability across Real Estate, Retail, Hospitality, and Guest Experience (our Four Pillars), while safeguarding the integrity of the brand and the mission.

Acting as a trusted execution partner to the President and our team of senior executives, the Senior Manager of Strategic Projects strengthens delivery effectiveness by bringing structure to complexity, clarity to priorities, and rigor to execution and follow‑through.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Execution and Initiative Delivery
• Translate senior leadership ideas, priorities, and strategic direction into clearly defined initiatives and executable plans.
• Own delivery of high‑priority, cross‑functional projects spanning Real Estate, Retail, Hospitality, and Guest Experience.
• Proactively identify opportunities to strengthen execution, improve ways of working, or accelerate delivery, bringing forward well‑structured proposals rather than waiting for direction.
• Demonstrate creative and critical thinking by shaping original solutions, building support across stakeholders, and actively pushing initiatives from idea through to implementation.
• Ensure initiatives are execution‑ready, with clear scope, milestones, roles, and success measures.
• Drive progress from concept through implementation, ensuring momentum and disciplined follow‑through.
• Executive Partnership & Priority Management
• Act as a close execution partner to senior executives, supporting priority setting, sequencing, and delivery oversight.
• Support leadership in converting strategic intent into practical actions across the organization.
• Provide input, synthesis, and challenge to support clear decision‑making and execution focus.
• Ensure agreed priorities move from discussion to action, with visible progress and outcomes.
• Mobilise and coordinate stakeholders across functions to ensure coordinated execution rather than fragmented delivery.
• Act as an integrator between Real Estate, Retail, Hospitality, Guest Experience, and Central and Village teams.
• Facilitate clarity on ownership, interdependencies, and hand‑offs across complex initiatives.
• Resolve blockers and manage trade‑offs to maintain delivery pace and organisational alignment.
• Apply strong project management discipline to complex, multi‑stakeholder initiatives.
• Establish delivery plans, governance, and reporting systems appropriate to the scale and complexity of each initiative.
• Track progress against agreed milestones and adjust plans as required to maintain delivery quality.
• Ensure execution remains consistent with brand standards, operating principles, and strategic non‑negotiables.
• Performance Tracking & Executive Reporting
• Monitor delivery progress and outcomes across strategic initiatives and Village operations.
• Provide clear reporting to senior leadership on status, risks, dependencies, and financial results.
• Ensure transparency, consistency, and clarity in execution reporting.
• Elevate discussions from activity tracking to delivery effectiveness and impact.
• Identify execution gaps, inefficiencies, or delivery risks across initiatives.
• Support the adoption of more effective ways of working, planning, and delivery.
• Capture learnings from delivery cycles to continuously strengthen execution capability.
• Contribute to building a culture of accountability, ownership, and delivery excellence.
• Core Competencies
• Apply Effective Decision-Making
• Make good, timely decisions that allow the organisation to stay ahead in the race for relevance.
• Be Diplomatic and Neutral
• Move comfortably through complex policy‑and people‑related organisational dynamics.
• Be Resilient
• Bounce back successfully from difficult situations.
• Be Resourceful
• Allocate resources effectively and efficiently.
• Build, Manage and Develop Teams
• Build high performance teams to achieve organisational goals and help team members develop their career journeys.
• Drive Results
• Achieve results even in complex circumstances.
• Handle Complexity and Manage Ambiguity
• Make sense of multifaceted, contradictory and high‑quality information to solve problems and effectively deal with unclear situations.
• Influence and Build Relationships
• Gain support and commitment by making convincing arguments and by building networks internally and externally.
• Show Self-Awareness
• Proactively gather feedback to build a true picture of your strengths and areas for improvement.
• Use Critical Thinking and Innovation
• Be willing and able to think outside the box and generate and implement new ideas and ways of working to increase success.

Experience & Expertise

• MBA candidate or recent graduate with 3–5 years of professional experience, ideally in management consulting, strategy, or complex project environments.
• Experience operating in fast‑paced, senior‑stakeholder settings with exposure to cross‑functional delivery.
• International mindset with comfort working across cultures, geographies, and organisational contexts.
• Interest in luxury, retail, real estate, hospitality, or guest‑centric environments is advantageous.
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