Programme Manager – Procurement Transformation – AR in London

The Council faces significant and sustained financial pressure over the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, driven by rising demand, inflationary cost pressures and constrained funding. The scale of the budget gap requires a fundamental shift in how the Council manages its third-party spend, ensuring every pound delivers maximum value for residents. Procurement and contract management represent one of the Council’s largest areas of controllable expenditure, yet the current operating model limits the Council’s ability to leverage its scale, manage demand and consistently secure value for money.

At present, procurement and contract management activity is largely decentralised, with fragmented processes, inconsistent application of governance and limited visibility of spend, contracts and performance. This results in duplication, unclear accountability and a reduced ability to take a coordinated, council-wide approach to commercial decision-making. These challenges are structural in nature and cannot be addressed through incremental improvement alone.

In response, the Council is undertaking a fundamental transformation to a hybrid hub-and-spoke, category-based operating model. This will create a stronger central procurement hub, supported by defined service-facing roles and accountabilities, while recognising the distinct operating requirements of contract management across the Council. The model will be underpinned by strengthened governance, improved data, clearer accountabilities and more consistent end-to-end commercial processes.

Delivery of the transformation is structured through defined workstreams, with clear accountability for outcomes and supported by a central programme function. The programme is being delivered alongside approved business cases to reduce third-party spend, requiring rapid mobilisation of capability, strong programme discipline and close alignment between design and delivery. This will require experienced, delivery-focused resource to operate at pace, embed new ways of working and ensure benefits are realised from the outset.

Key Responsibilities

• Define, mobilise and maintain a single integrated programme plan, aligning P&CM Op Model implementation with associated business case delivery, including clear phasing, milestones and outcomes.
• Establish and lead a robust programme governance framework, including reporting, risk and issue management, escalation routes and decision-making forums, ensuring clear oversight and accountability.
• Lead the establishment and mobilisation planning for the new operating model, including implementation phasing, transition arrangements, resource requirements, role dependencies, service engagement and readiness activity.
• Lead cross-workstream integration, managing dependencies, sequencing and critical path delivery to ensure coordinated and timely implementation across all elements of the programme.
• Drive benefits realisation by establishing clear baselines, benefit profiles, tracking methods and reporting mechanisms for both the transformation programme and the longer-term procurement and contract management operating model, ensuring a direct link between programme activity, savings outcomes, service improvements and Finance validation.
• Provide high-quality reporting and assurance to CMT, Programme Board and senior stakeholders, ensuring visibility of progress, risks, delivery confidence and performance against outcomes.
• Proactively manage programme risks and issues, ensuring early identification, mitigation and resolution, and acting as the escalation point for cross-council delivery challenges and prioritisation conflicts.
• Ensure effective deployment of programme resources, aligning capability to critical priorities and delivery milestones to maximise impact and maintain pace.
• Maintain strong corporate grip and alignment, ensuring the programme remains focused on key enablers including pipeline management, governance, management information and system implementation.
• Coordinate the programme’s systems and data dependencies, ensuring alignment between the procurement and contract management operating model, eProcurement arrangements, contract and pipeline management requirements, management information, and relevant ERP system interfaces or dependencies.

Essential Experience

• Significant experience of leading complex, cross-organisational programmes in a large, politically sensitive or public sector environment, with responsibility for programme planning, governance, delivery assurance, risk management, dependency management and senior stakeholder reporting.
• Proven experience of delivering procurement transformation, including the design, mobilisation or implementation of new procurement operating models, category management approaches, governance arrangements, procurement pipelines, commercial assurance processes and benefits realisation mechanisms.
• Strong understanding of procurement and contract management operating models, including the practical implications of moving from decentralised or inconsistent arrangements to a more coordinated hub-led or hybrid hub-and-spoke model.
• Experience of aligning transformation activity with financial savings, value for money, service outcomes and wider organisational priorities, including the ability to establish baselines, track benefits, support Finance validation and evidence delivery against agreed outcomes.
• Experience of coordinating multi-disciplinary workstreams, including operating model design, people and capability, process improvement, governance, management information, systems/data dependencies and implementation planning.
• Good understanding of procurement systems, contract management information, pipeline reporting and ERP-related dependencies, with the ability to work with technical, finance, procurement and service stakeholders to ensure systems requirements are aligned to the operating model.
• Strong senior stakeholder management skills, including experience of working with corporate management teams, programme boards, finance, legal, HR, digital, procurement teams and operational services to resolve issues, manage trade-offs and maintain delivery momentum.
• Demonstrable ability to operate at pace, bring structure to ambiguity, translate strategy into practical delivery plans, and embed new ways of working across services.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear programme reports, decision papers, delivery plans and assurance updates for senior audiences.