Director of IT Delivery

The University of Bristol is seeking an outstanding leader to take on the role of Director of IT Delivery, a critical position within our senior IT leadership team. This role is accountable for the end-to-end delivery of a complex, enterprise-wide portfolio of digital and technology change, enabling transformation across education, research and professional services. You will lead the evolution of how we deliver technology, embedding modern, product-led and agile ways of working, strengthening governance, and ensuring that investment delivers real, measurable value.

You’ll oversee a large, multi-disciplinary delivery organisation and partner ecosystem, ensuring that programmes are prioritised, resourced and governed effectively, while maintaining pace, quality and financial discipline. The scale and impact of the role is institution-wide, supporting a global academic community and shaping the University’s long-term digital future.

What will you be doing?

• Provide strategic leadership of a complex portfolio of digital and technology programmes, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.
• Lead the transformation of delivery capability, embedding agile, lean and product-centric operating models at scale.
• Establish and maintain robust governance, assurance and reporting frameworks to provide transparency and executive confidence.
• Own portfolio management, balancing demand, capacity, dependencies, risks and benefits across a wide range of initiatives.
• Translate strategic ambition into clear, deliverable plans, managing sequencing and dependencies across multiple programmes and products.
• Act as the senior escalation point for high-risk issues and delivery challenges, leading recovery and mitigation where needed.
• Hold accountability for financial management, including programme investment, supplier spend and resource planning.
• Build and lead high-performing multidisciplinary teams, developing capability and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Forge strong relationships with senior stakeholders across the University and with external partners, influencing at executive level.
• Drive benefits realisation and performance measurement, ensuring delivery outcomes achieve tangible institutional impact.

You should apply if

We are looking for an exceptional leader with a track record of delivering complex digital transformation at scale. You will bring:

• Significant senior leadership experience in technology delivery, digital transformation or portfolio management in a large, complex organisation.
• Proven delivery of enterprise-scale programmes with substantial budgets, multiple dependencies and high strategic impact.
• Strong experience of agile, product-led and modern delivery approaches, and scaling these across organisations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead large, multidisciplinary teams in complex, matrix environments and geographies.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the gravitas to operate at executive level.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including oversight of major investments and supplier ecosystems.
• Expertise in portfolio planning, governance, risk management and benefits realisation.
• Experience in higher education or similarly complex environments is desirable.

Benefits

• 40 days’ annual leave (including bank holidays)
• Hybrid and flexible working
• A collaborative and inclusive culture
• The opportunity to lead a high-profile, institution-wide transformation portfolio
• Reporting to the Chief Digital and Information Officer
• Leadership responsibility for a large delivery function, with both direct and matrix-managed teams
• Oversight of a substantial digital and technology investment portfolio and supplier ecosystem