Project, Programme, Portfolio Manager - Consultant (Financial Services) in London

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future. As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity. Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results. We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport. Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

Our Delivery Team is PA’s Centre of Excellence for all project, programme and portfolio capability. The team has a great reputation for realising high value outcomes for our clients by supporting and leading delivery across the most critical projects, programmes and portfolios. Developing meaningful and long‑standing partnerships with our clients, the team also has an extensive track record of providing crucial advisory services and building delivery capability and delivery excellence for client teams at all levels. Our growing team covers the full spectrum of delivery expertise. Our experience ranges from supporting highly complex business transformations, to delivering infrastructure and engineering projects, through to providing deep technical expertise on IT and technology driven change. We are able to provide deep sector insight and bring fresh perspectives to delivery challenges.

Some examples of our exciting assignments include:

• Helping a Tier 1 Global Bank transform their delivery organisation from traditional ways of working to using Scaled Agile.
• Driving assurance and digital modernisation for a leading cyber risk and specialist insurance firm.
• Leading a Tier 1 UK Bank to implement an agile operating model, helping them to be more competitive and digital.
• Leading the work to help a Tier 2 UK Bank outsource their payments capability to a third party SaaS cloud service.
• Delivering a major critical national infrastructure programme, which underpins the UK industry, for a European Central Bank.

We are looking for candidates with the potential to become future leaders within the firm. Our Portfolio and Programme Management team go beyond being process experts. We are seeking candidates who demonstrate technical and SME specialisms, which to us is just as important as PM knowledge. Candidates must be able to evidence being able to get close to content/SME knowledge within a specific sub-sector, bringing specific experience in one or more of:

• Payments and Critical Financial Infrastructure.
• General insurance and London/Lloyds Markets.
• Life & Pensions.
• Retail, Corporate & Commercial Banking (e.g. lending, payments, capital markets, etc).
• Wealth and Asset Management.
• Financial Market Regulation and Compliance (e.g. DORA, AML, Solvency II, etc).
• Risk - Cyber security, Operational Resilience, Data Privacy, Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM).

General skills and experience:

• Core experience of delivery in project and programme environments, with an understanding of delivery/change methodologies, processes, techniques and common challenges.
• A track record of realising business benefits and outcomes.
• The ability to demonstrate leadership skills in large and diverse project teams.
• Ability to work across multiple levels of an organisation.
• An aptitude for delivering creative and ingenious solutions.

We are looking for project, programme and portfolio consultants who ideally have experience in at least three of:

• Leading teams to deliver large‑scale transformation, ensuring seamless execution from strategy to implementation.
• Leading the design and implementation of digital strategies, helping organisations to modernise operations, enhance customer experience, and achieve competitive advantage.
• Experience in delivery of Digital Innovation, Data, Cloud, Digital Customer Experience and AI transformation.
• Experience of delivering large‑scale, complex, novel programmes – e.g. development of new regulations, Fintech innovation and start‑up, Digital Currency, etc.
• Technical delivery management experience; leading complex technology delivery e.g. Mobile, Application, Network and Infrastructure solutions.
• Ability to operate at the intersect of agile and traditional waterfall delivery (hybrid change delivery).
• Experience in helping clients design/build competency and capability in change delivery.
• Ex Consultancy and/or strong financial services industry background.

Our Delivery consultants are expected to be hands‑on, working together with our clients to bring energy, direction and expertise in helping to solve the most difficult delivery challenges. Whether it be facilitating workshops, providing detailed project planning or managing senior stakeholders, we pride ourselves on partnering with clients, providing a service that delivers real and long lasting value.

We’re committed to advancing equality. We recruit, retain, reward and develop our people based solely on their abilities and contributions and without reference to their age, background, disability, genetic information, parental or family status, religion or belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity (or expression), political belief, veteran status, or by any other range of human difference brought about by identity and experience. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

Adjustments or accommodations - Should you need any adjustments or accommodations to the recruitment process, at either application or interview, please contact us.