At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead large-scale technology decommissioning projects and drive legacy systems to retirement.
- Company: Join a Tier 1 global bank transforming its technology infrastructure.
- Benefits: Competitive daily rate, hybrid working, and potential for long-term contract.
- Other info: Dynamic role with opportunities for professional growth in a complex environment.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact on modernising technology in a major financial institution.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in technology decommissioning and project management required.
We are looking for an experienced Senior Project / Programme Manager to join a major infrastructure transformation programme within the Chief Technology Office of a Tier 1 global bank. The wider programme involves significant infrastructure modernisation and upgrade activity across a large and complex technology estate, including legacy and mainframe environments. As part of this transformation, there is a substantial programme of work focused on the demise and decommissioning of legacy technology and infrastructure as services are upgraded, migrated or replaced.
Essential experience
- Candidates MUST have significant experience leading large-scale technology demise/decommissioning programmes. This is a specialist requirement.
- You should be able to demonstrate previous ownership of significant technology decommissioning, legacy retirement or estate rationalisation activity at scale, taking technology through to actual retirement and closure.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead large-scale technology demise, decommissioning and legacy retirement activity across a complex enterprise technology estate.
- Take ownership of the end-to-end demise lifecycle, driving legacy technology through to successful retirement and closure.
- Work across infrastructure, applications, architecture, engineering and business teams to establish the scope, status and ownership of technology targeted for demise.
- Identify and manage complex technical, application, data and business dependencies which may prevent or delay decommissioning.
- Establish clear delivery plans, milestones, ownership, exit criteria and governance across multiple demise workstreams.
- Coordinate prerequisite activity including migrations, data retention/archive, service transition and technical remediation.
- Work closely with Engineers, Architects, Application Owners and other technical SMEs to understand and resolve barriers to decommissioning.
- Drive accountability across technical and business teams, challenging where activity has stalled and ensuring actions have clear owners and timescales.
- Ensure appropriate technical, operational, risk and control requirements are satisfied prior to shutdown.
- Manage plans, RAID, dependencies and governance, providing clear visibility of progress and blockers to senior stakeholders.
- Drive multiple concurrent workstreams through to completion within a large and complex technology environment.
Experience Required
- Significant previous experience leading large-scale technology demise, decommissioning or legacy retirement programmes essential.
- Strong background within enterprise infrastructure and complex legacy technology environments.
- Experience managing the retirement of technology at scale, potentially including applications, infrastructure, servers, platforms, data centres and other legacy technology assets.
- Strong understanding of the challenges involved in technology demise, including legacy dependencies, unclear ownership, data requirements, migration prerequisites, operational risk and exit criteria.
- Demonstrable experience taking programmes beyond migration or replacement and driving legacy technology through to actual retirement/decommissioning.
- Experience of major technology estate rationalisation, infrastructure decommissioning, data-centre exit or legacy platform retirement would be particularly relevant.
- Strong Project/Programme Management capability across multiple concurrent technical workstreams and complex dependencies.
- Comfortable working directly with technical teams and getting into the detail required to understand and resolve delivery blockers.
- Strong stakeholder management, governance, RAID, planning and senior-level reporting experience.
- Proactive and self-sufficient, with the ability to take ownership of complex delivery and drive it forward without significant day-to-day direction.
- Previous banking or large-scale financial services technology experience is strongly preferred.
Location & Contract
The role can be based from either Sheffield or Birmingham, with hybrid working requiring approximately 2-3 days per week onsite. Rate: £600-£650 per day via umbrella (inside IR35). The initial assignment is expected to be approximately 4-6 months, with good potential for longer-term continuity.
Senior Project / Programme Manager Technology Decommissioning employer: Essential Consulting
Join a leading global bank that prioritises employee development and offers a dynamic work culture, where your expertise in Monday.com will be valued in driving significant infrastructure projects. With a hybrid working model based in Birmingham or Sheffield, you will enjoy the flexibility of remote work while being part of a collaborative team that fosters innovation and growth opportunities, making it an excellent place for meaningful and rewarding employment.
