Senior Programme Assurance Manager in London

Base salary: £59268 pa to £69727 pa depending on skills and experience. In addition, we offer a flexible benefits fund of 20% which is paid on top of the base salary and is fully pensionable, as well as a range of competitive benefits.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. This means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

As the Senior Programme Assurance Manager, you will support the Head of Programme and Approvals Assurance in the development and management of the programme and approvals assurance strategy, leading specific implementation initiatives, and conducting reviews across the HS2 programme.

About the role:

• Provide support to the Head of Programme and Approvals Assurance in the development of the strategy and the framework of processes, tools and templates that define assurance expectations across all aspects of the HS2 programme and organisation.
• Lead the delivery of specific projects/initiatives to implement and embed the HS2 assurance policy, strategy, procedures and reporting format across the organisation.
• Coordinate periodic reviews of project baselines (scope, cost, risk and schedule) and the Financial and Economic models which use this information, working with specialist assurance providers, both internally and from 3rd parties where required.
• Undertake assurance mapping reviews aligned to the requirements of each programme/project stage gate and work with Risk Champions to make recommendations regarding coverage.
• Manage reviews into compliance with assurance policies and procedures, and the integration of assurance control activities across HS2.
• Work with other teams to ensure that the conclusions from assurance reviews and compliance analyses are understood, prioritised appropriately and fed into improvement plans.
• Contribute to the development of assurance engagement and training materials that support delivery of effective assurance throughout the HS2 programme; deliver training to colleagues, support partners, and suppliers, as appropriate.
• Maintain good working relationships with partners (e.g. Department for Transport, Network Rail, P-Rep), other assurance providers within and outside HS2 Ltd.
• Contribute to regular reporting to Audit & Risk Assurance Committee, and provide information into management reporting cycle each month.
• Actively promote and embed Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

About you:

Skills:

• Skilled in distilling information from multiple sources and turning it into clear written materials.
• Ability to influence and negotiate with senior colleagues.
• Ability to engage with and manage stakeholders and Government on sensitive issues.
• Management skills, working on multiple activities simultaneously and prioritising the most critical activities to agreed deadlines.

Knowledge:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience.
• Understanding of project and programme management techniques and processes.
• Knowledge of assurance activities, tools and techniques.
• Knowledge of best practice in project, programme and portfolio management.
• Professional assurance qualifications (e.g. Audit) or equivalent.
• Knowledge of matrix organisations and programme delivery.
• Knowledge of relevant interfaces for infrastructure projects.

Type of experience:

• Experience of delivering assurance across a major programme, or a complex organisation, with multiple stakeholders.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams to deliver common objectives in a matrix environment.
• Assurance, internal control or audit experience within both the private and public sector is preferable.

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect. It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

As HS2 Ltd do not hold a sponsorship license from the Home Office, we are not able to provide sponsorship to any applicant. Applicants must already have the Right to Work in the UK at the time of application and our process involves a Right to Work validation prior to the interview stage. Note, there are certain types of time-bound visas that we cannot accept. Any offers made to applicants will be subject to satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks which include Nationality & Immigration Status, employment references, DBS, Financial and Education checks.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application; however, we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert.

Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.