Project Manager

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Role Summary

This project management role forms part of a distributed, global IT team that is responsible for the continued availability and support of an international on-premise and cloud infrastructure. The role will be working predominately within the Unplanned Projects Programme, delivering challenging and varied Infrastructure Projects with high degrees of ambiguity arising from a period of significant change within the organisation. The Project Manager will be expected to manage between 5-10 small to medium size Projects often with high complexity and tight timelines.

Job Specific Skills Profile

• Demonstrate extensive experience working as an IT Project Manager with the capability to operate across multiple areas including infrastructure, application and IT Security.
• The ability to manage multiple small to medium sized Projects simultaneously, with the ability to prioritize and pivot depending on Business requirements.
• Understand the PRINCE2 Project Management framework demonstrating ability to plan and run projects whilst utilizing this methodology.
• Demonstrate excellent stakeholder management experience, up to and including C-Level.
• Ability to run complex and commercially significant projects maintaining quality and control throughout the Project.
• Ability to lead and manage Technical Resources, operating in a matrix management structure.
• Demonstrate examples of working in similar successful positions previously.
• Be highly collaborative with the wider delivery team, management structure and business leaders.
• Demonstrate a very high level of customer service and stakeholder management expertise, ensuring Project Stakeholders are kept updated throughout the Project duration.
• Demonstrate commercial awareness and the ability to negotiate with our supplier to ensure they provide the best balance of quality, service and price.
• Be an excellent communicator with the ability to deliver clear and concise updates to stakeholders, including senior stakeholders within our Business.

Technical Skills Required:

• Desirable experience in IT knowledge, previous experience of delivering projects involving the following technologies, although not essential, is advantageous for the role:

• Microsoft cloud-based technologies (e.g. M365, Azure, AWS)
• Email systems and complex email routing environments
• Application deployment (not necessarily development)
• System deployments, upgrades or migrations
• Security system rollout, as an example to; manage privileged access, data loss prevention, MFA
• Networking – WAN, LAN, WiFi, Firewalls

Core Responsibilities for all Staff

• Achieve Results through Relationships with All Parties: Deliver a personal performance that contributes towards Group and/or Company achieving their objectives. Achieve lasting relationships with all parties (internal clients, suppliers, third parties and other staff).
• Delivery of Service: Consistently deliver an excellent and comprehensive service, on-time, within budget and to, or exceeding quality expectations.
• Conduct and Integrity: Ensure all dealings are carried out with integrity and professionalism. Act in utmost good faith, in accordance with Group and/or Company policies and never risk the Company’s or the Group’s reputation.

General Responsibilities

• Clients: Develop strong relationships with the Business Units. Respond to the Business Units’ requirements as appropriate. Support the business units with their use of the IT systems. Behave with all clients (both internal and external) fairly and ethically with excellent customer service. Take ownership of issues and provide updates to users on outstanding issues.
• Management: Ensure team members are competent to carry out their responsibilities. Motivate team to deliver high performance and achieve objectives.
• Administration: Ensure up to date records are maintained at all times on the Group and Company systems. Interpret instructions and issues arising, and then implement actions according to policies and procedures.
• Compliance: Ensure compliance with all applicable Group and/or Company policies and procedures. Ensure correct authorisation is obtained and processes followed when required by the Group and/or Company policies and procedures. Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Maintain accurate records and deal with correspondence appropriately. Ensure compliance with Anti Bribery and Corruption policy and procedures.
• Reporting: Monitor and report on Business Units’ issues. Provide relevant management information to senior management. Any other reasonable duties, as required.

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new.
• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges.
• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.

Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours or hybrid working. If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.