At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and deliver strategic projects, ensuring alignment with organisational goals.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking organisation that values innovation and collaboration.
- Benefits: Competitive daily rate, hybrid working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic role with a focus on continuous improvement and high-performance culture.
- Why this job: Make a significant impact by driving complex programmes and engaging with senior stakeholders.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in project leadership and stakeholder engagement required.
A senior leadership role within the Strategic Projects and Management Office. The postholder is accountable for the successful delivery of the organisation's portfolio of projects and programmes, setting standards and best practice for project and programme managers, ensuring that strategic initiatives are executed effectively, on time, within budget, and to defined quality standards. The role provides leadership and direction across all delivery teams, shaping delivery strategy, driving execution excellence, and ensuring outcomes realise intended business benefits. The role influences senior stakeholders and aligns delivery activity with organisational priorities. This role requires excellent leadership qualities, who is strategic, proactive, and highly experienced technology leader with a strong track record in delivering complex programmes and projects, and the confidence to engage effectively with senior stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities:
- Delivery Leadership and Execution: Lead the end-to-end delivery of all projects and programmes across the organisation. Ensure delivery outcomes align with strategic objectives and business priorities. Establish clear accountability for delivery across programme and project managers. Drive a culture of ownership, pace, and high performance across delivery teams.
- Programme and Project Oversight: Oversee planning, mobilisation, and execution of major programmes and projects. Ensure robust management of scope, schedule, cost, quality, and benefits. Monitor delivery performance and intervene where required to address delays. Manage interdependencies across programmes.
- Delivery Strategy: Ensure the organisation adopts appropriate delivery approaches (e.g., Agile, waterfall, hybrid). Align delivery structures to strategic objectives. Continuously optimise delivery practices to improve speed, quality, and predictability.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Leadership: Act as the senior escalation point for delivery issues, risks, and decisions. Build strong relationships with executive stakeholders, business leaders and change sponsors. Provide clear and confident reporting on delivery progress, risks, and outcomes. Influence decision-making to resolve conflicts, prioritise work, and allocate resources effectively.
- Resource and Capacity Management: Ensure effective allocation and utilisation of delivery resources across programmes and projects. Balance demand and capacity, resolving conflicts and constraints. Work with resource managers to ensure availability of skilled resources. Support development of workforce plans to support future delivery demand.
- Risk, Issue, and Dependency Management: Ensure proactive identification and management of delivery risks and issues. Oversee mitigation strategies and ensure timely resolution of blockers. Manage cross-programme dependencies and organisational impacts. Escalate critical risks to executive leadership with clear recommendations.
- Benefits Realisation: Ensure programmes and projects are structured to deliver measurable business outcomes. Track and monitor benefits realisation throughout and beyond delivery. Hold delivery teams and business stakeholders accountable for achieving benefits. Ensure alignment between delivery outputs and strategic value creation.
- Continuous Improvement and Delivery Capability: Drive continuous improvement in delivery performance, tools, and practices. Establish a high-performing delivery community with shared standards and best practice. Coach and develop programme and project managers to enhance capability. Promote a culture of learning, accountability, and delivery excellence.
Key Skills & Experience:
- Significant experience leading large-scale programmes and project portfolios.
- Proven track record of delivering complex, cross-functional strategic change initiatives.
- Proven experience in leading and developing high-performing, cross-functional project & programme teams.
- Strong experience in stakeholder engagement at executive level.
- Demonstrated ability to drive delivery performance and accountability.
- Leads the identification, planning, and coordination of programmes to deliver strategic objectives.
- Ensures alignment between programme outcomes and organisational goals.
- Strong track record in managing risks, dependencies, and stakeholder engagement at a strategic level.
- Comfortable in delivering complex information to senior stakeholders clearly and effectively.
- Extensive knowledge of budgeting & forecasting activities across project and programme portfolios.
Desirable Qualifications:
- Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline (e.g., IT, Business, Management, Engineering) or equivalent professional experience.
- Relevant professional certifications such as APM, PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, AgilePM, SAFe.
- Experience with Agile delivery frameworks (e.g., SAFe, Scrum at scale).
- Experienced in using project and programme management tools (e.g. MS Project, Azure DevOps) to track delivery, plan resources and manage budgets.
Programme Director in Stevenage employer: MORGAN PHILIPS UK LIMITED
Contact Detail:
MORGAN PHILIPS UK LIMITED Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Programme Director in Stevenage
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections on LinkedIn or at industry events. We all know that sometimes it’s not just what you know, but who you know that can help you land that Programme Director role.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews by practising common questions and scenarios related to project delivery and stakeholder engagement. We recommend doing mock interviews with friends or mentors to boost your confidence and refine your answers.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your leadership skills! During interviews, share specific examples of how you've driven successful project outcomes and managed teams. We want to hear about your experiences in aligning delivery with strategic objectives.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, we love seeing candidates who are proactive and engaged in their job search.
We think you need these skills to ace Programme Director in Stevenage
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Programme Director role. Highlight your experience in leading large-scale programmes and managing stakeholder engagement, as these are key for us. Use specific examples that showcase your strategic thinking and delivery excellence.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're the perfect fit for this role. Mention your leadership qualities and how you've successfully delivered complex projects in the past. Keep it engaging and relevant to what we’re looking for.
Showcase Your Achievements: Don’t just list your responsibilities; showcase your achievements! Use metrics and outcomes to demonstrate how you’ve driven performance and accountability in previous roles. This will help us see the impact you can bring to our organisation.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother application process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates. Plus, it’s super easy!
How to prepare for a job interview at MORGAN PHILIPS UK LIMITED
✨Know Your Projects Inside Out
Before the interview, make sure you thoroughly understand the projects and programmes you've led in the past. Be ready to discuss specific challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and the outcomes achieved. This will demonstrate your hands-on experience and strategic thinking.
✨Engage with Stakeholders
Since this role involves significant stakeholder engagement, prepare examples of how you've built relationships with executive stakeholders. Think about times when you influenced decision-making or resolved conflicts. This will show your ability to navigate complex organisational dynamics.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Style
Be prepared to articulate your leadership philosophy and how it aligns with driving high performance in delivery teams. Share examples of how you've fostered a culture of ownership and accountability, as well as how you've coached team members to enhance their capabilities.
✨Demonstrate Your Strategic Alignment
Highlight your experience in aligning project outcomes with organisational goals. Discuss how you've ensured that delivery practices are optimised for speed and quality, and be ready to talk about your approach to managing risks and dependencies across programmes.