IT Implementation Manager

About The Role

Our IT Team are looking for an IT Implementation Manager to join our team in either our Worcester HQ or Leamington Spa office.

You will responsible for the successful delivery of technology projects and change initiatives from inception through to transition into live service.

The role will provide disciplined delivery leadership, using Agile, Waterfall or hybrid approaches as appropriate to the work.

Working closely with business stakeholders, product owners, IT teams and third-party suppliers, the IT Implementation Manager will ensure that scope, priorities, budgets, risks, dependencies and outcomes are actively managed.

The role will provide clear governance and regular RAG status reporting so that progress, decisions and required actions remain visible.

Key Responsibilities

• Project and Agile Delivery
• Manage IT projects and programmes from initiation through to implementation and operational handover.
• Deliver projects using Agile principles, focusing on iterative delivery, continuous feedback and sustained value to the business.
• Own and maintain delivery plans, product or project backlogs, priorities, sprint goals and agreed outcomes in collaboration with business stakeholders and product owners.
• Apply Agile, Waterfall or hybrid project delivery methodologies according to the nature, scale and risk of each initiative.
• Define and manage scope, timelines, milestones, resources and business deliverables within evolving priorities.
• Coordinate internal delivery teams, subject matter experts and third-party suppliers to achieve agreed outcomes.
• Remove impediments to delivery and drive accountability for actions, decisions and milestones.
• Governance, Meetings and Reporting
• Run regular project progress meetings, delivery reviews, sprint ceremonies, steering groups and stakeholder forums as appropriate.
• Provide concise and accurate RAG status reporting covering progress, milestones, budget, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions and next steps.
• Produce clear updates for the IT Director, project sponsors and senior stakeholders, translating technical matters into business-focused information.
• Maintain appropriate project documentation, action logs, RAID logs, decision records and governance controls.
• Escalate material risks, issues, delays and decisions promptly, with clear options and recommendations.
• Ensure stakeholders have timely visibility of delivery performance and any action required from them.
• Financial and Commercial Management
• Build, manage and track project budgets, forecasts and expenditure, ensuring appropriate financial control.
• Monitor supplier costs, commitments and commercial dependencies throughout the project lifecycle.
• Support the definition and tracking of expected benefits, business value and value realisation.
• Challenge cost, scope and delivery assumptions where necessary to protect value for the firm.
• Stakeholder and Supplier Management
• Build effective relationships with business sponsors, stakeholders, product owners, delivery teams and suppliers.
• Engage stakeholders throughout the delivery lifecycle to maintain alignment, gather feedback and support timely decision-making.
• Translate business needs into clear, deliverable outcomes and user-focused solutions.
• Manage expectations constructively where priorities, timescales or scope change.
• Hold suppliers and delivery partners accountable for agreed deliverables, quality and timescales.
• Risk, Quality and Compliance
• Identify, assess and manage risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies and blockers throughout delivery.
• Develop and track proportionate mitigation, contingency and recovery actions.
• Ensure proposed solutions align with the firm’s architecture, design principles, information security, data protection, compliance and governance standards.
• Ensure appropriate testing, quality assurance and business sign-off are planned and completed.
• Maintain delivery controls appropriate to a regulated legal services environment.
• Testing, Release and Transition into Service
• Oversee test planning, system testing, user acceptance testing, defect management and business sign-off.
• Coordinate implementation, release and deployment planning, including communication, training, support and rollback requirements.
• Ensure operational readiness before go-live, including support arrangements, documentation, monitoring and ownership.
• Lead Acceptance Into Service activities and ensure solutions are transitioned smoothly into live support.
• Work closely with Service Delivery, Service Desk, Business Applications, Infrastructure, Security and suppliers to support a stable handover.
• Coordinate post-implementation review and capture lessons to improve future delivery.

About You

What You’ll Bring

Essential

• Proven experience delivering medium to large-scale IT projects or programmes through the full project lifecycle.
• Trained in, or highly familiar with, Agile project delivery methodologies and practical delivery disciplines.
• Working knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, backlog management, sprint planning, iterative delivery and continuous improvement.
• Experience selecting and applying Agile, Waterfall and hybrid delivery approaches appropriately.
• Experience running project progress meetings, Agile ceremonies, steering groups, workshops and stakeholder forums.
• Demonstrable experience producing clear project reporting, including RAG status, milestones, budgets, RAID information and executive updates.
• Strong experience of project planning, prioritisation, resource coordination and dependency management.
• Experience building, managing and tracking project budgets and supplier expenditure.
• Experience managing third‑party suppliers and implementation partners.
• Experience coordinating testing, release, deployment and transition into operational support.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, facilitation and influencing skills.
• Ability to explain complex technical delivery matters clearly to non-technical and senior audiences.
• Excellent organisation, judgement, problem-solving and attention to detail.

Desirable

• Formal qualification such as Agile PM, Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PMP or equivalent.
• Experience delivering technology change within legal or professional services.
• Experience of Microsoft 365, cloud, infrastructure, cyber security, document management or business application projects.
• Knowledge of ITIL principles, service transition and Acceptance Into Service.
• Experience supporting business adoption, organisational change and benefits realisation.
• Experience working in a regulated environment with security, data protection and compliance requirements.
• Personal Attributes
• Delivery-focused, organised and comfortable taking ownership.
• Commercially aware and committed to achieving demonstrable business value.
• Confident leading discussions and constructively challenging assumptions or delays.
• Clear, credible and concise when communicating with stakeholders at all levels.
• Collaborative and able to bring together technical and non-technical teams.
• Proactive, resilient and effective in a fast‑paced environment with changing priorities.
• Able to maintain attention to detail while retaining sight of strategic outcomes.
• Committed to continuous improvement and learning from delivery experience.
• Measures of Success
• Projects deliver agreed business outcomes within approved scope, budget and timescales.
• Project health, risks, decisions and dependencies are visible through consistent, accurate RAG reporting.
• Stakeholders are engaged, informed and clear about priorities, actions and decisions.
• Testing, operational readiness and Acceptance Into Service requirements are completed before go‑live.
• Implementations transition smoothly into live service with appropriate support and ownership.
• Lessons learned are captured and used to improve delivery methods, controls and outcomes.

About Us

Benefits of working with us

• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme
• 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays)
• Bonus scheme
• Healthcare cash plan
• Electric vehicle scheme
• Happy People / Perks at Work benefits portal
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Life Assurance
• 1/3 gym membership contribution
• Flu vaccinations

Is HCR the smart move for you?

HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit.

Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed.

Why HCR people love their jobs

Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers.

We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas.

Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive.

What career progression will HCR offer you?

HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan.

At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome.

Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams.

What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for?

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 60, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals.

However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach.

We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them.

We have more than 800 lawyers and support staff, including more than 150 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With ten offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located.

We’ve expanded significantly in Birmingham, Cardiff and the Thames Valley, and our merger with Hewitsons resulted in a full service regional hub being established in the heart of the Waterside innovation area centre of Northampton.

Our London and Cambridge continue to grow apace.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them.

We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients.

We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation.

A note for recruitment agencies – The HCR Resourcing Team is responsible for recruitment across the firm, and where possible will use direct hiring methods.

We do work with a Preferred Supplier List, and where appropriate, we will release vacancies to those agencies who we deem most appropriate to support us.

Only those agencies will be invited to submit candidates via our recruitment portal.

Any speculative or unsolicited CVs sent to any employee or Partner of HCR will not be considered an introduction, and no fees will be applicable.

• Furthermore, we retain the right to pursue these candidates without query of ownership
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