Project Manager: Culture Change

Sizewell C’s business is to design, finance, construct, commission, operate, maintain, and eventually decommission the nuclear power plant and related infrastructure at Sizewell C in Suffolk. Overall, whilst the Company is in the construction phase, the Boards’ principal focus is on the development and construction of Sizewell C on time, on budget and to the highest quality and safety standards. The Company is maturing to meet all these requirements. Sizewell C is economically regulated by OFGEM under the RAB model similar to other UK electricity distribution networks and Thames Tideway. Sizewell C construction strategy is to replicate the design of Hinkley Point C, using the majority of the same supply chain, but innovating in the way it is delivered to achieve savings in time and cost of around 20%. The CCO will need to be guided by and incorporate lessons learned from the Hinkley Point C commercial delivery to achieve Sizewell C’s ambition.

Following Financial Completion and Revenue Commencement, Sizewell C is fully funded and is owned by; The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero representing HM Government, La Caisse, Centrica, EDF and Amber Infrastructure.

Location: London (3 days a week in the office). Travel to Suffolk will be required as needed, likely around twice per month.

Contract type: Full time, 18 month fixed term contract

Salary: From £71,000 depending on experience, plus bonus and an excellent benefits package including:

• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Option to buy up to five days of annual leave
• Annual performance related bonus, up to 5%
• Competitive defined contribution pension scheme (up to 7.5% employee / up to 15% employer)
• Employee Assistance Programme and wellbeing support
• Life assurance cover
• Access to a flexible benefits and discounts portal, including savings on gym memberships, retail, travel and leisure

The Opportunity

Sizewell C is looking for an experienced Project Manager: Culture Change to lead the planning, coordination and delivery of our Leadership and Culture Programme. Reporting to the Culture Transformation Lead, you will take ownership of a complex programme of work designed to support meaningful and sustainable culture change across the organisation. You will bring together multiple workstreams, stakeholders, suppliers and delivery partners, ensuring the programme remains on track and achieves its intended outcomes. This is a highly visible and commercially focused role. You will be accountable for programme schedules, budgets, risks, dependencies, governance, reporting and benefits realisation, while ensuring that change is successfully embedded into business as usual. You will also play an important role in developing and implementing change management strategies that maximise employee adoption, minimise resistance and create lasting business impact.

Why Join as a Project Manager: Culture Change?

This is not a traditional culture, communications or employee engagement role. It is a genuine project and programme delivery position with responsibility for turning culture ambitions into structured, measurable and sustainable outcomes. You will have the opportunity to lead a varied portfolio of culture and leadership workstreams, manage significant programme budgets and work with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation. You will establish the governance, operating rhythm and controls needed to keep delivery moving, while ensuring the people affected by the change are properly engaged and supported. The role offers a rare combination of commercial project management and organisational culture transformation. It would suit someone who enjoys bringing order and structure to complex programmes, can confidently manage competing priorities and wants to see the tangible impact of their work across an entire organisation. You will act as a trusted partner and positive ambassador for culture change, balancing diplomacy with the confidence to challenge, make decisions and hold others accountable for delivery. The hiring brief particularly emphasises the need for someone commercially confident, excellent with numbers and budgets, highly organised, diplomatic and able to manage numerous priorities at once.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead the planning, coordination and delivery of the Leadership and Culture Programme, ensuring workstreams are delivered to agreed time, scope, quality and budget
• Develop and maintain the overall programme schedule, working closely with workstream leads, business stakeholders and delivery partners
• Establish a clear programme operating rhythm, governance structure and appropriate decision making forums
• Manage programme budgets, costs and forecasts, providing accurate commercial and financial reporting
• Identify, manage and escalates risks, issues and dependencies across programme workstreams and business as usual activities
• Develop and implement practical change management strategies that support employee adoption and minimise resistance
• Create and maintain benefits realisation plans, ensuring intended programme outcomes are measured, achieved and sustained
• Manage programme change controls, including changes to scope, schedule and budget
• Produce clear workstream and programme status reports for Executive and Leadership teams
• Manage external partners, contracts, suppliers and technology providers involved in delivering programme outcomes
• Support the development and delivery of programme communications, stakeholder engagement, education and training activity
• Ensure appropriate project assurance, quality controls and gate reviews are completed
• Support workstream leads and team members by demonstrating best practice in programme, project and change management
• Oversee the successful transition of programme outcomes into business as usual with minimal disruption to the organisation

The role’s core outcomes are successful delivery against time, scope and budget, achievement of programme benefits and an effective transition into business as usual.

What We’re Looking For

• A minimum of ten years’ experience within project or programme management
• Strong commercial and financial capability experience, including significant experience managing budgets, costs and forecasts
• Proven experience delivering large scale programmes or projects within a complex organisation
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and interconnected workstreams
• Strong stakeholder management skills and confidence working with senior leaders, external partners and colleagues across different functions
• A diplomatic, firm and fair approach, with the confidence to challenge constructively and represent the culture programme positively
• Experience delivering organisational, business process or technology change and implementation
• Demonstrable success developing and delivering change management plans covering communications, stakeholder engagement, education, training, adoption and benefits realisation
• Strong experience of programme governance, risk management, dependency management, change control and executive reporting
• Experience managing contracts, external vendors or suppliers
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills, with the ability to use information and data to support decisions
• Excellent communication, facilitation, leadership and relationship building skills
• Experience working within a large corporate matrix organisation, major project environment or regulated industry
• Experience within energy, infrastructure, engineering, construction or another large and complex regulated environment would be particularly valuable. Major project experience would also be beneficial, but candidates from complex corporate matrix organisations will also be considered.

Qualifications

You will need a recognised professional qualification or certification in programme, project or change management, such as: Knowledge of continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma would also be beneficial, but not essential.

At Sizewell C we encourage and embrace diversity and how it can improve our experience and performance at work. It is a requirement that those who join us have the right to work in the UK. Whilst sponsorship may be a possibility that we can explore, we are fully committed to local recruitment where possible, and those already holding the right to work in the UK. To be appointed to this role, you will need to meet the criteria for Security Vetting, which will, ordinarily, require you to have been a resident of the UK for at least three of the past five years.