Digital Transformation Programme Manager in London

• Digital Transformation Programme Manager (Digital Services for u3as - DSU)
• Third Age Trust
• Department/Team: Operations
• Reports To: Head of Operations
• Key

Relationships: Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team; Finance team; DSU Project Board; Digital Transformation Partner; implementation suppliers; local u3a committees and Trust volunteers

Location: London, Blackfriars/hybrid, with occasional travel to meet u3as and volunteers across the UK

Contract & Working hours: Full time - Fixed term contract with expected project duration of 18-24mths

About the Third Age Trust and the DSU Programme

The Third Age Trust is the national charity that supports the u3a movement: more than 1,000 independent, volunteer-led u3as across the UK with over 400,000 members who come together to learn, laugh and live in later life.

The Trust provides national leadership, shared services and central coordination, including the digital tools that many u3as rely on to run their membership, finances, groups and websites.

The Digital Services for u3as (DSU) Programme will replace an ageing existing fragmented set of systems with a modern, supportable digital estate.

A discovery phase completed in 2026 recommended a three-tier model

• Tier 1 - Software as a Service (Saa S) membership platform to be used by u3as.
• Tier 2 - Middleware: a custom-built, Trust-owned integration layer.
• Tier 3 - Trust Saa S platforms for CRM, finance, events and communications.
• Job Purpose

The Digital Transformation Programme Manager will lead the end-to-end delivery of the DSU programme acting as project manager across all three tiers, turning the discovery recommendations into a deliverable plan and seeing it through procurement, implementation, pilot, network rollout and handover to business as usual.

The postholder must have proven experience of running procurement process for, planning, developing and implementing a CRM, membership, volunteer management or customer data system, and of integrating it with other platforms, within a charity, membership organisation, association or nonprofit environment.

The role is responsible for planning, coordinating, stakeholder management and overseeing all aspects of the programme, including the programme budget.

The postholder is primarily a delivery and change leader rather than a technical specialist: they will be an informed client, with enough understanding of Saa S platforms, APIs, data migration and data protection to ask the right questions, challenge suppliers and make sound recommendations, supported by the Trust’s Digital Transformation Partner.

Because local u3as are independent charities and adoption of Trust tools is voluntary, the postholder will lead a structured, people-centred change approach - co-designing with volunteers, communicating in plain language and making sure support is in place for people with varying levels of digital confidence - so that the new services are adopted because they genuinely make life easier for u3as and the Trust.

Key Responsibilities

• Programme Planning and Delivery
• Develop and maintain an integrated programme plan with clear phases, milestones and success criteria.
• Manage parallel workstreams, dependencies and resources, alongside business-as-us demands.
• Maintain change control over scope, cost and timescales.
• Budget and Financial Management
• Work in partnership with Finance to develop, manage and monitor the programme budget and assess whole-life costs and affordability, including implementation, ongoing licensing, maintenance and support costs after the programme ends.
• Work with Finance to provide regular budget forecasts and financial reports to the Head of Operations, SLT and Board, and prepare budget requests for future years, including ongoing service and support costs.
• Ensure value for money in all supplier spend.
• Procurement and Supplier Management
• Lead or coordinate the procurement of platforms and suppliers in partnership with Finance and in line with the Trust’s procurement and governance requirements, assessing value for money and whole-life affordability.
• Act as the primary day-to-day contact for suppliers and the Digital Transformation Partner, monitoring performance against agreed milestones and contracts.
• Work with staff and volunteers to confirm requirements and processes
• Data, Integration and Migration
• Plan and oversee data cleansing and migration, working with the Data and Systems Officer and suppliers.
• Ensure data flows reliably and securely between systems, with legacy systems running in parallel until new systems are proven.
• Ensure data protection and UK GDPR compliance are built into the design.
• Testing, Pilot and Rollout
• Coordinate User Acceptance Testing and integration testing, and manage sign-off and go/no-go decisions.
• Plan and run a pilot with a varied group of u3as, followed by a phased rollout and the decommissioning of legacy systems.
• Change Management and Adoption
• Develop and deliver a change, communications and training plan for staff, volunteers and local u3as.
• Establish a network of volunteer champions to test, promote and provide peer support for the new systems.
• Governance, Risk and Reporting
• Set up and maintain programme governance, including reports for the Programme Board, SLT and Board of Trustees.
• Maintain risk, issue and decision logs, ensuring risks are actively managed and escalated.

Benefits and Handover

• Define and track the programme’s intended benefits.
• Ensure a well-planned handover to business as usual, including a sustainable support model and post-implementation review.
• Key Deliverables
• Approved programme plan and budget, developed in partnership with Finance, including whole-life costs and provision for affordable ongoing service and support after programme completion
• Governance framework, progress reports and risk register
• Procurement documentation and supplier evaluations
• Data migration plan
• Testing strategy and go-live readiness assessments
• Change, communications and training plan
• Pilot evaluation and rollout plan
• Benefits realisation plan, handover and post-implementation review

Person Specification

Essential Criteria

Experience

• Proven experience of managing the end-to-end implementation of CRM, membership or similar customer data systems, from procurement or mobilisation taking personal responsibility for delivery from requirements and procurement through to go live and user adoption.
• Experience of delivering multi-workstream digital change, including integrating platforms supplied by different vendors.
• Experience of procuring and managing third-party software suppliers and implementation partners.
• Experience of managing multiple projects within a larger programme, budgets, timelines, risks and dependencies, and reporting to senior leaders or boards.
• Experience of managing a pilot and phased rollout to a large number of independent users or sites.
• Experience of leading business change, including stakeholder engagement, communications, training and user adoption.
• Experience of overseeing data migration and User Acceptance Testing.
• Knowledge
• Sound working knowledge of project management methods and tools.
• Good understanding of Saa S platforms, APIs and system integration, data migration and integration architecture, sufficient to act as an informed client and challenge suppliers.
• Working knowledge of UK GDPR and data protection as it applies to systems implementation.
• Understanding of accessible, user-centred design and how to support people with low digital confidence.

Skills

• Excellent planning, organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to lead without direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including explaining technical matters in plain language.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, and the ability to challenge constructively.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Personal Attributes
• Collaborative and approachable, and committed to working in partnership with volunteers.
• Outcome-focused, pragmatic and self-motivated.
• Calm under pressure, adaptable and resilient.

Commitment to the aims and values of the u3a movement, and to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Willingness to travel within the UK and occasionally work outside normal hours.

Knowledge and Qualifications

Project or programme management qualification such as PRINCE2, MSP, APM PMQ or Agile PM. Change management or business analysis qualification.

Desirable Criteria

Experience

• Experience within the charity, nonprofit or membership sector, particularly in a federated or volunteer-led organisation.
• Experience of implementing platforms such as Zoho, Sheep CRM, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 or similar.
• Knowledge and Qualifications
• Change management or business analysis qualification.

This job description provides a general overview of the role and responsibilities.

It may be reviewed and adjusted in line with organisational needs and as the DSU programme moves through its phases