Associate – Programme Management in Manchester

At Turner & Townsend we’re passionate about making the difference. That means delivering better outcomes for our clients, helping our people to realise their potential, and doing our part to create a prosperous society. For 75 years we have been leading the delivery of major transformational programmes. Our success at realising outcomes for clients has resulted in significant growth. Every day we help our major global clients deliver ambitious Net Zero programmes from over 110 offices worldwide. Further to this success we are now facing a new wave of growth to achieve our ambitious 2025 vision. To achieve this, we need great people who are passionate about both delivering great outcomes to our clients and contributing to our future vision. This is made entirely possible through our entrepreneurial culture, allowing employees of all levels to directly influence the business and to own their career.

The world is changing, and we have a responsibility to support that change, helping drive it and be part of it. Through the commitment, capability and care our team brings, we build trust between clients, suppliers, governments, and society. Delivering better outcomes that have a positive impact on the world around us. We work smarter to face the challenges of the future; bringing the clarity that helps teams realise their full potential across the real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors.

As an Associate in Programme Management and Programme Management Office delivery, you will have experience delivering key roles in £200m+ major capital programmes, across complex construction environments within sectors such as Central Government, Industrial, Life Sciences, Data Centres and Defence. You play a critical role in driving excellence in commission performance, client delivery, business performance and team leadership. Supporting the Programme Director/Team Leader, you deliver across major programmes and provide team leadership, ensuring clarity of direction, performance of programme functions, robust governance, compliance, outcomes delivery, and trusted client partnership.

You deliver to the programme strategy and establish and maintain successful stakeholder relations with client leaders and your teams. You are a credible and accomplished programme delivery professional with a proven track record of delivering complex programmes. You bring significant construction programme expertise, with the ability to operate efficiently and effectively between programme and project-level detail, maintaining strong key stakeholder relationships and driving progress and successful programme outcomes.

You drive programmes from early-stage definition and mobilisation through execution, transition and benefits realisation. Working in multi-disciplinary teams and complex stakeholder environments, you provide the delivery expertise, governance and commercial acumen required to deliver successful outcomes with clarity, control and confidence, leading by example for our clients.

• Programme Delivery & Leadership: Take ownership of delivering to the programme vision and direction. Drive success and cohesion across delivery activities. Effectively empower, motivate, and guide colleagues and lead by example to establish high-performing team cultures.
• Assurance Framework: Maintain and deliver frameworks for robust management and control of the programme. Deliver or manage critical programme functions/services within the wider controls framework, and a focus on outcomes and the realisation of benefits back to the business case and organisational strategy.
• Commission Management and Business Development: Deliver successful commercial and contractual management of commissions, ensuring delivery excellence, client satisfaction and achievement of performance objectives. Develop trusted client partnerships, identify growth opportunities and actively contribute to business development and market expansion activities.
• Stakeholder Strategy & Engagement: Understand and work to structured stakeholder engagement and decision-making frameworks, play a key role in ensuring all programme stakeholders across seniority are effectively engaged and managed.
• Financial Management: Implement robust processes to manage and report on all financial aspects of the programme, ensuring strong oversight and commercial governance. Understand financial governance and how to ensure robust financial reporting and management across the programme.
• Risk Strategy, Health & Safety: Work with the team to identify and mitigate health and safety risks, enforcing safeguards to protect all involved in programme delivery. Proactively contribute to and/or lead the development and implementation of programme-wide risk management and assurance strategies. Support and help drive a culture of safety, wellbeing and compliance, and ensuring effective controls are in place to protect people, assets and programme objectives.
• People & Culture: Act as a first-class colleague, establishing and positively contributing to the culture of internal and client-facing teams, and in internal talent development. Build capability, lead by example, mentor teams, drive inclusion across the team and successfully carry out people management responsibilities where required to drive internal team performance and growth and our One Business culture.

This is an Associate level role. To excel in this role, you will have:

• Proven experience in programme management, including in large-scale and/or high-profile real estate transformation programmes (£100-£300m+) with demonstrable achievement of benefits and outcomes for clients/employers.
• Ability to prioritise complex programmes, responding to internal and external influences over the programme lifecycle.
• Project delivery background with progression into programme delivery management within a construction environment.
• Experience working on large multidisciplinary teams including project management, project controls, technical and/or commercial teams.
• Understanding and practical application of construction project delivery models, procurement routes and contracts (NEC, JCT).
• Understanding of project controls methodologies and application including schedule management, cost control and risk and opportunity management at a project and programme level.
• Experience operating at senior client levels – demonstrating strong communication skills including presentation of data to inform effective decision-making.
• Supply chain management experience.
• Good stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with demonstrable experience in dealing with third parties and customers.
• Good understanding of industry best practice programme management methodologies, preferably within a real estate environment.
• Experience of required health and safety activities and understanding of legislative requirements (eg CDM and Building Safety Act).
• Committed to supporting and nurturing talent within the organization, leading others by example and supporting professional growth among clients’ teams.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite and programme management tools, reporting systems and digital platforms, with a proactive approach to data, innovation and digital tools and strategy, including the use of AI.
• Education to a degree/postgraduate/equivalent level in a relevant technical discipline (eg Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying).
• Professional accreditation (eg. RICS, CIOB, APM).

Our inspired people share our vision and mission. We provide a great place to work, where each person has the opportunity and voice to effect change. We want our people to succeed both in work and life. To support this we promote a healthy, productive, and flexible working environment.

At Turner & Townsend, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applications from all sectors of the community, and we strongly believe that this diversity is what creates great solutions for our clients, bringing together people with different ideas and skills who want to push boundaries. In celebration of our diversity and to keep this agenda at the forefront of what we do, we have several internal networks, such as LGBT+, Diversity & Inclusion, and Race & Ethnicity which create a safe space for employees to express themselves and to drive change.

SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.