Delivery Lead/Programme Manager - Software Development/Engineering - Digital/CMS | Agile

Programme Leadership & Outcomes

• Own programme outcomes, defining clear objectives, scope boundaries, success measures, and benefits realisation plans. Translate strategic priorities into coherent, achievable programme roadmaps aligned to delivery capacity and constraints
• Maintain end-to-end accountability for programme delivery, ensuring outcomes are value-led and aligned to objectives rather than activity-driven
• Ensure programme outcomes are Embedded into business as usual operations and that programmes are formally closed with benefits ownership transferred

Governance, Assurance & Control

• Establish and operate effective programme governance, including steering forums, decision frameworks, RAID management, and change control
• Maintain integrated programme plans covering milestones, dependencies, staffing demand, and critical paths across all workstreams
• Provide delivery assurance through data-driven insight, tracking predictability, progress, quality indicators, and outcome performance
• Ensure transparent, auditable reporting and timely escalation of risks, issues, and decisions to sponsors and senior stakeholders
• Standardise departmental programme ways of working, tools, reporting, and governance compliance across delivery teams

Risk, Dependency & Financial Management

• Own programme-level risk and issue management, ensuring early identification, mitigation planning, ownership, and escalation
• Actively manage cross-team and cross-supplier dependencies, resolving conflicts and misalignment to protect programme outcomes
• Manage programme budgets, forecasts, and financial variances where applicable, ensuring investment decisions remain value-focused
• Balance trade offs between scope, cost, time, quality, and long-term sustainability in partnership with senior stakeholders

Stakeholder, Team & Partner Leadership

• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Delivery leadership to align strategy, technical direction, and execution reality
• Lead and coordinate Project and Delivery Managers, setting clear priorities and holding teams to account without duplicating execution responsibilities
• Oversee external partners and suppliers where applicable, ensuring delivery, quality and commitments are met
• Build and maintain strong senior stakeholder relationships, providing clarity, challenge, and confident programme leadership

Deliver (Performance standards or measurable results expected in this role)

• Delivery performance across the product domain is predictable, transparent, and actively managed
• Risks and dependencies are identified early, tracked and addressed decisively
• Product roadmaps reflect real delivery capability, not optimistic assumptions
• Cross-domain programmes achieve agreed outcomes with clear ownership and governance
• Benefits and outcomes are tracked and realised post-delivery
• Planned programme benefits delivered, or on track, within agreed timescales with clear ownership in place
• Programme milestones delivered within agreed forecast tolerances, with variances understood and actively managed
• Governance forums operating effectively, with clear decisions, actions, and audit trails
• High and critical risks actively mitigated and escalated within defined thresholds
• Programme spend controlled within approved budgets and forecasts
• Sustained confidence from sponsors and senior stakeholders in programme control, delivery and insights Successful transition of delivered outcomes into business as usual operations

Preferred Qualifications (Experience, credentials, education)

• Typically possesses 7 12 years experience in programme or senior delivery leadership roles within complex technology environments
• Proven experience leading multi team, multi workstream programmes with significant dependency management
• Strong background working with product, engineering, and delivery leadership in modern digital organisations
• Experience operating within agile, hybrid, or evolving delivery models at scale
• Bachelors or Masters degree in a relevant field, or equivalent practical experience. Formal programme or project management accreditation advantageous

Individual Requirements (Unique technology and other requirements for this role)

• Operates with high autonomy, taking full ownership for programme outcomes and long-term sustainability over short-term activityterm activity
• Calm and effective under pressure, with a bias toward clarity and action
• Strong strategic thinking combined with pragmatic execution
• Strong knowledge of process improvement methodologies & advocate for improving ways of working, with a proven track record of building and enabling high-performing teams
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and negotiation skills at senior levelsComfortable making decisions and holding others to account
• Able to balance structure and flexibility in complex environments
• Strong project delivery skills accurate planning, delivers to commitments and milestone dates, workforce planning, effective status communications, managing risks and dependencies, operating multiple activities in parallel
• Proven experience leading complex programmes across multiple workstreams and stakeholders
• Strong governance design and operational control capabilities in complex delivery environments
• Advanced risk, dependency, and issue management skills with a proactive, outcome-focused approach
• Data-led decision-making and delivery assurance expertise
• Clear, confident executive-level written and verbal communication
• Experience leading and embedding change, ensuring adoption of new ways of working
• Comfortable operating within agile, hybrid, or evolving delivery models at scale.
• Strong advocate for improving ways of working, with a proven track record of building and enabling high-performing teams