SC Cleared Business Readiness Consultant
Posted 5 days ago by fortice
£450 Per day
Inside
Hybrid
Hybrid - Telford, UK
Summary: The role of Business Readiness Consultant requires SC clearance and involves leading the planning and execution of business readiness activities for a complex government project in Telford. The consultant will coordinate user acceptance testing, manage change impacts, and ensure effective communication and training across multidisciplinary teams. This position demands visible leadership and a focus on user outcomes and service stability. The contract duration is 3 months with a hybrid working arrangement.
Key Responsibilities:
- Define and maintain the Business Readiness Plan, roadmap, and acceptance criteria.
- Establish and operate readiness governance, including readiness forums and contingency plans.
- Create and maintain readiness dashboards and evidence packs for Programme Boards.
- Lead change impact assessments and develop adoption strategies.
- Define the UAT/BAT strategy and coordinate test preparation and readiness sign-off.
- Own the training needs analysis and develop a communications plan.
- Lead cutover planning and coordinate Early Life Support processes.
- Maintain a robust RAID regime for readiness and adoption risks/issues.
- Operate a single source of truth for readiness MI and optimize tooling.
Key Skills:
- Substantial UK government experience in a similar role.
- Dynamic leadership with the ability to influence multidisciplinary teams.
- Proven delivery at pace with concurrent readiness workstreams.
- Confidence to challenge and influence senior leaders.
- Ownership and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Hands-on experience of UAT/BAT methods and business readiness frameworks.
- Willingness to travel regularly across sites and locations.
Salary (Rate): £450/day
City: Telford
Country: UK
Working Arrangements: hybrid
IR35 Status: inside IR35
Seniority Level: undetermined
Industry: Other
Business Readiness Consultant
Clearance Required: SC
Duration: 3 months
Location: Telford with 2 days/week in office
IR35 Status: Mandated PAYE only
We are heading up a recruitment drive for a global consultancy that require a SC Cleared Business Readiness Consultantto join them on a major government project that's based in Telford.
Job Description:
Description and Location:
Role Purpose
Lead the planning, coordination and execution of business readiness activities for a complex government programme/project to ensure new capabilities are usable, safe, and adoptable across operational areas. You will own readiness planning, coordinate UAT/BAT (User/Business Acceptance Testing), manage change impacts, training and communications, and lead go-live preparation and transition to BAU. You will provide visible leadership across multidisciplinary teams and suppliers, enabling delivery at pace with a focus on user outcomes, service stability and benefits realisation.
Key Responsibilities
Business Readiness Planning & Governance
Define and maintain the Business Readiness Plan, roadmap and acceptance criteria, aligned to programme milestones and benefits.
Establish and operate readiness governance (readiness forums, checkpoints, go/no-go criteria, cutover and contingency plans).
Create and maintain readiness dashboards and evidence packs for Programme Boards and SROs.
Change Impact & Adoption
Lead change impact assessments across teams, roles, locations and suppliers; identify policy, process, people, data and technology impacts.
Develop adoption strategies, including operating model updates, SOPs/work instructions, service desk readiness and business continuity arrangements.
Ensure benefits realisation assumptions are reflected in adoption plans and tracked post-go-live.
UAT/BAT Leadership
Define the UAT/BAT strategy and approach (scope, entry/exit criteria, traceability to requirements, scenarios, roles and environments).
Coordinate test preparation (test scripts, data, environments), defect triage and prioritisation, and readiness sign-off with business owners.
Ensure evidence and audit trails meet assurance and regulatory needs; integrate UAT/BAT outcomes into go/live readiness decisions.
Training, Communications & Stakeholder Management
Own the training needs analysis (TNA), curriculum, materials and delivery approach (classroom, digital, train-the-trainer).
Develop and run the communications plan-clear messages, timing and channels for different user groups; measure awareness and readiness.
Engage credibly with senior leaders and unions/staff associations (where relevant); provide evidence-based recommendations and challenge where plans are not ready.
Go-Live, Cutover & Early Life Support (ELS)
Lead cutover planning, rehearsals and command-and-control; maintain contingency and rollback plans.
Coordinate Early Life Support-stabilisation metrics, hypercare processes, incident/defect management and exit criteria to BAU.
Capture lessons learned and embed continuous improvement into subsequent releases.
Risk, Assurance & Controls
Maintain a robust RAID regime for readiness and adoption risks/issues; ensure mitigations are owned, funded and time-bound.
Prepare for and respond to assurance reviews (eg, Gateway/IPA), audits and policy/compliance checks; track actions to closure.
Ensure data protection, security and accessibility considerations are Embedded in readiness criteria.
Data, MI & Tooling
Operate a single source of truth for readiness MI (readiness RAGs, training completion, UAT/BAT pass rates, cutover rehearsals, ELS metrics).
Optimise tooling (eg, SharePoint/Confluence, Project for the Web/MS Project, Azure DevOps/Jira, Power BI) and drive data quality and automation.
Align readiness data with schedule, financials and benefits to support decision-quality insight.
Essential Skills & Experience
Substantial UK government experience in a similar role within a complex programme/project environment involving multiple stakeholders and suppliers.
Dynamic, visible leadership with the ability to influence across multidisciplinary teams (with line management responsibility for G7 and below where applicable).
Proven delivery at pace, coordinating concurrent readiness workstreams and releases.
Confidence to challenge and influence senior leaders, presenting clear evidence, risks and trade-offs.
Ownership and problem-solving: identifies readiness gaps early, designs pragmatic recovery plans and delivers positive outcomes.
Track record in role-modelling delivery excellence and coaching others in readiness, change and testing disciplines.
Excellent written and verbal communication, producing clear plans, board papers and user-facing guidance with strong attention to detail.
Hands-on experience of UAT/BAT methods and business readiness frameworks, flexing Agile/Waterfall/Hybrid approaches to suit delivery priorities.
Willing and able to travel regularly across sites, user locations and supplier premises.