Programme Lead

Job ID:44076

Location:Birmingham : 1 Trinity Park : Bi

Position Category:Information Technology

Position Type:Employee Regular

Role purpose

The Programme Lead is accountable for the successful end-to-end delivery of a strategic transformation programme, currently DSD / Universe. The role drives an agile, product-led and outcome-based delivery direction, running the programme as a single, coordinated system that aligns multiple products, workstreams and technology layers into a clear, sequenced path to business value. It holds that momentum together with a firm grip on the critical path and the benefits case, keeping control of dependencies, sequencing, risk and investment while holding delivery to measurable outcomes rather than activity. It operates at programme governance level, not delivery task level, applying just enough governance to keep control without slowing the teams. It leads and enables a small delivery leadership team of two Senior Project Managers, and is the single point of accountability for programme success.

Key Responsibilities

Programme leadership and accountability

• Own overall programme success: the delivery of outcomes, benefits and strategic objectives.
• Act as the single point of accountability for programme performance, owning the position and driving recovery where needed.
• Maintain a clear, joined-up view across all products and delivery streams.
• Own the programme narrative, giving a single, coherent view across products, workstreams, technology layers and outcomes, with clarity on progress, direction and delivery confidence.

Driving an agile, product-led direction

• Drive an agile, product-led and outcome-based way of working across the programme, keeping delivery focused on client and business value rather than activity.
• Set direction and priorities and give the teams the space to decide how best to deliver, enabling rather than directing the detail.
• Maintain alignment across multiple product backlogs, so the products move together to a shared programme outcome.
• Support a healthy, sustainable delivery flow, protecting pace and quality over the life of the programme.

Critical path, benefits and value realisation

• Hold the critical path against the benefits case, sequencing delivery so that benefits land when and as planned.
• Ensure delivery is aligned to business value and measurable outcomes, and track when benefits are expected to land, highlighting any slippage early.
• Keep benefits tracked and evidenced against the case rather than asserted, maintaining a clear link between delivery progress and realised impact.
• Ensure architecture and data flows are understood and managed as part of the critical path, working closely with engineering and architecture leadership.

Leading the delivery team

• Lead, manage and develop the two Senior Project Managers, setting clear direction and priorities and giving them the space to own delivery in their areas.
• Provide matrix leadership across delivery resources (Delivery Leads, Senior Business Analysts, Development, DevOps, QA and other specialists), aligning them to programme priorities and deploying them effectively across workstreams.
• Maintain a programme-wide view of capacity and capability gaps, and support decisions on prioritisation, hiring and trade-offs.
• Build an accountable delivery layer so routine decisions are made within the team rather than escalated to programme level.

Sequencing and dependencies

• Own programme-level sequencing across initiatives, and manage cross-product dependencies so delivery stays aligned.
• Maintain clear visibility of the critical path and delivery constraints.
• Where the programme includes a legacy platform exit, own the end-to-end exit roadmap, covering what is exiting, when and on what dependencies, and manage the risks to successful decommissioning.

Financial management

• Own programme-level budget oversight, keeping spend controlled and aligned to priorities.
• Maintain visibility of forecast versus actuals, and flag financial risks or pressures early.
• Support investment decisions and trade-offs based on value, risk and delivery constraints.

Just enough governance, risk and control

• Establish and lead proportionate programme governance, just enough to keep control and momentum, running the rhythm from team cadence through to SteerCo.
• Own the programme RAID position, ensuring risks, issues, dependencies and assumptions are clearly identified and actively managed.
• Provide a clear, decision-oriented view of status and trajectory: a Programme Pulse focused on delivery confidence rather than activity.
• Surface risks, trade-offs and required decisions early, help make them once, and escalates where necessary to maintain delivery momentum.

Working relationships

• Build strong relationships with the Chief Digital Officer, the ELT and the business lines, and represent programme direction and delivery confidence clearly to executive stakeholders.
• Work closely with Product, VP Engineering and the Head of Development, the Enterprise Architect, Business Analysis and IT Operations to turn programme priorities into delivered outcomes.

Key outcomes

• An agile, product-led programme that keeps moving at pace while staying on its critical path and benefits case.
• The programme delivered against its outcomes and benefits, with a credible, evidenced path to green held throughout.
• A single, coherent programme narrative that leadership and the ELT trust.
• Dependencies, sequencing and the critical path actively managed, with few surprises at delivery or release.
• Benefits tracked and evidenced against the case, and the programme kept within its financial envelope.
• Delivery owned and reported against outcomes and the critical path, not activity.
• A well-led delivery team, with the Senior Project Managers owning delivery in their areas and routine decisions made within the team.
• Proportionate governance operating cleanly, with risks, trade-offs and decisions surfaced early and made once.

Experience and capability

• Programme leadership: proven experience leading complex, multi-stream transformation programmes end to end.
• Agile, product-led delivery: driving an agile, product-led, outcome-based direction and keeping the focus on value over output.
• Critical path and benefits: holding a critical-path benefits case, sequencing delivery to protect when and how benefits land, and evidencing them.
• Dependencies and control: a strong track record managing dependencies, sequencing, financials and large-scale change.
• Enabling leadership: leading and developing project and delivery managers, and enabling matrix teams to own delivery rather than directing the detail.
• Proportionate governance: running just enough governance to keep control and momentum, and operating credibly at senior stakeholder level.
• Decisions and ambiguity: making decisions and providing structure and clarity in ambiguous, fast-moving situations.
• Technical and commercial awareness: a good understanding of architecture, data and modern delivery approaches, and strong financial and commercial awareness.

Leadership profile

• Drives agile, product-led momentum while holding the critical path and the benefits case.
• Applies just enough governance, giving structure and clarity without constraining team autonomy.
• Leads by enabling the team, and takes single-point accountability, owning the position and driving it to a credible path to green.
• Surfaces issues early with options, rather than letting them emerge late to leadership.
• Decisive, and comfortable managing ambiguity.
• Outcome-focused, holding delivery to value rather than activity.
• Trusted across product, engineering, delivery and the business, and credible at executive level.

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