Programme Manager

In Team Digital, we’re planning for a future where the technology solutions we co-create and design enable us to achieve our goal to protect our greatest natural resource and allow our customers, communities and the environment to thrive.

As a team, our vision is to create an everyday digital experience for the people we serve - our customers - by putting them at the heart of everything we do. As part of our award-winning team you’ll help the business become an intelligent, connected organisation in order to deliver our digital transformation and turnaround.

The Senior Programme Manager will be responsible for defining, managing and delivering a coherent set of activities across a significant programme of Digital and business change, and/or a portfolio of projects, primarily within the Operational Technology area but may be required to support or work in other business or technology areas.  The Senior Programme Manager will need to be able to define, in partnership with the relevant senior stakeholders, programme scope, benefits and business outcomes.  They will also need to coordinate any technology solution assessments, if required, and oversee commercial and procurement processes.  The Senior Programme Manager will deliver the programme and/or project/s to the expected standards of time, quality and budget, including reporting of associated plans, risks and issues to Executive leadership.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Programme Manager:

Lead and manage project activities / delivery team/s:

• Define and baseline the programme’s scope, plan and budget that will successfully deliver the business outcomes / objectives.
• Identify, engage and manage direct and indirect stakeholders appropriately in context of their role within the programme, up to and including Executive Director level.
• Establish and manage a regular programme governance structure, including management of cost, schedule, resources, RAID and dependency management.

Effective management of risks, issues and costs:

• Identify and manage RAID items within the programme and escalate where appropriate.
• Manage project change (scope, time, budget) within agreed tolerances or escalate changes accordingly.

Follow agreed governance standards across the project/s lifecycle/s:

• Attend project initiation workshops and creation of any associated material to instigate a new project.
• Create project closure reports and lead lessons learned workshops.

Team management:

• Identify and forecast resource needs including internal and external partner resource requirements.
• Coach, manage and support career development for up to 8 direct reports.
• Participate and support recruitment processes.

Supplier management:

• Responsible for overseeing and/or supporting the selection of any third-party suppliers.
• Support commercial and procurement activities for any third-party supplier including RFI/RFQ processes and contract negotiations.
• Support supplier management performance processes, including monthly reporting of supplier time, cost and quality metrics.

Support Digital Transformation objectives:

• Actively support non programme delivery activities related to improvement of Digital processes and ways of working, including transition to Product Management ways of working, defining and implementing delivery process efficiencies and insourcing/developing Digital skills and capabilities within our delivery teams to meet future business and technology needs.

Base Location: Clearwater Court, Reading - Hybrid
Working Pattern or hours: 36 hours Full Time

What you should bring to the role
We want to bring together a team of brilliant tech minds with game changing ideas. We’re looking for people who will help us re-imagine the way we work and the way we get things done:

• A truly digital mindset. Open to collaboration. Open to risk. Open to new ways of doing things.
• Obsessed with data. Obsessed with excellence.
• People who think and behave differently to the way we do. People who don’t want to just be another cog in the machine.
• Significant experience of Digital / IT programme management delivery role.
• Experience with Operational Technology platforms, including SCADA systems, Remote Terminal/Telemetry Units and programme logic controllers and Local/Wide area network technologies and telephony platforms.
• Experience of leading multiyear transformational and/or Digital delivery programmes.
• Experience of financial management up to £25m per annum.
• Line management experience of up to 10 direct reports
• Management of teams >50 resources.
• Management of suppliers across the entire delivery life cycle.
• Customer centric delivery experience.
• SAFe Practitioner, Scrum Master or equivalent.
• PRINCE 2 Practitioner or equivalent.
• Experience of Agile and/or Product Management delivery methodologies.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £85,000 per annum depending on experience
• Annual Leave 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (Plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance - £5,800
• Annual Bonus
• Private Medical Health Care
• Contributory pension – Defined Contribution - Maximum of 12% -2x employee contribution
• Personal Medical Assessments – Open to all once a year
• Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing

Who are we?
At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life’s essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive.

Water is life’s great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day. From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we’re committed to taking care of it for us all.

But keeping water flowing is becoming harder. From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers. We need to keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever. Are you ready to play your part?

Working at Thames Water
At Thames Water we recognise that people are at the heart of our business. To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge. We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, background, and differences that each individual brings.

Our over-arching diversity and inclusion aim is to ensure Thames Water is a diverse and inclusive great place to work. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.

Find out more about working at Thames Water.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business, meet colleagues and earn some extra money along the way.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.