Programme Director

Version 1 has celebrated over 26 years in Technology Services and continues to be trusted by global brands to deliver solutions that drive customer success. Our expertise enables our customers to navigate the rapidly changing Digital-First world we live in. We foster strong partnerships with leading technology giants including Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, Red Hat, OutSystems, and Snowflake, ensuring that our customers are provided with the highest quality solutions and services.

We’re an award-winning employer reflecting how our employees are at the very heart of Version 1 and what we do:

• No. 1 Best Large Workplace in Ireland by GPTW
• 5th Best Super Large Workplace in the UK by GPTW
• Best Workplace for Women in the UK & Ireland by GPTW
• Best Workplace for Wellbeing in the UK 2023 by GPTW
• Top 10 Best Place to Work UK by Glassdoor

We’re a core values driven company, we hire people who share our values, and we reward those who display and foster them, it’s deeply embedded within our DNA. Invest in us and we’ll invest in you!

Job Description

We are looking for an enthusiastic, passionate, and highly experienced Programme Director to assume overall responsibility and manage the delivery of a significant and complex transformation programme into one of our large NI Public Sector Customers.

In this role you will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of business change and service transformation, infrastructure provision and integration, and all aspects of the large scale implementation across all programme workstreams through best practice methodologies. You'll also manage client relationships through effective informal reviews, formal programme governance and accurate reporting as well as building key relationships with the Customer’s Internal Team and Senior Stakeholders. In addition, you’ll manage our Key Subcontractors, Vendors, and other third parties on whom the project is dependent.

The role will require extensive experience of transformation programmes across requirements gathering, planning, governance, interdependency management, risks and issues management, decision making, benefits realisation, programme resourcing, financial management and budget, change management, communication, and status reporting. You’ll need to have demonstrable experience of:

• Managing large Business Change and Transformation programmes in the Northern Ireland Public Sector
• Orchestrating efficiencies and synergies in delivery of multiple workstreams across a large programme of work
• Leveraging key capabilities within the Programme teams to make the budget go further
• Ensuring effective control over costs and resourcing, enabling the delivery of workstreams / projects within the program to budget, quality, and time standards
• Managing relationships with Senior Stakeholders and third parties
• Managing relationships with Key Subcontractors and Vendors
• Managing program risks and issues assessing program criticalities and contingencies
• Ensuring transition to Managed Service is completed seamlessly with minimal impact to our Customer’s Stakeholders and End Users

Responsibilities

• Support and inform the Portfolio Director and other Senior Management Stakeholders on all aspects of the programme’s delivery and governance
• Overall Programme Scoping and definition of Workstreams
• Creation of a comprehensive and Implementation Programme Plan in conjunction with the Customer, Key Stakeholders, Key Subcontractors, and Third Parties, including establishing the means to review and update the baselined plan as the programme proceeds
• Drive successful delivery of the Programme, through proactive management of dependencies, issues, and risks of the constituent workstreams to achieve business objectives.
• Ensure delivery is consistent with the agreed delivery model and standards.
• Proactively communicate with Business Owners / Programme Stakeholders to enable them to deliver on their projects in line with programme timelines.
• Manage escalations appropriately to avoid any impact on overall delivery.
• Support establishing and drive/monitor the standard IT Governance mechanisms in alignment with the overall programme Governance approach.
• Follow the agreed IT Demand and Governance processes on Status Management, Risk / Issue / Change Management, Deliverables Management, Decision Management, Plan Management
• Stakeholder communication, senior executive level and delivery teams
• Partner, Vendor and Third-party management.
• Continuously strive for best practice at programme level
• Partnering and consulting with cross border and cross functional teams - including sales, operations, information technology and technical leads to facilitate the identified solution

Qualifications

• You must have demonstrable experience of Project Management and its various methodologies, ideally you have Prince 2 Practitioner, PMP, MSP, or similar Project Management certification
• 3rd level qualification in relevant field or similar
• You'll need proven experience in large transformation programmes, delivering efficiencies and business benefit across traditional and silos and business units, and be able to manage programmes and programme staff by creating a comfortable and productive environment conducive to successful delivery. Your ability to manage a large programme of work with multiple project workstreams within a large organisation will be paramount
• You must have excellent communication and presentation skills, an ability to relate to all levels within an organization from the front-line to the CEO, and the ability to drive consensus across diverse groups. 
• It will be essential that you are agile and proactive in your approach; but robust enough to manage uncertainty, be able to adjust to rapid change and mitigate the effects of ambiguity and surprise.
  You should also have the ability to mentor and develop Programme Team Members if required, and a relentless appetite for successful change delivery and benefits realization.
• 5+ years’ experience as a Programme Manager 
• Senior Stakeholder engagement experience

Additional Information

At Version 1, we believe in providing our employees with a comprehensive benefits package that prioritises their wellbeing, professional growth, and financial stability.

• Share in our success with our Quarterly Performance-Related Profit Share Scheme, where employees collectively benefit from a share of our company's profits.
• Strong Career Progression & mentorship coaching through our Strength in Balance & Leadership schemes with a dedicated quarterly Pathways Career Development programme.
• Flexible/remote working, Version 1 is tremendously understanding of life events and people’s individual circumstances and offer flexibility to help achieve a healthy work life balance.
• Financial Wellbeing initiatives including; Pension, Private Healthcare Cover, Life Assurance, Financial advice and an Employee Discount scheme.
• Employee Wellbeing schemes including Ergonomic Tech Equipment, Gym Discounts, Bike to Work, Fitness classes, Mindfulness Workshops, Employee Assistance Programme and much more.
• Generous holiday allowance, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, marriage/civil partnership leave and special leave policies.
• Educational assistance, incentivised certifications, and accreditations, including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat.
• Reward schemes including Version 1’s Annual Excellence Awards & ‘Call-Out’ platform.
• Environment, Social and Community First initiatives allow you to get involved in local fundraising and development opportunities as part of fostering our diversity, inclusion and belonging schemes.

And many more exciting benefits… drop us a note to find out more.