Lead Delivery Manager

Lead Delivery Manager

80,000 per annum

Bedford

Permanent

Hybrid Working

This is a leadership role, supporting the Service Owner, and focused on bringing together service operations, policy, strategy, suppliers and technical teams to the service meets user needs and delivers its intended policy outcomes. Working as one team across these disciplines, you will help ensure the service is safe, resilient and well run, and that it keeps improving over time.

The role is accountable for the safe, stable and effective operation of the service, and responsible for maintaining grip across change, readiness and performance, ensuring that business priorities are translated into clear, coordinated activity across the ecosystem.

You will provide oversight of how the service roadmap is planned, governed and landed, making sure the right people are aligned, the right decisions are taken at the right time, and the service remains stable and responsive as it evolves.

Success in this role will depend on judgement, coordination and leadership across organisational boundaries, with a strong focus on service outcomes, accountability and operational confidence.

Delivery Leadership

Transition and Operationalisation

• Establish the new Pensions Dashboards Service into business as usual within MaPS, ensuring accountabilities, controls and ways of working are clearly established, following the transition from programme delivery.
• Operationalise the agreed operating model and ways of working, turning defined processes, controls and operating arrangements into a working, well-run operation
• Ensure the service is ready for live running, with the right people, processes and assurance in place before and through go-live

Lead delivery across a multi-team service

• Provide clear coordination across service teams, and suppliers to ensure the service operates as a coherent whole
• Set up and run delivery rhytms that fit with a live service with continuous improvement
• Maintain oversight of priorities, dependencies and delivery confidence across the ecosystem
• Ensure business needs are translated into coordinated actions that support a stable and effective live service

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Act as a key point of alignment across multiple teams and delivery partners, helping the organisation operate with clarity and control
• Support effective working relationships across internal functions, external suppliers, regulators and wider stakeholders
• Create the conditions for informed decisions, timely escalation and shared accountability across the service

Change Readiness and Service Stability

• Make sure all change is planned, tested and landed without disrupting users, including releases, regulatory and policy changes, and new connections
• Work closely with Service Operations and other leaders to make sure changes land safely and sustainably into live service

Planning, Prioritisation and Decision Support

• Maintain the service roadmap and forward plans that reflect strategic priorities, operational needs and external stakeholders
• Support disciplined governance and prioritisation, ensuring decisions and prioritisation are taken based on evidence, readiness and impact
• Surface emerging issues and choices early so that leaders can take timely and informed decisions

Governance

• Identify and manage risks, issues and dependencies that could affect service performance, readiness or confidence
• Ensure decisions, controls and delivery confidence are visible and well-evidenced
• Provide clear reporting on progress, risks, choices and trade-offs to support senior decision-making

Essential:

• Senior delivery leadership: You have led delivery of a complex digital service or programme across multiple teams and suppliers, as Lead Delivery Manager or equivalent.
• Complex service environments: Proven experience operating in complex, regulated or high-profile environments where coordination, judgement and control are critical
• Cross-functional leadership: Experience leading across organisational boundaries and bringing together a wide range of teams, disciplines and partners
• Build-to-live transition: Experience moving a programme into business as usual and operationalising a defined service design into sustainable live arrangements standing up the operating model, controls and ways of working
• Live service operation: Experience running or overseeing an established live service, maintaining performance, resilience and control in day-to-day operation
• Clarity and coordination: Can bring structure to complexity and align different parts of the organisation around shared priorities
• Stakeholder leadership: Confident working with senior stakeholders across government, regulators, suppliers and internal leadership teams
• Decision support: Able to present risks, choices and implications clearly so that others can take informed decisions.

Desirable:

• Experience of the GDS Service Standard and service assessments
• Knowledge of pensions, financial services or another regulated sector
• Experience of major public sector assurance reviews, for example those led by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) or gateway reviews