Programme Tech Director

Programme Director (Tech-focus)

SALARY: £80,000 - £100,000
REPORTING TO: HEAD OF DELIVERY

Our client builds category-defining service brands through design and technology. As an independent agency with over 30 years of experience, we help brands like Lloyds Banking Group, The Student Hotel, The Gym Group, WWF, and British Gas, just to mention a few.
They pride themselves on their mission to making a meaningful difference to people. When it comes to relationships, their ambition is to establish long-lasting client engagements, as the most valued and valuable partner to our clients. Achieving this depends on their people.
That is where you come in!!!

Role overview

You will be responsible for overseeing a large portfolio of accounts and related programmes and projects (£4M+), working in partnership with your Client Services peer, the Managing Partner. Together you will lead a profitable portfolio by working in collaboration with your teams and clients, delivering high-quality valuable work that has impact and makes a difference to our clients and their customers. As Delivery lead of your portfolio, you will contribute to setting the right Delivery team structure, managing, and coaching them, enabling their effectiveness and career progression, and ensuring their work is in line with the expected delivery standards.
You have extensive Tech and Agile digital agency experience to work effectively with the Head of Delivery, Managing Partner, and cross-disciplinary heads to lead the optimisation, re-invigoration and, when necessary, introduction of best-practice delivery frameworks and methodologies in your portfolio. You will enable their adoption across the rest of the agency, setting the standards that everyone will follow.
Your experience is applicable to a broad range of creative and technical projects and programmes of work. You are experienced in managing agile projects while acknowledging and handling the intricacies of scope with commercial effectiveness. You plan and spot risk from the distance, setting mitigation plans and mapping scenarios to prevent it and lower any impact.

Main Responsibilities

• Project/programme delivery and commercial accountability
• Ensure all projects within the portfolio are effectively and efficiently managed from start to finish, maximising on-time and on-budget as well as creating the conditions for 'right first time'
• Establish tech/digital delivery best-practices
• Ensure that the most suitable processes are used on each project/programme
• Co-lead with the Head of Delivery on the development, consolidation, and implementation across the business of first-class digital experience/technical delivery processes
• Validate all plans and sign-off of all digital Statements of Work, proposals and budgets for specified portfolios
• Ensure that relationships with third-party delivery partners are set up and managed to ensure commercial success
• Establish business wide training and familiarisation programmes for process deployment and improvement
• Ensure that senior management receives full status reports on all relevant programmes, with all issues and opportunities clearly explained
• Work with clients in the spirit of collaboration and transparency at every stage of the engagement
• Work with Client Services and clients directly so that clients understand the benefits of our working practices
• Be the confident and knowledgeable face of Rufus Leonard's delivery function with clients and at pitches

Demonstrated, practical and proven experience:

• In a senior digital delivery role ideally from a large agency network, management consultant or software solutions provider (SI)
• Of the most up-to-date processes and Agile methodologies. i.e. be practitioner of both Waterfall and Agile ways of working
• As an expert level agile practitioner on large and small solutions
• PRINCE2 qualification and SCRUM Master desirable
• A working knowledge of project tracking tools such as JIRA
• Project management skills using a variety of processes and project controls
• Programme management/PMO experience
• Negotiating ways of working and governance practices with senior client stakeholders
• Excellent organisational skills
• Strong people-facing and relationship management skills
• Strong verbal and written communications skills
• Ability to work independently as well as co-operatively with others
• Ability to handle pressure and meet tight deadlines
• A flexible approach
• Commitment to delivering work to the highest of standards

Key Attributes:
This role requires you to be:

• A force to be reckoned with that is firm, fair and approachable
• Profit focused
• A pragmatist
• An unerring eye for detail
• Proactive, enthusiastic, and energetic
• Resilient
• A sense of urgency
• A sense of humour
• Open and honest
• Able to juggle conflicting demands without flapping
• A leader, by example and through challenging, coaching and creating confidence
• Sees solutions rather than problems
• Fostering a collaborative working style in the agency
• Always 3 steps ahead…

What is it like to work for our client?
Values are:
Lionhearted, Down to earth and Hungry. Our people ARE Rufus. They are what makes them.
Our people…

• have respect and trust of peers, managers and colleagues
• are proactive and catalysts for embracing change/ideas, solving problems creatively
• are result driven for our business and our clients'
• are open to constructive criticism and use balanced judgement
• have a massive appetite to learn and strive for excellence
• enjoy being part of a team and bring their own best self into it

If keen on this exciting opportunity drop me an email with your CV or contact me on 07790020499.