Senior Delivery Manager

Ashton Court Group Ltd; Ashton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - GBP 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A progressive UK-based company is seeking a Senior Delivery Manager to lead project delivery within a PMO. This role involves prioritisation, stakeholder management, and the execution of complex projects while ensuring alignment with strategic objectives. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in managing delivery within public sector environments and possess excellent communication skills. The company offers a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

Competitive salary

33 days annual leave

Continuous professional development

Access to learning resources

Auto-enrolment pension scheme

Employee wellbeing strategy

Free flu jabs

Eyecare vouchers

Company events

Free on-site parking

Qualifications

• Experience delivering complex projects within a PMO environment.
• Proven experience managing prioritised backlogs across multiple projects.
• Strong understanding of public sector delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Accountable for end-to-end delivery of a prioritised backlog.
• Lead the prioritisation process with senior stakeholders.
• Ensure delivery activity meets public sector standards.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Agile methodologies

Risk management

Education

Professional project/programme management certification

Tools

PMO and delivery management tools

Portfolio management tools

Job description

About the Role

The Senior Delivery Manager is accountable for the successful prioritisation, co-ordination, and delivery of a portfolio of projects and deliverables within the PMO, supporting high-profile customers. The role ensures that work is delivered efficiently, transparently, and in line with strategic objectives, governance requirements, and agreed timelines, while managing complexity, dependencies, and stakeholder expectations across the delivery landscape.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Accountable for the end-to-end delivery of a prioritised backlog of projects, programmes, and deliverables, ensuring alignment with customer and organisational strategy
• Lead the prioritisation process, working with senior stakeholders to balance demand, capacity, risk, and benefits across the portfolio
• Plan, co-ordinate, and oversee delivery activities across multiple workstreams, ensuring clarity of scope, milestones, and accountabilities
• Operate as a core member of the PMO, embedding and adhering to agreed delivery frameworks, governance, and assurance processes
• Proactively identify, manage, and resolve delivery risks, issues, dependencies, and constraints, escalating where appropriate
• Provide clear, accurate, and timely delivery reporting, including progress, forecasts, risks, and outcomes, to senior internal and customer stakeholders
• Ensure delivery activity meets public sector standards for assurance, compliance, transparency, and value for money
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with customer stakeholders, delivery teams, suppliers, and partners
• Drive continuous improvement in delivery practices, tools, and ways of working within the PMO
• Support decision-making by providing evidence-based insights, recommendations, and options to senior leaders.

Knowledge and Experience

• Demonstrable experience delivering complex projects, programmes, or portfolios within a PMO or structured delivery environment
• Proven experience managing prioritised backlogs across multiple projects or workstreams
• Strong understanding of public sector delivery environments, including governance, assurance, and reporting requirements
• Experience working with senior stakeholders, including customer-facing roles in high-profile or politically sensitive contexts
• Track record of managing risk, dependencies, and delivery challenges across complex delivery landscapes
• Familiarity with a range of delivery methodologies (e.g. Agile, Waterfall, hybrid approaches).

Personal Characteristics

• Highly organised, resilient, and comfortable operating in complex and fast-paced environments
• Outcome-focused, with a strong sense of accountability and ownership
• Pragmatic and adaptable, able to navigate ambiguity and change
• Professional, credible, and confident when engaging with senior stakeholders
• Collaborative and inclusive, fostering positive team and stakeholder relationships.

Personal Abilities

• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to motivate, co-ordinate, and influence multidisciplinary teams without direct line management
• Excellent communication skills, able to articulate complex delivery information clearly to a range of audiences
• Strong decision-making and prioritisation skills, balancing competing demands effectively
• Ability to anticipate issues, think strategically, and take proactive action to protect delivery outcomes
• Ability to challenge constructively and provide clear, evidence-based recommendations.

Technical Abilities

• Strong delivery planning, tracking, and reporting skills, including management of milestones, dependencies, and benefits
• Competence in portfolio and backlog management techniques and tools
• Strong risk, issue, and dependency management capabilities
• Experience using PMO and delivery management tools (e.g. RAID logs, delivery dashboards, portfolio plans)
• Ability to apply delivery governance, assurance, and control frameworks proportionately and effectively.

Qualifications (desirable)

• Professional project/programme management certification such as:
  • PRINCE2 Practitioner
  • Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
  • Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Agile certification:
  • AgilePM Practitioner
  • ICAgile / Scrum Master / SAFe.

What We Offer

• Industry aligned competitive salary
• 33days annual leave, including bank holidays
• Continuous professional development
• Access to learning resources to support study to achieve Microsoft certifications
• Bonus paid on passing agreed exams to gain specific Microsoft certifications
• Auto-enrolment pension scheme with options to increase your contributions
• Employee wellbeing strategy
• Free flu jabs
• Eyecare vouchers
• Company events
• Free on-site parking.

About Us

We believe in our culture, values and staff successes. We invest in developing our staff and we support our employees with their professional development goals. We strive to offer an environment that provides our staff with the right work/life balance. We offer genuine career prospects: you will have a clear career progression path with the opportunity to become stakeholders within the business as it transitions to an employee-owned company.

This role is UK-based but we particularly welcome applications from candidates within commuting distance of our Northampton HQ, as on-site collaboration and client engagement form part of the role. Candidates must have full entitlement to work and reside in the UK.

Strictly Personal Applicants Only. Please apply hereto upload your CV and cover letter, describing why you feel you are right for this position, together with details of your current and minimum salary expectations, current benefits and notice period. Ref: 2602. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis; we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Please note we cannot sponsor applicants for a visa. Please only apply if you have the right to work in the UK and are resident in the UK. Ashton Court is committed to supporting individuals with the desire and capacity for long-term career growth and development to achieve their full potential. Because the limitations of a time-bound visa do not align with our long-term career development plans, we regret we cannot accept applications from candidates whose right to work in the UK relies on a temporary, time-limited or dependency visa.

Interview Process

Ashton Court Group is an equal opportunities employer. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an initial interview with a senior member of the team relevant to the role. Further interview stages may follow, depending on the position, and could include discussions about your experience, skills, or a practical or technical task. Some roles, particularly more senior positions, may involve additional stages. Final interviews and job offers are usually held in person at our offices. Full details will be shared with candidates as they move through the process.

Recruitment Agencies

Strictly no agency contact in response to this vacancy. We have a strict company policy to recruit directly. We therefore do not accept speculative CVs and/or cold calls to our Recruitment Team or Hiring Manager.

Ashton Court Group Ltd
Thorpewood Management Centre
Blisworth Road
Courteenhall
Northampton
NN7 2QB