Programme Director at FNZ Group

Role Description

• As a Programme Director you will be responsible for the overall integrity and quality of the programme being delivered. This will involve developing and maintaining the programme environment and supporting each individual project within it. This role will be responsible for the end to end management of projects to contracted time, quality, and budget requirements. This will involve leadership of a distributed project team in multiple locations, and the proactive identification, management and resolution of risks and issues throughout the full project lifecycle. There will be a requirement to be able to create and maintain focus, enthusiasm and momentum across the entire programme both internally and externally. This is a very client facing role and requires the ability to build strong relationships with customers, often at a senior level. The role requires a background in technology or management consulting with experience in leading large change programmes within the financial services industry. The role operates within the Project Delivery team with a reporting line to the Regional Head of Delivery .

Specific Role Responsibilities

Program and Delivery Oversight: Oversee technology and business change programs to:

• Deliver programs (& support project manager (PMs)) in the successful delivery of client change programs. In accordance with contractually agreed milestones, budget costs & quality standards.
• Align activities to agreed and committed client and resource plans • Monitor and manage client demand for bespoke development and change, reducing platform-specific development
• Achieve budgeted levels of Committed Funds Under Management (FUM) and develop and maintain a FUM Pipeline through migrations
• Leverage UK and Group capabilities, including proposition and migrations teams, as required to reduce overall ‘effort’
• Ensure changes are delivered on time and in budget
• Meet FNZ Group’s quality standards and appropriately use mandated tooling and processes including SDLC and release management
• Depending on assignment, responsibilities include: 

Programme Management

• Oversee multiple projects within the change programme, ensuring programme goals are reached
• Monitor expenditure and costs against delivered and realised benefits as the programme progresses
• Ensure effective quality assurance and the overall integrity of the programme both internally & externally
• Plan and manage the programme through proactively monitoring its progress, resolving issues and initiating appropriate corrective action
• Manage and maintain a strong relationship with FNZ customers across all elements of the programme. Ensuring their expectations are managed and align to our delivery planning.
• Understand the commercial environment FNZ operates within and work closely with the Client Director to deliver against FNZ’s commercial agreements.

Delivery Management

• Manage the delivery of the programme through the full project lifecycle, from initiation through to implementation.
• Ensure the programme delivers in-line with the FNZ Software Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC) and associated quality controls are met. Tracking that these are actively followed and managed across the programme.
• Create and maintain an end to end project plan that delivers the agreed scope of the project to time, budget and quality criteria.
• Ensure the FNZ Solution Centre understands all build scope through approved designs and specifications in accordance with the SDLC, collaborate with them to create a build and test plan that delivers against project milestones.
• Be actively involved in the delivery of each project by coordinating the day to day running of the project to ensure it achieves its expected milestones.
• Have strong relationships and take accountability for working with all FNZ Directorates/areas to agree scope, timelines and artefacts in order to ensure delivery of the project in line with overall agreed plan.
• Take accountability for the overall estimating process for a project, and work collaboratively with the Lead Solution Consultant, Delivery Manager, and the Test Manager to estimate the work effort required to deliver the project scope within the agreed timescales and budgets.
• Maintain accurate project status and project financial reporting for the entire project team.
• Provide timely, precise, accurate and comprehensive project MI both internally and externally.
• Understand the FNZ products and technology so you are able to identify and manage risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies through the full project lifecycle.
• Build mitigation plans for all risks and issues, and take ownership for ensuring these mitigation plans are executed, or escalated as is appropriate
• Have strong relationships with 3 rd party suppliers and ensure they are engaged appropriately and contracts are in place and managed to ensure the required outcomes for FNZ.
• Manage all operational readiness activities associated to the project, as required, ensuring that the appropriate training and handovers take place ahead of go-live.
• Undertake post implementation reviews and ensure that lessons learned are captured and shared with the rest of the PM community.

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage and motivate a virtual team in multiple geographic locations, communicating project progress, and ensuring all team members take accountability for delivery.
• Motivate, mentor and encourage project team members to utilise themselves to their full potential and take accountability for their assigned work.
• Create a culture of continuous improvement on the project, support process improvement initiatives, and identify new process improvements.
• Swiftly resolve any conflicts within the project team and/or related stakeholders both within and out with FNZ.
• Be an active member of the PM community within FNZ, contributing to team sessions, supporting other Junior PMs and sharing best practice and lessons learned.
• Help to develop and support other project managers within the project delivery team.
• Knowledge of the regulatory environment in which FNZ operates, be responsible for managing the impact of all regulatory changes and ensure future change is built into project plans so FNZ clients have a compliant platform.
• Responsible for ensuring that CASS compliance is considered and adhered to in all platform change projects.

Experience required

Required Industry Knowledge 

• Programme Management experience with a proven track record of managing and delivering multiple projects. 
• Financial Services experience preferably investment/wealth/life and/or pensions products and the markets in which FNZ and our customers operate in.
• An understanding of the regulatory environment FNZ operate within.
• Managing 3rd party suppliers.
• Significant experience in leading the delivery of business-critical projects, preferably Software implementations within Financial Services.
• Experience of managing stakeholders to executive levels.

Required Knowledge and Skills 

• Degree, masters, MBA or equivalent experience
• Confident, and able to take initiative given client and delivery focused environment
• Independent, self-directing and delivery focused working style;
• Commercially aware
• Excellent organisational, administration and time management skills
• Good team communication skills, confident in dealing with internal and external clients
• Highly developed written and oral communication skills.