Programme Manager
Salary: Competitive
12 month Fixed Term Contract
Hybrid working (office based in Birmingham) – Currently 1 or 2 days in the office per week
Closing Date: 30th April 2025
As a proud mutual since 1841, Wesleyan is committed to creating brighter financial futures for our customers and members. We specialise in providing financial services to some of the nation’s most trusted professions: GPs, hospital doctors, dentists, and teachers.
To find out more about what we do, visit our website: https://www.wesleyan.co.uk/about
We are proud supporters of the ABI Making Flexible Work campaign which means we are open to discuss flexible working, job shares and part time options.
Your Role:
As IT Programme Manager, you will lead the successful planning, coordination, and delivery of all technology components required for the implementation of Wesleyan’s wealth platform and supporting digital ecosystem.
Working closely with the overall Programme Manager, you’ll ensure technology workstreams align with the Target Operating Model (TOM), technology architecture blueprint, support go/no-go decision points and deliver a fit-for-purpose solution that integrates with both internal and third-party services.
You will provide critical leadership across architecture, development, testing, data, and system integration, managing internal teams and third-party technology partners to ensure successful outcomes.
What you’ll be doing:
Programme Delivery Leadership:
· Lead the end-to-end delivery of all IT components across multiple workstreams, ensuring alignment with programme milestones, dependencies, and business outcomes.
· Manage delivery planning, resourcing, RAID logs, and reporting for technology areas.
· Ensures that the Wesleyan's Change Framework is followed by all projects within the Programme and all governance requirements are adhered to.
· Line management of those within Programme, alongside Coaching/mentoring of programme support- promoting the sharing and development of 'best practice' in project management techniques and ensuring 'lessons learned' are captured through effective reflection on project & programme performance.
Stakeholder Engagement
· Act as the primary point of contact for all technology matters, maintaining strong working relationships with the overall Programme Manager, Programme Sponsor, architecture leads, business SME’s and third-party technology providers.
· Provide clear, structured updates on progress, risks, and mitigations at steering groups and programme boards.
· Build strong relationships with key business stakeholders, securing buy-in and commitment from others both inside and outside of the project teams / programme framework in order to build positive working relationships and joint successes
Technology Oversight:
· Oversee the definition and delivery of technology requirements and designs across the following areas:
o Integration of the wealth platform into internal systems (finance, actuarial, compliance, etc.)
o Customer portal and app integration
o Third-party and BPO technology interfaces
o Infrastructure, security, and scalability planning
Team and Partner Management:
· Coordinate internal IT teams, delivery partners, and third-party suppliers to ensure consistent execution.
· Set expectations, monitor performance, and ensure the delivery is aligned with contract obligations and SLAs.
Quality & Testing
· Ensure that testing strategies are comprehensive, and that environments, tooling, and data requirements are in place.
· Drive resolution of defects and ensure readiness for each release or go-live.
Change and Readiness Support
· Work with business readiness, data, and implementation teams to support deployment planning and cutover, ensuring the tech solution is fully embedded and supported.
We know the best teams are made up of inclusive groups of diverse people where everyone’s contribution counts, and we believe everyone has the right to proudly be themselves. We’re building a culture where difference is actively encouraged and simply recruit the best people for the job irrespective of lifestyle, life history and life choices.
We’re looking for:
· Proven track record of managing complex IT programmes in regulated environments, ideally within wealth management, financial services, or insurance.
· Demonstrated experience delivering system integrations, data platforms, digital front-ends, and third-party technology solutions.
· Prior experience managing cross-functional delivery teams and external vendors in multi-phase programmes.
· Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, systems integration, and data flows across business domains.
· Excellent planning, RAID management, and delivery assurance skills.
· Confident communicator able to represent the technology agenda in senior forums and drive alignment across business and technical teams.
· Able to think strategically and operationally – ensuring long-term technology fit while pragmatically addressing delivery constraints.
· Collaborative and delivery-focused – thrives in a cross-functional environment, working closely with programme leadership and workstream leads.
· Flexible, calm under pressure, and solutions-oriented when managing uncertainty or change.
· Strong people leadership with the ability to excite, motivate, nurture and enable the success of others through collaboration and teamwork
· Ability to deliver difficult messages when necessary whilst retaining personal brand of trust and integrity with business stakeholders of all levels
· Ideally, you’ll also have APMP or Prince2 qualified up to Practitioner Level, be MSP qualified and/or hold a Professional Scrum Master Qualification, but these are not deal breakers to be successful with us
Benefits:
To find out more about some of the great benefits Wesleyan offer, visit our careers page: https://careers.wesleyan.co.uk/applicantPortal/rewards
What to know before applying:
Equal Opportunities: Wesleyan are an equal opportunities employer. We know the best teams are made up of inclusive groups of diverse people where everyone’s contribution counts, and we believe everyone has the right to proudly be themselves. We’re building a culture where difference is actively encouraged and simply recruit the best people for the job irrespective of lifestyle, life history and life choices.
Reasonable Adjustments: We understand that there are a wide range of reasons that you may require reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process- please let us know in your application how we can best support you.
VISA Sponsorship: We are unable to provide VISA sponsorship, and therefore cannot employ anyone who does not have the legal right to live and work in the UK – within our recruitment process you will be asked to provide evidence of your Right to Work.
Advert Closing: We typically advertise for two weeks, though we reserve the right to close adverts early if we receive a high volume of applications; we would therefore recommend an early application if you’d like to be considered for our opportunities.
Regulatory Requirements: Please note this is role is subject to regulatory requirements. As a financial services organisation we are committed to adopting the highest standards and we do this by employing individuals with the appropriate skills, experience and integrity to protect the Wesleyan Group and our customers. Relevant checks and assessments will be carried out during the recruitment process. The nature of the checks will depend on whether the role is subject to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) or the Insurance Distribution Directive Please note a criminal record check and credit check will apply and this role is also subject to ongoing checks in line with the Group SMCR Framework (Fit & Proper Policy).