Audit Stream L&D - Lead Programme Manager

BDO UK; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading accountancy and business advisory firm is seeking a Lead Programme Manager to oversee learning and development initiatives. You will manage supplier relationships, implement strategies, and lead transformation projects to enhance operational efficiency. The ideal candidate should possess strong communication and project management skills, as well as a solid background in learning development and team leadership. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the growth and success of entrepreneurial businesses across the UK.

Qualifications

• Experience in learning and development.
• Knowledge of audit and regulatory environment.
• Proven track record of continuous improvement.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Manage relationships with external suppliers.
• Implement learning programmes and track progress.
• Establish learning implementation strategies.
• Lead transformation projects for operational efficiency.
• Provide coaching and leadership to teams.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Project management skills

Experience with suppliers

Team leadership

Knowledge of Learning Management Systems

Ability to drive transformation

Critical thinking

Commercial mindset

Education

Experience as a Manager or equivalent

Tools

Workday (LMS)

Job description

Ideas | People | Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world.

We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high‑growth businesses that fuel the economy – and directly advise the owners and management teams leading them.

We’ll broaden your horizons

Learning and Development (L&D) is a key enabler of our strategy as an Audit Stream and critical to our success. It supports our ability to attract, develop and retain talented people who take pride in their work and successfully deliver for our business. Effective L&D underpins quality and productivity by supporting our people to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their work, helping them reach their personal and professional potential.

Effective L&D does not happen by chance. It requires specialist resources who partner with the Audit Stream to identify training needs and appropriately respond to them. Careful planning and project management are necessary, as are a critical-thinking and commercial mindset, and an understanding of regulatory requirements. Effective L&D needs consideration of the latest innovation, tools and technology to lead the development of personal and professional learning that is tailored, relevant and timely for our people.

Lead Programme Manager – Responsibilities

• Strategic sourcing and management of various external suppliers ensuring that service level agreements are established to serve business needs effectively and in a commercially viable way.
• Owning the implementation aspects of all programmes and projects, including tracking, risk management and reporting and overseeing the coordination of learning logistics as needed to support the delivery of the book of work.
• Building and maintaining key strategic supplier relationships.
• Communicate effectively with the L&D team and other central teams such as Procurement, Finance, IT and Facilities, ensuring relevant matters are drawn to their attention on a timely basis.
• Establishing the learning implementation strategy to optimise ways of working across the team and deliver effective learner experience.
• Driving the transformation of learning implementation through standardisation, automation and optimisation as appropriate to future proof operations for the team – working closely with the Operations Manager and LT on this key project for the coming period.
• Leveraging practical learning implementation experience and working knowledge of audit and the regulatory environment to bring best practice implementation to Audit Stream L&D.
• Managing the day-to-day activities within the Learning Implementation team, providing coaching and leadership to others in the team as needed.
• Working with and across the horizontal team as needed to support appropriate delivery of our book of work and provide the best learning experience possible.
• Collaborating with other teams within BDO, such as Procurement, Finance, IT and Facilities to support effective delivery.
• Providing onsite project management support for programmes as appropriate.
• Bringing fresh ideas to the business to support effective learning solutions.
• Leading on various transformation projects in Learning Implementation to support standardisation, automation and optimisation with our processes (as appropriate).

Lead Programme Manager – Qualifications

• Current experience working as a Manager (or equivalent) with a strong knowledge of learning and development and best practice implementation.
• Experience of working with and across the horizontal business partnering, design and delivery teams.
• Enhanced knowledge of working with suppliers, ensuring value-for-money and operational excellence in delivery against agreed SLAs.
• A strong working knowledge of Audit and the associated regulatory environment.
• A proven track record of transformation (including simplification and automation processes) and bringing about continuous improvement to / within existing processes.
• Experience of working with other teams within an organisation; Procurement, Finance, IT, Facilities etc is favourable.
• A working knowledge of Workday (our LMS) would be beneficial but is not essential.
• Strong project management skills (and associated tools knowledge).
• Exceptional communication skills, with and across numerous grades in any organisation.
• Strong and evident experience of leading a team which are geographically spread across the UK would be advantageous.
• Experience of evident budgetary management would also be advantageous but is not essential.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people‑centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value and satisfying experiences at work, so we’ve invested in state‑of‑the‑art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy.

Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.