Head of Digital Delivery & Governance

McLaren Automotive Ltd; Woking; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Enhanced pension

Discretionary bonus

Private medical insurance

Life assurance

Sabbatical option

Wellbeing programmes

Employee assistance programme

Job summary

McLaren Automotive is seeking a Head of Digital Delivery & Governance to lead planning and execution of digital programmes across the business, uniting product, experience, engineering and platform teams. You will oversee a high-performing delivery capability and ensure releases are adopted by the business with clear governance and value delivery.

You will lead, develop and empower project leads, align cross-functional partners, manage risk and budget, and drive continuous improvement in

Qualifications

• Substantial experience leading delivery of multi team, multi partner digital portfolios at scale.
• Experience designing and running a delivery operating model and governance in a product led organisation.
• Experience leading and developing project leads and programme managers, including blended permanent and contract teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the planning and execution of McLaren's digital programmes from investment approval through to launch, adoption and handover into support.
• Lead, develop and deploy a team of project leads across the portfolio with clear standards for planning, reporting and risk.
• Act as the central point of coordination between product, experience, engineering and platform teams, managing dependencies and priorities.

Skills

Programme Leadership

Team Leadership

Cross Team Coordination

Agile at Scale

Budget Ownership

Stakeholder Management

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Job description

What to Expect

The Head of Digital Delivery & Governance leads programme delivery for McLaren's digital initiatives. As we build a direct, lifelong relationship with our clients, our digital portfolio is growing fast in scale and ambition, from client facing platforms such as our website, app and configurator to the commercial systems that support our retail network. Product teams decide what is built and why, and engineering teams decide how it is built. This role makes sure the programmes that bring that work together are planned, coordinated, governed and delivered into the business. Leading a team of project leads, it is the central point of coordination between product, experience, engineering and platform teams, the wider business and our delivery partners. It exists so that commitments are kept, investment is well spent, risks are seen early, and every release is adopted by the people it was built for. The role sits within Commercial Technology & AI Enablement and reports to its Director.

What You’ll Do

• Programme Leadership: Lead the planning and execution of McLaren's digital programmes, from investment approval through to launch, adoption and handover into support. Accountable for how programmes are run and landed; product and engineering teams remain accountable for what is built and how.
• Team Leadership: Lead, develop and deploy a team of project leads across the portfolio. Set clear standards for planning, reporting and risk, hold the team to committed dates, scope, cost and quality, and build a permanent, high performing delivery capability.
• Cross Team Coordination: Act as the central point of coordination between product, experience, engineering and platform teams, the wider business and delivery partners. Maintain one integrated plan, manage dependencies and resolve competing priorities quickly, escalating trade offs with a clear recommendation.
• Ways of Working: Establish one consistent way of working across delivery teams: a single, transparent system of work, a planning and reporting cadence aligned to executive decision points, and clear classification of demand so that effort follows priority.
• Business Partnering and Demand Management: Lead business partnering and provide a single point of entry for the business, including Sales, Aftersales, Marketing, the Retail Network and McLaren Special Operations, so that every request is qualified, prioritised and visible, and the business knows what will be delivered and when.
• Delivery Governance: Define and run governance matched to the size and risk of each initiative: stage gates, RAID, change control, release approval and post implementation review. Governance should enable good decisions quickly, not slow delivery down.
• Release and Business Readiness: Partner with engineering on release planning, and own business readiness for every release: user acceptance testing, cutover, retailer readiness, training and communications, and handover into support. Nothing goes live that the business is not ready to use.
• Delivery Partner Management: Hold delivery partners to their commercial and delivery commitments through statements of work, delivery KPIs, service levels, performance reviews and remediation, working alongside engineering, who own technical acceptance.
• Financial Management: Own the digital programme budget and forecast, change control, CapEx and OpEx classification, and benefits tracking against approved business cases.
• Assurance and Reporting: Set clear go live criteria for data protection, security and compliance. Provide one trusted view of programme status, risk, spend and benefit for senior leadership and executive forums: what is on track, what is not, and what decision is needed.
• Continuous Improvement: Measure and improve delivery predictability, cycle time and quality. Use AI to make planning, reporting and delivery more efficient, and apply the same discipline to AI initiatives as they move from experiment to scale.

What You’ll Bring

• Substantial experience leading delivery of multi team, multi partner digital portfolios at scale, from investment approval to benefit realisation.
• A proven record of designing and running a delivery operating model and proportionate governance in a product led organisation.
• Experience leading and developing project leads and programme managers, including blended permanent and contract teams.
• Command of agile at scale and hybrid delivery, release management and business readiness.
• Strong financial management: budget ownership, forecasting, business cases and benefits tracking.
• A proven record of holding delivery partners to commercial and delivery commitments.
• Experience establishing demand management with senior business stakeholders.
• Confidence presenting to executive forums with clear recommendations on trade offs, risk and investment.
• Experience with portfolio and work management tools such as Jira and Confluence; delivery of CRM or retail platforms is an advantage.
• Brings teams, the business and partners together around one plan.
• Keeps commitments, and builds trust by being straight about what is and is not on track.
• Holds the line with partners and peers alike, without losing the relationship.
• Pragmatic about process: uses as much governance as the risk demands, and no more.
• Calm and decisive under pressure, and comfortable making calls without complete information.
• Develops people deliberately and builds a team that outlasts any single programme.

What We’ll Do for You

We offer a wide – ranging benefits package, which includes:

• Structured career development framework
• 25 days' holiday, plus bank holiday. Annual buy & sell up to five days
• Enhanced company pension scheme
• Discretionary annual bonus award
• Private medical insurance and health cash plan
• Life assurance benefit
• Ability to apply for a sabbatical of up to one year after only two years' service
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• Generous parental leave policies
• A range of wellbeing initiatives, such as employee assistance programme and free financial & mortgage advice

Who Are We?

No restraints. No limitations. We don't simply push boundaries. We completely rethink them. McLaren Automotive exists to create breath-taking performance road cars.

It takes a community to do what we do. A diverse group of people with many areas of expertise, united by their passion to deliver visionary products and set new benchmarks.

McLaren Automotive commits to equal opportunity for all. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of our impact, it drives our innovation and enables us to truly create something special. Join us on our journey.