Major Programmes Lead / Senior Programme Director

Turner-; Manchester; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Turner & Townsend is seeking a Major Programmes Lead / Senior Programme Director to drive end-to-end delivery of £250m+ capital programmes across sectors including government and life sciences. You will lead multi-disciplinary teams, shape governance, and influence senior stakeholders to realise strategic benefits.

A strong track record in programme management and construction is essential. The role demands strategic leadership, commercial accountability, and the ability to operate across

Qualifications

• Proven experience delivering high-profile, large-scale transformation/real estate programmes (£250m-£500m).
• Ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams across the full project lifecycle.
• Experience engaging with C-suite, Boards and Investors.

Responsibilities

• Define and champion programme vision aligned with client objectives and investment strategies.
• Provide executive leadership across multidisciplinary teams and establish governance frameworks.
• Lead stakeholder engagement with C-suite, Boards and delivery partners to secure alignment.
• Oversee commercial performance, forecasting, reporting and value management.
• Identify and mitigate risks; lead health and safety leadership across programmes.
• Design robust governance and assurance frameworks for programme oversight.
• Drive business development and client partnerships for growth.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture across teams.

Skills

Executive Leadership

C-Suite engagement

Program governance

Commercial & financial stewardship

Risk & safety leadership

Stakeholder management

People & culture

Education

Degree in Engineering/Construction Management/MBA

Professional accreditation (RICS/CIOB/APM)

Health & Safety qualification (IOSH/NEBOSH)

Tools

NEC contracts

JCT contracts

Job description

• Full-time

Company Description

At Turner & Townsend we’re passionate about making the difference. That means delivering better outcomes for our clients, helping our people to realise their potential, and doing our part to create a prosperous society.

For 75 years we have been leading the delivery of major transformational programmes. Our success at realising outcomes for clients has resulted in significant growth.Every day we help our major global clients deliver ambitious Net Zero programmes from over 110 offices worldwide.

Further to this success we are now facing a new wave of growth to achieve our ambitious 2025 vision. To achieve this, we need great people who are passionate about both delivering great outcomes to our clients and contributing to our future vision. This is made entirely possible through our entrepreneurial culture, allowing employees of all levels to directly influence the business and to own their career.

The world is changing, and we have a responsibility to support that change, helping drive it and be part of it.

Through the commitment, capability and care our team brings, we build trust between clients, suppliers, governments, and society. Delivering better outcomes that have a positive impact on the world around us.

We work smarter to face the challenges of the future; bringing the clarity that helps teams realise their full potential across the real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors.

As a Major Programmes Lead / Senior Programme Director or Programme Management Office Director, you will have experience in playing pivotal roles in £500m+ major capital programmes, across complex construction environments within sectors such as Central Government, Industrial, Life Sciences, Data Centres and Defence.

You provide strategic leadership as a credible and accomplished programme delivery professional with a proven track record of delivering large-scale, high-value investments. You bring deep construction expertise, with the ability to operate seamlessly between strategic programme leadership and project-level detail, influencing key stakeholders and driving critical investment decisions.

Accountable for end-to-end programme delivery, you lead programmes from early-stage definition and mobilisation through execution, transition and benefits realisation. Working across multi-disciplinary teams and complex stakeholder environments, you provide the leadership, governance and commercial acumen required to deliver successful outcomes with clarity, control and confidence for our clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio & Strategic Thinking: Define and champion the programme vision, ensuring alignment with client business objectives and investment strategies. Lead the successful delivery of major, complex capital programmes across the full lifecycle, from business case development and mobilisation through execution, transition and benefits realisation.
• Executive Leadership: Provide visible and credible leadership across multidisciplinary teams, creating a high-performance delivery culture. Establish and lead programme management and control frameworks that provide clear governance, accountability, transparency and confidence throughout programme delivery.
• C-Suite Stakeholder Influencing and Engagement: Implement a structured stakeholder engagement and management process, building strong relationships with senior clients (C-Suite), Boards, Steering Groups, Investors and supplier stakeholders. Build trusted relationships with C-suite executives, Boards, Steering Committees, investors, delivery partners and key stakeholders. Influence strategic decision-making, secure stakeholder alignment and effectively navigate complex governance and organisational environments.
• Commercial & Financial Stewardship: Maintain overall accountability for programme commercial performance and financial governance. Oversee forecasting, reporting, investment controls and value management, ensuring informed decision-making and delivery of agreed business outcomes.
• Risk Strategy, Health & Safety Leadership: Identify and mitigate health and safety risks, enforcing safeguards to protect all involved in programme delivery. Lead the development and implementation of programme-wide risk management and assurance strategies. Champion a culture of safety, wellbeing and compliance, ensuring effective controls are in place to protect people, assets and programme objectives.
• Governance and Delivery Leadership: Design and implement robust governance, reporting and assurance frameworks that support effective programme oversight and delivery. Ensure compliance with organisational, contractual and regulatory requirements while maintaining stakeholder confidence and supporting informed executive decision-making.
• Commission Management and Business Development: Lead the successful commercial and contractual management of commissions, ensuring delivery excellence, client satisfaction and achievement of performance objectives. Develop trusted client partnerships, identify strategic growth opportunities and actively contribute to business development and market expansion activities.
• People & Culture: Foster an inclusive, collaborative and high-performing culture across internal and client-facing teams. Build organisational capability through coaching, mentoring and talent development, while leading people management activities that support individual growth, team performance and the One Business culture

Qualifications

This is a Director level role. To excel in this role, you will have:

• Proven experience delivering high-profile, large-scale, complex transformation/real estate programmes (£250-£500m+) with demonstrable achievement of tangible benefits and outcomes for clients/employers.
• Ability to prioritise and optimise complex programmes ,responding to internal and external influences over the programme lifecycle.
• Strong project delivery background with progression intoprogrammeleadership within a construction environment
• Experience leading and integrating large multidisciplinary teams including project management, project controls, technical and commercial teams
• Strong understanding and practical application of construction project delivery models, procurementroutesand contracts (NEC, JCT)
• Excellent understanding of project controls methodologies and application including schedule management, cost control and risk and opportunity management at a project and programme level
• Experience operating at C-suite level – demonstrating exceptional communication skills including presentation of data to influence outcomes
• Supply chain management experience, specifically Tier 1 management
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement and communication skills with demonstrable experience in dealing with third parties and customers
• An expert practitioner of industry best practice programme management methodologies, preferably within a real estate environment.
• Practical experience in establishing health and safety leadership activities and thorough understanding of legislative requirements including CDM and Building Safety Act.
• An experienced and first-class people manager, dedicated to nurturing talent within the organisation and supporting professional growth among clients’ teams.
• Demonstrate an understanding and application of digital tools and strategy, including the use of AI
• Education to a degree/postgraduate/equivalent level in a relevant technical discipline (eg Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, MBA)
• Professional accreditation (eg. RICS, CIOB, APM)
• Health and Safety Qualification (eg IOSH, NEBOSH)

Additional Information

Our inspired people share our vision and mission. We provide a great place to work, where each person has the opportunity and voice to effect change. We want our people to succeed both in work and life. To support this we promote a healthy, productive, and flexible working environment.

At Turner & Townsend, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage applications from all sectors of the community, and we strongly believe that this diversity is what creates great solutions for our clients, bringing together people with different ideas and skills who want to push boundaries. In celebration of our diversity and to keep this agenda at the forefront of what we do, we have several internal networks, such as LGBT+, Diversity & Inclusion, and Race & Ethnicity which create a safe space for employees to express themselves and to drive change.

SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.

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