Manager - Project Manager

Icf; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF's UK & India Consulting Division seeks a Project Manager to mobilise and deliver complex programmes spanning education, health, environment and public policy. This hands-on role requires strong organisation, judgement and commercial awareness to keep multiple workstreams on track across diverse teams and partners.

You will work with programme directors, partners and clients to establish agile governance, manage milestones and risks, and produce concise updates.

Qualifications

• Experience managing projects in consulting or public-sector environments.
• Experience in education, health, environment or social policy programmes.
• Mobilisation, delivery planning, governance and project controls.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting and resource planning skills.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams with multiple priorities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, concise materials.

Responsibilities

• Mobilise new programmes with practical delivery plans, governance and milestones.
• Develop integrated workplans, trackers and decision logs.
• Onboard team members, subcontractors and delivery partners with clear roles.
• Establish governance processes that balance pace and control.
• Manage day-to-day delivery across projects and distributed teams.
• Track milestones, risks, issues and dependencies; escalate where needed.
• Produce concise updates for programme leaders and clients.
• Coordinate governance meetings and records of decisions.
• Support change control, benefits tracking and lessons learned.
• Maintain document management and audit-ready records.
• Assist budgeting, forecasting and invoicing with commercial leads.
• Monitor budget vs delivery assumptions and adjust actions.
• Maintain resource plans and align capacity with priorities.
• Support supplier and subcontractor inputs and performance information.
• Promote disciplined delivery and commercial awareness.

Skills

Project management

Governance and reporting

Stakeholder management

Budgeting and finance

Risk and issue management

Multidisciplinary coordination

Communication skills

MS 365 project tools

Education

APM PMQ / PRINCE2 Practitioner

Tools

MS 365 Tools

Job description

The Project Manager will support the mobilisation and delivery of complex consulting programmes across ICF’s UK & India Consulting Division. The role will provide flexible project management capacity across a diverse portfolio of work, including education, skills and sport, environment and climate, health, energy and wider public policy programmes.

The postholder will work with programme directors, technical leads, commercial colleagues and delivery partners to establish effective governance and controls, coordinate multidisciplinary delivery, and keep programmes on track. This is a hands‑on delivery role requiring strong organisation, sound judgement, commercial awareness and confidence working in a fast‑paced consulting environment. For larger programmes, the role may take ownership of a defined workstream, project‑management office function or portfolio of connected activities.

Key responsibilities

Programme mobilisation and planning

• Support rapid mobilisation of newly secured programmes, translating contractual commitments into practical delivery plans, governance arrangements, milestones and controls.
• Develop and maintain integrated workplans, mobilisation trackers, responsibility matrices and decision logs.
• Coordinate onboarding of team members, subcontractors and delivery partners, ensuring roles, interfaces and delivery expectations are clear.
• Establish proportionate programme management processes that support pace and control without creating unnecessary administrative burden.
• Support mobilisation readiness reviews and ensure key actions, dependencies and risks are resolved or actively managed.

Project and programme delivery

• Manage day‑to‑day delivery across assigned projects or workstreams, coordinating multidisciplinary and geographically distributed teams.
• Track milestones, deliverables, actions, dependencies, assumptions, risks and issues, escalating promptly where required.
• Maintain clear reporting for programme leaders and clients, converting delivery data into concise, decision‑focused updates.
• Coordinate governance meetings, prepare agendas and papers, record decisions and ensure agreed actions are completed.
• Support change control, benefits tracking, lessons learned and continuous improvement throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Maintain effective document management, version control and audit‑ready programme records.

Commercial, financial and resource management

• Support budgeting, forecasting, invoicing, cost monitoring and financial reporting, working closely with programme and commercial leads.
• Monitor performance against budget and delivery assumptions, identifying emerging pressures and supporting corrective action.
• Maintain resource plans and work with team leads to align capacity and capability with programme priorities.
• Support management of supplier and subcontractor inputs, including deliverables, dependencies, performance information and approvals.
• Promote disciplined delivery and commercial awareness across project teams.

Client and stakeholder coordination

• Build constructive working relationships with clients, delivery partners and internal stakeholders.
• Coordinate inputs across technical, operational, digital, data, evaluation and commercial teams.
• Support workshops, delivery reviews and client meetings, ensuring preparation is effective and follow‑up is timely.
• Communicate clearly and calmly when priorities shift, resolving routine issues directly and escalating material concerns appropriately.
• Help create a collaborative, accountable and inclusive delivery culture.
• Support the mobilisation and delivery of large, complex public‑sector programmes, including programmes involving multiple delivery partners and stakeholders.
• Coordinate interdependent workstreams and interfaces across programme governance, operations, digital, data, assurance, communications and reporting.
• Support partner onboarding, delivery tracking, governance, risk and issue management, and performance reporting.
• Maintain a clear line of sight between contractual requirements, programme milestones, operational activity and delivery performance.
• Work flexibly as programmes scale, taking ownership of defined PMO, mobilisation or delivery‑management responsibilities.

Qualifications and experience

• Strong experience managing projects or substantial workstreams in consulting, professional services, public‑sector delivery or another complex environment.
• Experience of education, children and young people, sport, health, environment and climate, energy, evaluation, economics, or other social policy programmes.
• Demonstrable experience of mobilisation, delivery planning, governance, risk and issue management, reporting and project controls.
• Good commercial and financial management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, resource planning and cost monitoring.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing multiple priorities, dependencies and deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce concise, accurate and decision‑focused materials.
• Sound judgement, attention to detail and the confidence to challenge constructively when delivery is at risk.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft 365 project delivery tools, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams and SharePoint.
• Experience supporting a large‑scale mobilisation or transition into business‑as‑usual delivery.
• Experience working with subcontractors, delivery networks, grants or distributed delivery models.
• Experience supporting PMO, programme assurance, service management or performance‑improvement functions.
• A recognised project management qualification such as APM PMQ, PRINCE2 Practitioner or equivalent practical experience.
• Acts with integrity and sound ethical judgement, maintaining high standards of transparency, accountability and professional conduct.
• Highly organised, proactive and comfortable working at pace across several priorities.
• Pragmatic and delivery‑focused, able to apply proportionate controls rather than process for its own sake.
• Collaborative and relationship‑driven, while maintaining clear accountability for actions and outcomes.
• Resilient and adaptable in ambiguous or rapidly changing delivery environments.
• Committed to quality, inclusion, learning and continuous improvement.