Programme Manager

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual Leave 26 days

Pension Scheme

Performance-related pay

Job summary

Thames Water is seeking a Digital Programme Manager to lead major digital and business change programmes within a complex enterprise environment. You will work with senior stakeholders to define scope, benefits, budgets and governance, ensuring on-time, within-budget delivery and tangible business value.

Hybrid role based at Clearwater Court, RG1 8DB, with a £90k–£95k salary and a strong focus on cyber security, governance and cross-functional collaboration across internal teams and external

Qualifications

• Experience delivering complex Digital/IT programmes in large organisations.
• Strong cyber risk understanding and ability to translate risks into business decisions.
• Proven ability to manage budgets, governance, and multi-stakeholder delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of significant Digital and business change programmes or portfolios across Thames Water.
• Define programme scope, delivery plans, budgets, milestones, resources, dependencies and outcomes.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders, Digital leadership, engineering, product teams, suppliers and partners to ensure successful delivery.
• Establish programme governance covering cost, schedule, RAID, and risk management.

Skills

Programme delivery

Cyber security

Stakeholder management

Budget management

Governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/ Digital/ Business

Job description

Job title Programme Manager Ref 45820 Division Digital Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary Competitive salary between £90,000 and £95,000 per annum. Job grade C Closing date 16/09/2026

As a Digital Programme Manager, you will play a key role within Thames Water’s Digital and Technology function, leading the delivery of significant digital and business change programmes across a complex organisational and technology environment. Working closely with senior business stakeholders, Digital leadership, engineering teams, product teams, suppliers, and delivery partners, you will ensure programmes are effectively planned, governed, and delivered to achieve strategic business outcomes.

This role contributes to Thames Water’s digital transformation objectives by defining programme scope, benefits, budgets, delivery plans, and governance structures that enable impactful change for customers, communities, and the environment. You will provide strong leadership across multidisciplinary teams, manage complex dependencies and risks, and ensure programmes are delivered to agreed standards of time, quality, cost, and business value.

What you’ll be doing as a Digital Programme Manager

• Lead and manage the delivery of significant Digital and business change programmes and/or portfolios of projects across Thames Water.
• Define and baseline programme scope, delivery plans, budgets, milestones, resources, dependencies, and business outcomes.
• Work closely with senior stakeholders, including Executive Director level, to establish clear programme objectives, benefits, priorities and delivery expectations.
• Establish and manage effective programme governance structures covering cost, schedule, resources, RAID, dependencies, risks, issues, and decision-making.
• Lead programme delivery teams and coordinate internal and external resources to ensure successful delivery of programme objectives.
• Identify, assess, manage, and mitigate programme risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies, escalating matters appropriately to senior leadership.
• Manage programme budgets of up to £10m per annum, ensuring effective financial control, forecasting, reporting, cost management and delivery within agreed tolerances.
• Manage programme change across scope, time, cost, resources and quality, ensuring appropriate governance and escalation where required.
• Coordinate technology solution assessments where required, ensuring proposed solutions align with business outcomes, technology strategy, architecture, security and operational requirements.
• Oversee and support commercial and procurement activities, including RFI and RFQ processes, supplier selection, contract negotiations and commercial governance.
• Manage supplier relationships across the full delivery lifecycle, ensuring suppliers deliver against agreed expectations for time, cost, quality and performance.
• Identify and forecast programme resource requirements, including internal Digital resources and external delivery partners.
• Provide clear and timely programme reporting to senior leadership, including progress, financial performance, risks, issues, dependencies, benefits and key decisions.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with business and technology stakeholders, ensuring effective communication, engagement and alignment throughout programme delivery.

Working pattern – 36 hours Monday to Friday.

What you should bring to the role

• Experience delivering complex Cyber Security programmes or major projects within a large enterprise environment.
• Strong understanding of cyber risk management and the ability to translate technical cyber risks into business impacts, priorities and decisions.
• Experience working with Cyber Security teams across areas such as Identity & Access Management, Infrastructure Security, Security Operations, Vulnerability Management and Data Protection.
• Understanding of recognised cyber frameworks and standards such as NIS Regulations, CAF (Cyber Assessment Framework), CIS Controls, ISO 27001 and NIST Cybersecurity Framework.
• Experience managing cyber transformation initiatives involving multiple technology and business stakeholders.
• Ability to oversee programmes with significant regulatory, compliance and operational resilience requirements.
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and security partners to deliver cyber outcomes and remediation activities.
• Strong understanding of governance, audit and assurance processes, including managing actions arising from internal audits, external audits and regulatory reviews.

Technical experience and skills

• Strong understanding of Digital and IT programme delivery within complex enterprise environments.
• Experience working with Agile, Product Management, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery methodologies.
• Practical experience of programme governance, RAID management, dependency management, change control and delivery assurance.
• Experience coordinating technology solution assessments and working with technical architecture, engineering, security, service operations and product teams.
• Strong understanding of financial management across Digital and technology programmes, including budgets, forecasts, costs and financial reporting.
• Experience managing third-party technology suppliers across programme delivery lifecycles.
• Understanding of commercial and procurement processes, including RFI, RFQ, contract negotiation and supplier performance management.
• Experience working with Digital PMO and Finance functions to ensure effective programme governance and financial control.
• Ability to manage complex programme dependencies across business, technology, operational and supplier environments.
• Experience developing delivery capability through coaching, mentoring, recruitment, insourcing and skills development.

Desirable qualifications and experience

• Experience working within utilities, public sector, regulated industries or other complex operational environments.
• Degree qualified in Information Technology, Digital, Business or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience delivering large-scale Cyber transformation programmes within complex or regulated organisations.
• Experience working within matrix organisations involving multiple business and technology functions.
• Experience managing Cyber programmes involving significant organisational, technology and business change.

Desirable technical skills and qualifications

• Strong understanding of modern Digital and technology delivery practices and transformation approaches.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary between £90,000 and £95,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go so we need help from passionate and skilled people committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Thames Water is a unique rewarding and diverse place to work where every day you can make a difference yet no day is the same. As part of our family you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations we’ll be here to support you every step of the way together we can build a better future for our customers our region and our planet.

Real purpose real support real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family Why choose us Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great diverse and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments whether that’s extra time accessible formats or anything else just let us know we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens we all rally around to support our customers As part of Team Thames you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.