Project Manager - Bus Franchising

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 43,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local Government Pension Scheme

Hybrid working

Flexible hours

Family-friendly policies

Job summary

South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority seeks a Project Manager for the Bus Franchising programme based in Sheffield. You will lead capital projects from concept to delivery, ensuring on-time, on-budget outcomes and high safety and quality standards.

You’ll oversee data and insights work within the Bus Franchising Programme, coordinating with multiple teams and stakeholders to support evidence-based decision making. Hybrid working in Sheffield.

Qualifications

• A degree (or equivalent experience) in Project Management or Transport Planning.
• Recent experience managing capital projects, ideally within the public sector or a similar complex setting.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage projects through all stages—from planning and risk management to delivery and benefits realisation.
• Develop and maintain project documentation including schedules, reports, risk registers, and cost forecasts.
• Manage budgets, contracts, and resources, ensuring value for money and timely delivery.
• Prepare and submit business cases, ensuring alignment with governance and compliance standards.
• Collaborate with internal teams, local authorities, operators, and the public to ensure successful outcomes.

Skills

Project management

Budget management

Risk management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Degree in Project Management or Transport Planning

Job description

Project Manager - Bus Franchising

Application Deadline: 18 October 2026

Department: Public Transport Development

Employment Type: Fixed Term - Full Time

Location: Sheffield Head Office

Compensation: £42,840 - £46,142 / year

Description

• Hours: 37 hours per week
• Contract: Fixed Term - 24 months
• Salary: Grade 9 £42,840 - £46,142
• Location: Sheffield (hybrid working)

Are you ready to lead transformative projects that will shape the future of public transport across South Yorkshire? Here at SYMCA, we’re on a mission to deliver a world-class, integrated transport network — and we’re looking for a passionate Project Manager to help make it happen.

As a Project Manager at SYMCA, you’ll take the lead on high-impact projects from concept to completion — delivering on time, within budget, and to the highest standards of quality and safety. You’ll play a key role in delivering our Capital Programme, either by managing your own projects or leading workstreams within larger programmes.

You will be working on our Bus Franchising Programme, helping to bring South Yorkshire’s bus network into public control by September 2027. This includes everything from depots and fleets to routes, fares, and service standards.

As the Data and Insights Project Manager, you will lead the delivery of the data, reporting and insight capabilities required to support the implementation and operation of bus franchising. You will work across business, operational and technical teams to establish the processes, governance, systems and reporting needed to enable evidence-based decision making and effective performance management.

Interviews are expected to take place w/c 2nd November.

About the role

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead and manage projects through all stages — from planning and risk management to delivery and benefits realisation.
• Develop and maintain project documentation including schedules, reports, risk registers, and cost forecasts.
• Manage budgets, contracts, and resources, ensuring value for money and timely delivery.
• Prepare and submit business cases, ensuring alignment with governance and compliance standards.
• Collaborate with internal teams, local authorities, operators, and the public to ensure successful outcomes.

You’ll be joining the Transport Development and Capital Delivery team delivering across three major portfolios:

• Bus Franchising – Transforming how buses operate across the region.
• Transport Capital Programme – Delivering new and improved infrastructure including park & ride, mobility hubs, EV fleets, and more.
• Supertram Renewals – Upgrading tracks, fleets, depots, and passenger facilities.

About you

We’re after someone who’s not just organised and detail-oriented, but also a great communicator and collaborator. You’ll have recent, hands-on experience managing projects through every stage — from shaping the business case to final delivery — using robust controls and processes to keep things on track, on budget, and aligned with strategic goals.

You’ll be confident interpreting policies, strategies, and plans, and turning them into clear, compelling documentation — whether it’s a board report, a stakeholder update, or a public-facing summary. A strong customer focus and the ability to tailor your communication to different audiences will be key.

We’d especially love to hear from you if you have:

• A degree (or equivalent experience) in Project Management or Transport Planning
• Recent experience managing capital projects, ideally within the public sector or a similar complex setting.

Benefits

All colleagues have access to a Local Government Pension Scheme and the chance to be part of an organisation where you can really make a difference. Located in Sheffield City Centre, we are well-placed for transport links and encourage employees to take advantage of the active travel facilities. Work/life balance is extremely important to us here at SYMCA with our recognised family/friendly policies, genuine work flexibility, recognition, and shared success.

In addition to the above, some of our benefits include -

• Holiday Entitlement – From 28 to 36 days annual leave entitlement (depending on length of service) plus bank holidays. Pro-rata for part time colleagues.
• Annual Leave Purchase Scheme – The ability to purchase up to a further 15 days per year in additional to your normal annual leave
• Hybrid working – Our offices are a space where we come together and collaborate. Most of our roles are offered on a hybrid basis with the exception of some support roles being onsite full time. Please note, unless specified within the job advert, we cannot accommodate remote working contracts.
• Flexible Hours Scheme – Most roles within SYMCA work under the Flexi-Scheme which allows office-based employees’ flexibility and discretion over their working hours. Under the scheme employees can accrue a defined amount of credit or debit of working hours, and to take time-off in the form of Flexi-Leave or banked Annual Leave.
• Rewarding You - Reducing everyday expenses through discounts, benefits, financial advice, wellbeing solutions and more with Reward Gateway and Cycle-to-Work schemes.
• Training on the job - Support with upskilling skills through on-the-job training and qualifications
• Professional Membership Fees – Where membership to Professional bodies is applicable to your role, SYMCA will reimburse your membership fees where applicable and following approval by Line Management.

Diversity at South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority

Our workforce is made up of a diverse community, where we all belong and feel part of something bigger. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.

All employees are eligible to request Flexible Working arrangements from day one of employment as such all requests will be considered subject to operation requirements.

Where candidates share disabilities within the application process, if they demonstrate that they meet all essential criteria from the Role Profile within their application, they will automatically be invited to interview.