Project manager in public-sector programmes

ICF; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working policy

You Matter recognition program

Private medical insurance

Dental insurance and GP service

Pension scheme

Life assurance 4x salary

Income protection

Enhanced parental leave

Job summary

ICF is seeking a Project Manager for its UK & India Consulting Division to mobilise and deliver complex programmes across education, health, environment and public policy. You will coordinate multi-site teams, manage budgets and drive governance, reporting and continuous improvement throughout delivery.

The role emphasizes rapid mobilisation, robust planning and proactive risk management, with a focus on collaboration with clients and partners in a fast-paced public sector context.

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• Proven track record delivering complex programmes in consulting or public sector.
• Experience with mobilisation, governance, risk management and reporting.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting and cost monitoring skills.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams and managing deadlines.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication; ability to produce concise materials.

Responsibilities

• Mobilise new programmes, translating contracts into delivery plans and governance.
• Develop integrated workplans, mobilisation trackers, and decision logs.
• Coordinate onboarding of team members, subcontractors and partners.
• Establish proportionate PM processes balancing pace and control.
• Lead readiness reviews and manage risks and dependencies.
• Manage day-to-day delivery across projects and distributed teams.
• Maintain reporting for leaders and clients with concise updates.
• Coordinate governance meetings, agendas and actions.
• Support change control, benefits tracking and lessons learned.
• Oversee budgeting, forecasting, invoicing and financial reporting.
• Ensure document management and audit-ready records.
• Promote disciplined delivery and commercial awareness.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Governance and controls

Budgeting and forecasting

Risk management

Multidisciplinary coordination

Excellent communication

Microsoft 365 tools

Education

Relevant degree or professional qualification

Experience in consulting/public sector

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Word

Teams

SharePoint

MS Project

Job description

Описание

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.

Задачи

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Требования

• Relevant degree, professional qualification or equivalent 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.
• 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.
• Будет плюсом: Experience delivering UK central government or wider public-sector programmes; 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.

Условия

• We offer a hybrid working policy, which will provide you with the flexibility to collaborate in the office, as well as in the comfort of your own home, ensuring you are able to successfully deliver the requirements of your role.
• To support you, our employee wellbeing hub is designed to provide highly personalised support across a comprehensive range of wellbeing issues, such as mind, body, finances, community, career programs and HR support.
• We enjoy celebrating success, which is why we have a competitive recognition program called ‘You Matter’, which awards points as a ‘thank you’ for your work achievements. These can be spent on a large variety of high-quality items, as well as online or high-street vouchers, all with zero tax payable by the employee.
• Single Private Medical Insurance cover with no restrictions on existing conditions.
• Dental insurance and an online GP service.
• 25 days annual leave, plus UK bank holidays (annual leave increases with years of service).
• Pension scheme with 5% of salary employer contribution.
• Life assurance paying 4x annual salary and Group Income Protection paying 66% of salary for up to 5 years if you are off work on long-term sick.
• Enhanced parental leave policies, enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental pay.