Project Manager - (Manchester/ Preston)

GCS Recruitment; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

GCS Recruitment is seeking an experienced programme delivery professional to lead complex, cross-business IT/data initiatives in a fast-paced environment. You will actively unblock delivery by removing data quality issues, ownership ambiguity, and delayed business decisions, while coordinating with constrained business teams to prioritise inputs and extract tacit knowledge.

In this role you will manage supplier partnerships, maintain an integrated view of delivery plans in Microsoft Project, and

Qualifications

• Experience delivering or supporting complex cross-business IT/data programmes.
• Demonstrated ability to unblock delivery in resource-constrained environments.
• Experience working closely with third-party delivery partners.
• Strong experience of business change and process definition.
• Strong financial management.

Responsibilities

• Actively identify and remove internal blockers impacting delivery: data availability and quality, ownership ambiguity, business decisions not being made.
• Work proactively with constrained business teams to prioritise inputs required for delivery, extract knowledge efficiently, and reduce reliance on informal processes.
• Ensure that internal dependencies do not delay project progress.
• Engage internal SP ENW teams to capture business priorities and communicate, facilitate structured workshop sessions, and support transition to repeatable processes.
• Work alongside the supplier to ensure clarity on inputs/outputs and expectations, maintain alignment on delivery priorities, and hold the supplier accountable for milestones, quality and usability of outputs.

Skills

Delivery unblocker

Stakeholder engagement

Third-party delivery

Business change

Financial management

Ambiguity management

Tools

Microsoft Project

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

1. Internal Blocker Removal & Delivery Enablement (Core Focus)

• Actively identify and remove internal blockers impacting delivery:
  • data availability and quality
  • ownership ambiguity
  • business decisions not being made
• Work proactively with constrained business teams to:
  • prioritise inputs required for delivery
  • extract knowledge efficiently
  • reduce reliance on informal / tacit processes
• Ensure that internal dependencies do not delay project progress

Business Engagement & Knowledge Capture

• Engage internal SP ENW teams to:
  • Capture business priorities and communicate
• Facilitate structured workshop sessions
• Support business teams in transitioning to repeatable processes

Supplier Accountability (Partnership Model)

• Work alongside the supplier to:
  • ensure clarity on inputs, outputs and expectations
  • maintain alignment on delivery priorities
• Hold the supplier accountable for:
  • agreed milestones
  • quality and usability of outputs
• Challenge where necessary, but operate within a constructive, partnership-based relationship

Delivery Coordination & Clarity

• Maintain a clear, integrated view of:
  • delivery plan using Microsoft Project
  • dependencies
  • risks and issues
  • finances
• Ensure that:
  • required inputs are defined and owned
  • output expectations are explicit and testable
• Drive clarity where ambiguity exists across business teams

Governance & Reporting

• Provide clear, outcome-focused reporting to stakeholders, including leading steering group and boards
• Ensure governance supports:
  • rapid decision-making
  • visibility of blockers

Person Specification:

Essential Experience

• Experience delivering or supporting complex, cross-business IT / data programmes
• Demonstrated ability to unblock delivery in resource-constrained environments
• Experience working closely with third-party delivery partners
• Strong experience of business change and process definition
• Strong financial management
• Proven ability to operate in environments with:
  • ambiguity
  • incomplete requirements
  • evolving scope

Critical Behaviours

• Relentlessly proactive - does not wait for issues to elevate
• Comfortable chasing and challenging across all levels of the organisation
• Pragmatic and delivery-focused - prioritises progress over perfection
• Strong facilitator - can extract clarity from vague or tacit knowledge
• Resilient and persistent - able to navigate slow-moving or resource-constrained environments

Desirable

• Experience in Network related projects
• Utilities / infrastructure / engineering domain experience
• Exposure to data integration or data product delivery

GCS is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.