Senior Project Manager (contract)

bp; Sunbury-on-Thames; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

bp is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead IT separation readiness, systems discovery, and site transition activities for a global divestiture of an industrial lubricants business. The role reports to the Operations Lead within Infrastructure and oversees a team of business analysts documenting technology landscapes across plants, labs, and technology centers.

The candidate will drive cross-workstream coordination, ensuring site cutovers, application migrations, and data/infra transitions

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, engineering, business, CS or related discipline required

Responsibilities

• Lead IT separation readiness, systems discovery and site transition activities for a global divestiture
• Coordinate multiple workstreams (Application, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, Business) to ensure smooth cutovers and Day 1 readiness
• Mentor and manage a team of business analysts documenting technology landscapes and dependencies
• Develop and manage project plans, risks, and stakeholder communications for senior leadership

Skills

Project management

M&A integration

Stakeholder management

Global team leadership

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Computer Science, or related discipline

PM/PRINCE2/MSP/Agile certification preferred

Tools

ERP systems

LIMS

Quality systems

Supply chain technologies

Job description

Job Title: Senior Project Manager

Location: Sunbury (Remote, with monthly Sunbury travel and potential occasional overseas travel)

Contract: 12-months with possible extension

Working hours: 40 hrs/week

Start Date: ASAP

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Project Manager to lead IT separation readiness, systems discovery, and site transition activities supporting a global divestiture of an industrial lubricants business.

Reporting into the Operations Lead within the Infrastructure Workstream, the Senior Project Manager will be responsible for managing a team of business analysts tasked with documenting and validating the technology landscape supporting manufacturing plants, laboratories, warehouses, and business operations. The outputs of this work will support buyer due diligence, separation planning, Transitional Service Agreements (TSAs), Day 1 readiness, and post-close transition activities.

Beyond discovery, the Senior Project Manager will play a critical role in coordinating the operational execution of the separation. Working closely with Application, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, and Business workstreams, the role will orchestrate technology changes across the global plant and lab/technology centre network, ensuring that site cutovers, application migrations, infrastructure transitions, and business readiness activities are delivered in a controlled and coordinated manner.

This is a highly visible leadership role requiring strong project delivery skills, M&A experience, stakeholder management expertise, and the ability to operate effectively in a complex, global manufacturing environment.

Key Responsibilities

M&A Technology Discovery & Due Diligence

• Deliver the global IT systems discovery effort plants and lab/technology centres supporting a separation program.
• Manage and mentor a team of business analysts responsible for identifying, documenting, and validating the technology landscape supporting the plants/labs/TCs.
• Oversee the creation of application inventories, infrastructure dependency maps, integration inventories and operational technology dependencies documentation.
• Ensure all discovery outputs are suitable for buyer due diligence, separation planning, and external review.
• Support data room activities and responses to buyer due diligence requests.
• Coordinate with governance and approval processes for all technology information being shared externally.

Site Cutover & Transition Leadership

• Lead planning and execution readiness for site-level technology transitions across manufacturing plants, laboratories and supporting business operations.
• Develop and manage integrated site deployment and cutover plans aligned to transaction milestones and separation objectives.
• Coordinate business readiness, testing, training, communication, hypercare, and stabilization activities across migrated plant/lab/TC locations.
• Ensure operational risks associated with technology transitions are identified, assessed, and mitigated.
• Application Migration & Cross-Workstream Orchestration
• Support the Operations Lead within the Infrastructure Workstream including coordinating activities with Application and Business workstreams.
• Drive alignment between infrastructure changes, application migrations, data migrations, testing activities, and site deployment schedules.
• Manage cross-workstream dependencies, risks, priorities, and escalation processes.
• Facilitate planning workshops involving plant and lab teams, infrastructure teams, and other workstreams across the divestment programme.
• Ensure migration activities are sequenced appropriately to minimize operational disruption and support Day 1 readiness objectives.
• Coordinate contingency planning and rollback strategies for critical business activities.

Separation & TSA Planning

• Identify technology services requiring separation, migration, replication, or ongoing support post-close.
• Document shared infrastructure, applications, and service dependencies.
• Support TSA scoping, cost estimation, operational planning, and exit strategies.
• Provide inputs to Day 1, and post-close transition planning activities.

Stakeholder & Governance Management

• Serve as a key interface between Infrastructure, Operations, Applications, Cybersecurity, and M&A leadership teams.
• Prepare executive-level reporting for workstream leadership, PMO governance forums, and steering committees.
• Communicate progress, risks, dependencies, and readiness status to senior stakeholders.
• Drive timely decision-making and issue resolution across the program.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
• PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, or equivalent project management certification preferred.

Experience

• 10+ years of project and program management experience.
• Experience within manufacturing, chemicals, industrial products, process industries, or industrial lubricants environments strongly preferred.
• Significant experience leading large-scale IT transformation, infrastructure, or business separation initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience supporting M&A transactions, divestitures, carve-outs, or separation programs.
• Proven track record managing global teams and coordinating complex cross-functional workstreams.

Technical & Functional Knowledge

• Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, enterprise applications, and operational technology environments.
• Experience with ERP, LIMS, quality systems, maintenance applications, and supply chain technologies.
• Knowledge of technology due diligence, TSA development, Day 1 readiness, and separation management practices.
• Familiarity with site cutovers, application migrations, deployment planning, and business readiness frameworks.

Key Competencies

• Senior stakeholder engagement and influence
• M&A integration and separation management
• Technology due diligence
• Site cutover leadership
• Application migration
• Cross-workstream orchestration
• Global team leadership
• Risk and dependency management
• Manufacturing and laboratory operations awareness
• Executive communication and reporting
• Structured problem solving and decision-making

Key Deliverables

• Buyer-ready technology due diligence packages
• Global application and infrastructure inventories
• Operational technology landscape documentation
• Shared services and dependency assessments
• Integration and interface inventories
• Site cutover and deployment plans
• Application migration readiness plans
• TSA inputs and separation assessments
• Day 1 operational readiness plans
• Executive reporting and governance materials

Success Measures

The Senior Project Manager will be successful when they:

• Deliver a complete and validated technology landscape for buyer due diligence.
• Ensure all plants and laboratories achieve required readiness milestones for separation activities.
• Successfully orchestrate application migration and infrastructure transition activities across the global network.
• Minimize business disruption during site cutovers and transition events.
• Effectively manage dependencies between Infrastructure, Applications, and other M&A workstreams.
• Contribute to a successful transaction close and seamless operational transition to the buyers