Role Purpose

A new senior role to strengthen project management capability across the organisation and ensure projects are delivered effectively, predictably and consistently.

You will be an experienced, self-starting and pragmatic Portfolio Delivery Lead responsible for establishing and embedding fit-for-purpose frameworks and standards across the business, tailored to a small but technically complex data-science organisation. You will also lead the delivery of a small number of high-impact client-facing projects.

Initially, the role will focus on setting up and embedding core project management processes, governance and delivery discipline across the organisation. Once embedded, the role will operate as both portfolio lead and hands-on delivery lead, with direct responsibility for managing business-critical projects to ensure they are planned, resourced, delivered and tracked effectively.

Responsibilities

Project Management Leadership & Standards

• Design, develop and own an overarching project management framework, ensuring it is structured, proportionate and fit-for-purpose.
• Develop, establish and maintain core project management processes, documentation templates and standards suitable for business-wide adoption.
• Ensure project management processes are followed consistently across all teams and roles that contribute to project delivery.
• Acting as the internal authority on project management best practice.

Project Portfolio Oversight & Delivery Tracking

• Maintain a high-level, holistic view of all ongoing client projects, identifying risks, dependencies, resource pressures and delivery bottlenecks.
• Develop and maintain a delivery dashboard for the accurate and timely reporting to senior leadership to ensure transparency on project status, challenges and decisions needed.

Hands-on Project Delivery

• Direct responsibility for managing key, business-critical projects.
• Coordinating delivery across multi-disciplinary internal teams.
• Managing dependencies and delivery risks.

Resource Planning & Tool Ownership

• Work closely with team leads to ensure realistic allocation of time and skills across projects, balancing project and BAU work, escalating delivery conflicts and resourcing constraints where required.
• Produce rolling 3 to 6 month forward capacity plans for senior management review.

People & Capability Development

• Direct line management of project resource.
• Supporting colleagues with project management responsibilities across the business.
• Scaling the project management function as the business grows.

External Partner & Stakeholder Coordination

• Coordinating delivery with external partners, including technology and delivery partners to ensure aligned planning, dependencies and delivery outcomes.
• Managing cross-functional delivery across internal teams and external partners, ensuring ownership, handovers and dependencies are clearly defined.
• Acting as the primary delivery liaison for internal business stakeholders, including coordinating requirements, timelines and dependencies relating to core datasets and data-driven products.

Experience

• Experiences in Portfolio and delivery management roles in technical, data-driven or analytical environments.
• Proven experience operating at a leadership level within an SME or scaling organisation.
• Experience building or embedding delivery frameworks and governance from scratch.
• Strong hands-on project management capability, including managing complex multi-disciplinary projects end-to-end.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to balance delivery quality and commercial constraints.
• Confidence collaborating with technical teams (data scientists, statisticians, engineers) combined with a willingness to understand technically complex solutions.
• Experience in media, research, data or analytics environments preferred.