Senior Project Manager

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Not Specified

Coleshill, Warwickshire

Competitive

April 21, 2026

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Job description

<h4>Location </h4>Hybrid: 1-2 days at our Support Centre in Coleshill, Birmingham.  <figure><img src="https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWI3ZDgxNDY0OWhqZTFyMG1vNDlxc2VnejIwanh4cnZjNDIyYzk0ZzNhZGNwemlzZyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/DBW3BniaWrFo4/giphy.gif" alt="" title=""></figure><hr><h4>Why The Works?</h4><h5>We don’t just sell products. We inspire reading, learning, creativity and play.</h5>The Works. It literally means everything. And whatever your story or background, we’re all about unlocking imagination and making creativity accessible to everyone. Whether you’re engaging with customers on the frontline or supporting our colleagues behind the scenes, your impact can be profound and far-reaching.This is more than toys and books and art supplies. This is about inspiring people to read, learn, create and play. So, with the right passion, it all starts with you.<hr><h4>Become a Senior Project Manager</h4>Working hand in hand with business functions across the organisation, the Senior Project Manager translates strategic priorities into projects and activities that drive meaningful change. You will support the business in delivering its strategic objectives by promoting a transformation mindset, embedding change into BAU and actively engaging stakeholders at all levels to accelerate lasting impact.In addition, this role provides senior delivery assurance and guidance across the transformation portfolio, drawing on experience and best practice to support effective governance, prioritisation and successful delivery.<hr><h4>Your Mission</h4>Project Delivery<ul><li>Own end-to-end delivery of projects and programmes, taking accountability for multiple initiatives from initiation through to embedding sustainable change into BAU.</li><li>Manage additional projects as required, ensuring alignment with strategic drivers and successful delivery.</li><li>Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, tracking milestones and ensuring cross-functional coordination.</li><li>Collaborate with IT and digital teams to identify technology requirements for projects, ensure alignment with delivery timelines, and integrate project planning with the broader IT roadmap.</li><li>Proactively manage project risks, issues, and dependencies, ensuring timely mitigation and transparent communication.</li><li>Lead lessons learned reviews and closure reporting to continually improve delivery capability.</li><li>Support PMO activities where required, including governance processes, investment approvals, and portfolio reporting to ensure transparency and alignment with organisational strategic drivers.</li><li>Assist with portfolio planning and prioritisation where required, helping to evaluate initiatives and maintain accurate reporting for senior stakeholders.</li></ul>Governance & Reporting<ul><li>Maintain accurate and up-to-date records in portfolio management tools including RAID logs, change control, and action trackers.</li><li>Manage governance structures, financial oversight, and reporting cycles to provide transparency and accountability.</li><li>Deliver timely, clear reports and presentations to senior leadership and executive boards.</li><li>Strategic Alignment & Benefits Management.</li><li>Ensure projects and programmes support organisational strategic drivers with clearly defined goals and success metrics.</li><li>Track benefits realisation and key outcomes throughout the project lifecycle, reporting progress to stakeholders.</li><li>Collaborate with finance and business partners to manage budget, resources, and delivery trade-offs.</li><li>Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership.</li><li>Build strong relationships with project sponsors, senior leaders, and delivery teams.</li><li>Build and lead high-performing, cross-functional project teams, establishing effective ways of working to drive delivery, and support continuous improvement.</li><li>Engage and influence stakeholders at all levels to ensure alignment and maintain momentum.</li><li>Coach and support teams to raise project delivery capability and embed transformation principles.</li><li>Navigate complex stakeholder landscapes across business and technical teams to drive the successful delivery of your assigned projects.</li></ul>Change Culture & Continuous Improvement<ul><li>Champion and embed a positive change culture that encourages innovation and value-led approaches.</li><li>Promote adoption of new ways of working and support behaviour change initiatives.</li><li>Provide peer support across programmes to share knowledge and best practices.</li><li>Champion change adoption and embed a culture of continuous improvement across all projects, supporting teams to embrace new systems, processes and behaviours</li></ul>PMO & GovernanceIn addition to owning and delivering your own projects, the Senior Project Manager is expected to operate at a broader portfolio level, providing delivery assurance, guidance and support where required.<ul><li>Provide delivery assurance across the transformation portfolio by supporting stage gate readiness, ensuring appropriate controls are in place at key points in delivery.</li><li>Act as a point of guidance for project managers and provide practical support and coaching to business-led project leads, drawing on experience and best practice to advise on delivery standards, governance expectations, ways of working and effective change adoption.</li><li>Support the definition and embedding of fit-for-purpose governance, ensuring projects are well controlled, successfully embedded, and smoothly handed over into BAU.</li><li>Review delivery plans, RAID, benefits and change approaches, providing constructive challenge where required.</li><li>Support PMO activities by contributing to portfolio-level reporting, highlighting cross-project interdependencies, and supporting prioritisation discussions to inform senior decision-making.</li><li>Contribute to building overall delivery capability and maturity across the organisation.</li></ul><hr><h3>Skills/Behaviours That Will Set You Apart</h3><ul><li>Significant experience in project or programme management, preferably within business transformation or change environments.</li><li>Proven record managing complex projects across multiple functions and stakeholders.</li><li>Strong strategic thinking with an outcome-focused, structured approach to problem-solving.</li><li>Demonstrated experience providing delivery and governance advice to senior stakeholders, including shaping business cases, delivery approaches and prioritisation decisions.</li><li>Excellent senior stakeholder management and influencing skills, comfortable engaging C-suite executives.</li><li>Proactive, adaptable, and able to manage ambiguity and shifting priorities.</li><li>Solid financial management skills including budgeting, forecasting, and cost control.</li><li>Proactive identification and resolution of risks, issues and dependencies, with the confidence to challenge where required.</li><li>Excellent communication skills, able to clearly explain and summarize complex information.</li><li>Collaborative leadership and coaching skills, with a proven ability to build high-performing teams and develop organisational capability.</li><li>Data-driven mindset with strong analytical skills, able to interpret delivery and portfolio information to support decision-making.</li><li>Knowledge of change management principles and experience supporting adoption of new ways of working.</li></ul><hr><h3>Being a great leader</h3>As a great leader with wonderful people skills, you'll create an environment that's more than just co-workers — it's a team. • Align Goals with Values: Ensure that your team’s goals are clearly connected to the company’s values and purpose. This helps colleagues see the bigger picture and understand how their work contributes to the overall mission. • Clear Communication: Ensure that your team understands the goals, expectations, and their roles. Regularly share updates, encourage open dialogue and have regular check-ins. • Role Model: Lead by example. Demonstrate the behaviours and attitudes you expect from your team, such as punctuality, responsibility, and being a brand ambassador. • Provide Feedback: Offer constructive feedback regularly. Recognise achievements and address areas for improvement in a supportive and continuous growth manner. • Empower Your Team: Delegate tasks and trust your team to handle them. This builds confidence and promotes professional growth. • Conflict Resolution: Address conflicts promptly and fairly. Foster an environment where issues can be discussed openly and resolved amicably. • Empathy: Understand and consider the feelings and perspectives of your team members. This helps in building strong, supportive relationships And let's not forget about the most important part… your team's well-being and aspirations. You'll be their biggest supporter, cheering them on. You'll have amazing everyday conversations with your team, discussing everything from their performance to their wildest career aspirations.<hr><h3>Our PERKS really are ‘The Works’</h3><ul><li>💪 25% Colleague Discount! - Plus, exclusive Double Discount days!</li><li>😎 MyWorks - Access exclusive online discounts across hundreds of retailers, holidays, utilities deals, tech and more</li><li>🏡 Family Friendly Leave - Enjoy some time well spent with enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay.</li><li>🚀 Holiday – 33 days including bank holidays.</li><li>💃 Holiday Purchase - Purchase an additional 5 days</li><li>🎓 Can-Do Academy - Grow your skills and career with instant access to further training and development in areas that interest you.</li><li>💸 Stream - Claim early access to 50% of your wages as you earn them – for when ‘life’ happens!</li><li>🏬 Share Scheme - Unleash your inner Monopoly mogul and own a piece of The Works!</li><li>💛 24/7 support for you and your family - Through our partnership with the Retail Trust who provide an Employee Assistance Programme and so much more!</li><li>🩺 Healthcare Cash Plan – To support your everyday healthcare costs</li><li>🥳 And loads more! – Long Service Awards, pension, life assurance, Cycle to Work and optional charity giving.</li></ul><hr><h3>Our Purpose</h3>To inspire reading, learning, creativity and play 💛💙 <h3>Our Values</h3>We are Crafty 🎨 | Smart with what we've got.We are Caring 💛 | Heart in every action.We are Can-do 🚀| Energy that gets it done.<hr><h4>We Listen. We Care </h4>Each year, we run an anonymous colleague engagement survey. This is so important for us to hear your feedback and suggestions. We want to know what’s going great, and what needs a couple of tweaks to help make The Works the best place you’ve ever worked! You’ll have opportunity to help give us that direction.<hr><h3>Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Applying Reasonable Adjustments </h3>At The Works, we are proud to have an inclusive culture where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. Our roles are open to all, including under-represented groups such as ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, carers & members of the LGBTQ+ community (including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, non-binary, or use another term).We are open to discussions around working hours and flexible working. And, where possible, we'll try to support this. If you need reasonable adjustments for an interview you might attend with us, let us know in your application and we’ll be happy to help!

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