Senior Delivery Manager

Job Description

Company Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future.

As strategies, technologies, and innovation collide, we create opportunity from complexity.

Our teams of interdisciplinary experts combine innovative thinking and breakthrough technologies to progress further, faster. Our clients adapt and transform, and together we achieve enduring results.

We are over 4,000 strategists, innovators, designers, consultants, digital experts, scientists, engineers, and technologists. And we have deep expertise in consumer and manufacturing, defence and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government and public services, health and life sciences, and transport.

Our teams operate globally from offices across the UK, Ireland, US, Nordics, and Netherlands.

PA. Bringing Ingenuity to Life.

Job Description

We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future. We challenge where it matters and own the outcome. We combine strategic thinking, customer-centric service design, and agile engineering practices to accelerate innovation in a tech-driven world.

Why consider joining our Digital & Data community? 🤔

• Join our Digital & Data team working alongside product, design and a wide range of other experts and cross-disciplinary teams to bring ideas to life through innovative software solutions.
• Grow a flexible and unique career within a trust-based, inclusive environment that values excellence, innovation, and curiosity. You have the option to progress with us on a technical career track. No need to go onto the Partner career track if this doesn’t align with what you want to do.
• Hybrid working - our approach is to be in the office or on client site a minimum of 2 days per week.
• Work on a broad variety of projects and tech stacks for clients across seven sectors - no project is ever the same
• Join other experts within our supportive and collaborative tech community through knowledge-sharing and peer-level support, coaching and mentoring
• Deepen your expertise through our a culture of learning and growth – you’ll have budget to take courses (technical and non-technical training), plus gain certifications

About the role 🚀

As a Senior Delivery Manager, you are an expert practitioner who sits at the heart of digital delivery, not outside it. You will work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with multidisciplinary teams, deep in the detail, creating the conditions for teams to succeed while maintaining a strong grip on outcomes, risks and commercial performance.

You’ll lead complex digital deliveries in ambiguous environments, combining agile expertise with pragmatic judgement. You will be accountable not only for delivery outcomes, but for how delivery is structured, governed and continuously improved, balancing pace, quality, risk and commercial performance.

You will operate in increasingly AI‑enabled delivery environments, understanding how emerging tools and practices shape delivery, team performance and client outcomes. You’ll play an active role in guiding when and how AI is applied across the delivery lifecycle, ensuring it is used responsibly and effectively to enhance outcomes.

You are fully client‑facing, using delivery insight not only to report progress but to drive improvement, coach organisations and build long‑term trusted relationships. A significant part of your role is helping clients understand and adopt effective delivery practices, including the evolving role of AI in delivery.

You’ll typically spend around 85% of your time in delivery and 15% contributing to capability building and business development.

Reports to: Delivery Lead

What you’ll do 🌱

• Lead the delivery of large‑scale, complex digital programmes and products using agile and hybrid approaches.
• Set teams up for success by establishing clear goals, delivery rhythms, governance and ways of working.
• Actively remove impediments, manage dependencies and navigate delivery risks in fast‑moving environments.
• Work deeply within delivery teams, guiding, coaching and getting hands‑on where needed, while building high-performing, resilient teams and improving team behaviours over time.
• Coach clients on agile delivery, ways of working and organisational adoption of modern delivery practices.
• Help clients and teams adopt and effectively use AI in delivery throughout the entire SDLC / PDLC, including reporting through to insight generation.
• Use delivery metrics (e.g. throughput, flow, burndown, velocity, predictability), augmented where appropriate with AI, to drive decision-making, continuous improvement and delivery predictability
• Shape delivery approaches, estimates and plans that balance pace, quality, risk and commercial outcomes.
• Align cross-functional teams (product, design, engineering and others), managing trade-offs and dependencies to maintain delivery flow and focus on outcomes
• Contribute to Statements of Work, proposals and pitches.
• Actively contribute to evolving PA’s digital delivery capability, including sharing and scaling effective use of AI tooling across teams.

Who you are 💭

• An experienced delivery leader with strong expertise in agile delivery of digital products, platforms and programmes.
• Comfortable operating in complexity, ambiguity and across large‑scale or multi‑team programmes.
• Commercially astute, with the confidence to balance scope, risk, value and delivery constraints and take ownership for delivering against agreed outcomes.
• A clear and calm communicator who can simplify complexity for teams and senior stakeholders alike.
• Familiar with emerging AI tools across product, design and engineering disciplines, and motivated to apply them in delivery contexts.
• Motivated by enabling teams and clients to succeed, driving outcomes rather than simply delivering outputs.

How you operate 🧠

• You blend delivery expertise with consulting judgement, influencing rather than directing.
• You lead by doing, staying close to the work and making decisions based on evidence and insight, balancing trade-offs and navigating ambiguity with confidence.
• You create an environment where teams can excel, collaborate and deliver high‑quality outcomes.
• You prioritise demonstrable progress through working outcomes, not just plans, reports or presentations.
• You adopt an agile mindset, iterative, outcome‑focused and responsive to change.
• You use AI tools thoughtfully to enhance delivery effectiveness (e.g. planning, reporting, analysis), applying clear judgement on where they add value and where human oversight is essential.
• You are comfortable working flexibly across client environments when needed.

Qualifications

Qualifications & experience ✅

• Typically 5+ years of experience delivering digital products or programmes in agile environments.
• Expertise in estimating, scoping and delivering large‑scale digital projects and products.
• Experience leading technical and engineering teams using agile or hybrid methodologies.
• Experience delivering as part of larger programmes or multi‑team environments, not just standalone projects.
• Background in consultancy, agency or a comparable client‑facing environment.
• Demonstrable commercial acumen, including experience writing Statements of Work and delivery approaches.
• Experience contributing to new business development and client proposals.
• Exposure to public sector delivery is beneficial but not required.

Additional Information

Why this role may not be the right fit ⚠️

• If you prefer delivery management that sits outside the team rather than within it.
• If you rely on rigid delivery frameworks instead of adapting to context.
• If you’re uncomfortable with client coaching, influencing and stakeholder engagement.
• If you’re not interested in evolving your practice, including adopting new tools such as AI.
• If you prefer focusing purely on reporting rather than delivering tangible outcomes.

We know that great candidates don’t always tick every box. If this role excites you and aligns broadly with your experience, we’d love to hear from you.

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