Do you thrive on leading complex digital projects that make a real difference, driving delivery from vision through to successful, benefits-focused outcomes? Can you bring teams together, tackle risks head-on, and influence senior stakeholders to keep high-profile projects on track and delivering results? We have an exciting opportunity for five Senior Project Managers to join our Project Delivery and Portfolio Management team. As a Senior Project Manager, you will lead and oversee the delivery of moderate to high-complexity projects, managing project teams on a day-to-day basis. You will be accountable for achieving clearly defined objectives within agreed time, cost and quality constraints, and play a key role in project governance and stakeholder engagement to ensure agreed outputs are delivered and benefits realised.
* 3 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment for 18 months
* 1 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment until 30/09/2027
* 1 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment until 28/02/2027
Appointments will be awarded in merit order, with the 3 highest-scoring candidates offered 18‑month Fixed Term Appointments, the fourth‑ranked candidate offered a Fixed Term Appointment until 30/09/2027 and the fifth‑ranked candidate offered a Fixed Term Appointment until 28/02/2027. There may be opportunities to extend or make these positions permanent.
Programmes Overview
These roles sit across three APHA programmes, each with a distinct focus and delivery context.
Digital & Operational Services (DOS) Programme
2 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment for 18 months, 1 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment until 30/09/2027. The DOS Programme delivers digital and infrastructure improvements, modernising systems to strengthen cybersecurity, meet Government and Defra policy requirements, and improve user experience and operational efficiency. The programme delivers cross‑cutting change initiated by Defra Group Corporate Services (DGCS) and Group Infrastructure Operations (GIO).
Borders and Trade Programme
1 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment for 18 months. This role sits within APHA's Borders and Trade Programme, which is preparing the organisation for changes arising from the UK and the EU's commitment to pursue a new Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. The programme supports EU reset activity by delivering changes to systems, processes and ways of working as negotiations progress. You will work under the direction of Programme Managers to deliver work that enables the safe trade and movement of animals, plants and agrifood products, whilst upholding high standards of biosecurity and food safety.
Delivering Sustainable Futures (DSF) Programme
1 x Fixed Term Appointment/Loan/Secondment until 28/02/2027. DSF is APHA's core programme of transformation activity. The programme will help us become 'One APHA' by modernising and unifying how we work. It's about making customer and colleague interactions easier, freeing up our people from lower‑value tasks, and having better intelligence to deliver excellent services for our customers.
Project Leadership & Delivery
You will lead, shape and deliver complex projects, applying best‑practice project management to achieve agreed outcomes within defined time, cost and quality constraints, providing clear direction to project teams to ensure delivery remains on track. You will ensure appropriate change management is integrated into project delivery to support the successful adoption of outcomes. You will also provide support, guidance and coaching to project teams, promoting personal development and effective team performance.
Planning, Controls & Performance
You will translate strategic objectives into clear delivery plans with defined milestones, maintain effective project controls and use digital tools and data analysis to understand progress against plans. You will use data to forecast outcomes, identify issues early and take mitigating action, providing clear insight to sponsors and governance forums to enable timely, informed decision making.
Benefits Realisation
You will deliver agreed project outcomes and benefits, ensuring a suitable Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place. You will monitor long‑term benefit delivery against the approved business case, or equivalent, throughout the project lifecycle.
Budget & Resource Management
You will manage project budgets, monitoring expenditure against forecasts and working with delivery teams to control spend effectively. You will work with the resourcing function to secure appropriate project resources, and lead and manage those assigned.
Stakeholder Management
You will identify, build and manage effective relationships with key stakeholders, ensuring appropriate senior‑level engagement and acting as the primary point of contact for senior and strategic stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.
Risk, Governance & Assurance
You will identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies and interdependencies, putting appropriate mitigations in place and escalating where necessary. You will collaborate with related projects to manage interdependencies and support effective governance and assurance through clear reporting and engagement with reviews.
Disability Confident
We are a Disability Confident employer and will give a fair interview process to applicants with disabilities. We will provide accommodation during the interview process if required. For more details please visit our disability policy page.
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