The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world‑class university.
We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.
Overview
The Delivery Manager bridges product strategy and execution by orchestrating people, processes, and resources to deliver successful product initiatives. Working at the intersection of product, technology and business stakeholders, the role translates strategic roadmaps into actionable plans while ensuring adherence to timelines, quality standards and budget constraints. The Delivery Manager creates transparency around delivery progress, proactively removes obstacles and guides cross‑functional teams through the delivery lifecycle.
As a Delivery Manager you will combine technical understanding with exceptional organisational and interpersonal skills to champion agile methodologies and foster collaborative environments. You will balance tactical coordination with strategic thinking, continuously seeking opportunities to optimise delivery processes while maintaining team health and stakeholder satisfaction. Success in this role requires adaptability to changing priorities, strong problem‑solving abilities, and excellent communication skills, with opportunities to grow from supporting individual team activities to driving delivery excellence across multiple workstreams.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
- Manage the execution of delivery plans aligned to the product roadmap, ensuring adherence to timelines, quality standards and budget constraints while optimising business value outcomes.
- Facilitate agile ceremonies (daily stand‑ups, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives) and coach teams on agile principles and practices appropriate to their maturity level.
- Identify, track, and resolve delivery impediments and blockers, implementing measures to maintain continuous team momentum.
- Prepare and communicate delivery status reports tailored to different stakeholder audiences, clearly conveying progress, variances, dependencies and risks.
- Partner with Product Owners and Product Managers to refine and prioritise the backlog, ensuring alignment between delivery capabilities and product goals.
- Implement continuous improvement initiatives based on team metrics, with focus on enhancing velocity, quality, and overall delivery efficiency.
- Create and maintain project and initiative documentation including delivery plans, status tracking and performance metrics that demonstrate delivery effectiveness.
- Foster team health, engagement, and psychological safety through collaborative problem‑solving and effective conflict resolution techniques.
- Coordinate cross‑team dependencies by creating visibility across workstreams and facilitating effective communication between teams.
- Leverage appropriate delivery tools and technologies to streamline workflows, improve visibility and enhance team productivity.
- Scale responsibilities according to experience level, from supporting activities under guidance to independently driving delivery excellence across multiple workstreams.
- Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the position.
Person Specification
Our diverse community appreciates unique abilities, backgrounds and beliefs. Even if your experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.
Essential Criteria
- Demonstrated experience of successfully delivering technology projects to agreed timelines and quality standards (Essential)
- Experience leading technology delivery using agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban or similar frameworks) (Essential)
- Excellent communication skills with ability to tailor messaging to diverse stakeholder audiences (Essential)
- Proven ability to identify, track and resolve delivery impediments and blockers (Essential)
- Experience facilitating agile ceremonies and supporting teams on effective delivery practices (Essential)
- Demonstrated skills in risk management, dependency coordination and scope management (Essential)
- Proficiency with delivery tracking tools and project management software (Essential)
- Agile certification (CSM, CSPO, SAFe or equivalent) (Essential)
- Experience in cross‑functional team leadership or coordination (Essential)
- Knowledge of product management principles and processes (Desirable)
- Track record of implementing measurable continuous improvement initiatives (Desirable)
Further Information
- Grade: 7
- Salary: £38,249-£46,735 per annum
- Work arrangement: Full‑time
- Duration: 12 months Fixed‑term contract
- Line manager: Delivery Lead
- Direct reports: N/A
- Our website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/it-services/about
- For informal enquiries, contact Mundia Miles, Delivery Lead: m.a.miles@shefffield.ac.uk
Next Steps in the Recruitment Process
If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact it-services-recruitment@sheffield.ac.uk.
Our Vision and Strategic Plan
We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision (opens in new window).
What we Offer
- A minimum of 41 days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
- Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
- Generous pension scheme.
- A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
- A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
- Recognition awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
- A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes.
- A range of generous family‑friendly policies
- Paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
- Support for those going through the menopause
- Paid time off and support for fertility treatment
- and more
More details can be found on our benefits page: sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits (opens in a new window).
We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.
We are a research university with a global reputation for excellence. Our ideas and expertise change the world for the better, making a real difference to society. We know that when people come together with different views, approaches and insights it can lead to richer, more creative and innovative teaching and research and the highest levels of student experience. Our University Vision (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/vision) outlines our commitment to building a diverse community of staff and students that recognises and values the abilities, backgrounds, beliefs and ways of living for everyone.
