Job Description
Role: Senior Agile Delivery Manager
Contract Length: 12 months
Location: Newcastle, Leeds or Birmingham (60% office attendance p/w). Commute must be 60 – 90 mins max each way.
IR35: inside
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Role Context
Client is forming a new software engineering team to address a defined backlog of ~20–30 items focused on service security, testability, resilience and recoverability.
This role is not a coordination-only delivery role. We require a highly experienced Delivery Manager who can operate immediately and sustainably in a hands-on Scrum Master / agile delivery capacity, working directly with engineers on day-to-day delivery.
You will work closely with a Senior Technical Business Analyst and Architect to ensure the backlog is technically ready, prioritised and executable before and during active sprint delivery.
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Core Purpose
The Senior Agile Delivery Manager is a technical delivery leader responsible for the hands-on delivery of software within a modern engineering environment.
You will:
• Lead agile ceremonies,
• Actively manage delivery risks and dependencies,
• Influence and engage senior stakeholders, and
• Enable engineering teams to deliver high-quality software outcomes.
Recent, applied experience leading software development teams is essential.
Statements of capability or aspiration without evidence will not be considered sufficient.
Key Responsibilities
Agile Delivery (Hands-on)
• Act as Scrum Master / Delivery Manager for a software engineering team on a day-to-day basis.
• Lead sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews and retrospectives.
• Actively remove delivery blockers and manage scope, flow and prioritisation.
• Maintain delivery momentum across a sustained period of active build work.
Software Delivery & Technical Engagement
• Work directly with software developers, testers and DevOps engineers.
• Understand and manage delivery within modern software engineering lifecycles.
• Engage confidently with technical discussions and trade-offs.
• Support delivery across complex technical concerns (e.g. resilience, security, recoverabil-ity).
Note:
Experience limited to cloud migration programmes, CRM implementations (e.g. Dynamics) or systems integration / database-only delivery will not meet the requirements of this role unless there is clear, recent evidence of hands-on software product delivery.
Senior Stakeholder Influence
• Influence and challenge senior technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Provide clear, evidence-based delivery reporting.
• Build trust through consistent delivery performance and transparency.
Planning, Coordination & Reporting
• Maintain and refine prioritised backlogs with Product Managers and technical leads.
• Proactively manage risks, issues and cross-team dependencies.
• Use Jira effectively for planning, tracking and reporting at team and initiative level.
• Complete delivery-related governance and change activity (e.g. ServiceNow).
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Essential Skills & Experience (Mandatory)
Candidates must clearly evidence the following on their CV:
• Recent, hands-on agile delivery experience with software development teams
• Operating as a Scrum Master / Delivery Manager in active software build
• Delivery within modern engineering environments, including:
o Version control (e.g. Git)
o CI/CD pipelines
o Cloud-native or platform-based services
• Strong senior stakeholder engagement and influence
• Practical experience managing delivery risks, dependencies and complex backlogs
• High proficiency in Jira (team and programme level)
• SFIA Level 6 capability demonstrated through applied experience, not role titles
CVs must describe what was delivered, how it was delivered, the technical challenges in-volved and how they were overcome.
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Technical Environment (Experience Required)
The successful candidate will have worked recently and directly with engineering teams using technologies and practices such as:
• Cloud platforms (e.g. Azure and/or AWS) as part of software delivery, not migration on-ly
• Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform)
• CI/CD tooling and modern DevOps practices
• Automated testing and quality practices
• Secure, resilient digital services
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Desirable Experience
• Experience with platform engineering or data engineering teams
• Previous experience working within DWP or wider UK government digital services
• Use of ServiceNow for delivery/change processes
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Location & Attendance (Critical)
• Candidates must be able to attend Newcastle, Leeds or Birmingham offices regularly (minimum 60%)
• Commute assessment is home-to-office, not city-to-city
• Long or unrealistic commutes are not sustainable and will not be considered
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