Project Assurance, Governance & Performance Manager
We are recruiting for a Project Assurance, Governance & Performance Manager to join us here at Octavius.
We are a leading civil engineering organisation delivering safe, sustainable, and efficient transport solutions across the UK.
At Octavius, we bring people together — and in this role you'll be right at the heart of ensuring our Highways projects are governed brilliantly, reported clearly, and set up for successful delivery and handover.
If you're considering a move or broadening your experience, we'd love to hear from you. You don't need a formal CV — you can share your relevant experience and explain what's drawn you to this opportunity.
Role Overview
As our Project Assurance, Governance & Performance Manager, you'll lead end‑to‑end governance, assurance and handover across the project lifecycle, ensuring our highways projects are audit‑ready, compliant, and set up for successful closeout and client acceptance.
You’ll play a critical role in embedding robust governance and assurance arrangements in line with National Highways’ Project Control Framework (PCF), OIL standards, and corporate governance requirements, with particular focus on handover readiness and PCF Stage 7 closeout.
You’ll act as the single source of truth for programme, risk, change and performance information — enabling strong, evidence‑based decision‑making at Project Director and senior leadership level.
Key Areas You’ll Lead And Influence
* Leading the project handover process, embedding handover milestones into the programme and driving alignment with PCF Stage 7 and contractual closeout governance.
* Overseeing document control and information management, ensuring ISO‑compliant, audit‑ready records that support assurance, client acceptance and asset adoption.
* Owning and embedding robust risk, issue and change control frameworks, ensuring risks are identified early and change is governed before approval.
* Governing materials approvals and technical query (TQ) management, tracking progress, driving timely closure and escalating risks where needed.
* Maintaining an integrated programme and reporting suite, covering time, cost, quality, risk and change.
* Producing monthly and quarterly governance and performance reports and dashboards for client and internal boards, highlighting trends, risks and required actions.
* Acting as governance lead for Lean and continuous improvement, supporting lessons learned, efficiency KPIs and alignment to the corporate Lean strategy.
Collaboration & Relationships
You’ll be part of a team of highly motivated, dedicated professionals delivering projects across a variety of frameworks, including work aligned to National Highways governance standards.
Day to day, you'll collaborate closely with the Project Director, Planner / Project Controls, Engineering Manager, Construction Manager, Commercial Manager, Quality Manager, Document Control, Lean Champion, and wider stakeholders to ensure joined‑up delivery and strong governance assurance.
About You
You bring a governance and assurance mindset, with a strong focus on quality, data integrity and lifecycle thinking. You're analytical and structured, able to turn complex programme and project information into clear, actionable insight for senior stakeholders.
You're confident working across multidisciplinary environments, influencing without direct authority, and building trusted relationships that keep delivery teams aligned, informed and in control.
Qualifications & Experience
We're looking for experience operating within complex infrastructure or highways project environments with formal governance frameworks, coordinating programme controls and assurance across teams and senior stakeholders.
You’ll Ideally Bring
* Strong knowledge of governance, assurance, risk and change management, and performance reporting (essential).
* Working knowledge of handover requirements, materials approvals and technical query management (essential).
* Familiarity with highways governance frameworks such as PCF and OIL standards (desirable).
* Awareness of programme and information management tools such as Primavera P6, MS Project, SharePoint and CEMAR.
* A degree (or equivalent experience) in Project Management, Engineering, Construction Management or a related discipline.
* A professional certification in project management, PMO or governance (or equivalent experience).
Inclusion and diversity are important to us. We are an equal opportunities employer and value difference. We want and will continue to build an inclusive environment where our people thrive. We firmly believe constantly striving to build a truly diverse workforce is what makes us a strong business and will enable us to continue to solve important problems and deliver unrivalled value to both our customers and clients. If you need any specialist support throughout your application, we will work with you where we can to support your journey with us.
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