Job Title: Engagement Lead/ Programme Manager Location: Manchester Area Day Rate: £463 - £483 inside IR35 Start Date: 16/03/2026 Company Introduction We have an exciting opportunity with a leading client within the banking sector. With a focus on the financial services including retail banking, corporate banking, and investment solutions to millions of customers worldwide. They are currently looking for a talented professional to join their team. Job Responsibilities/Objectives The Engagement Lead / Programme Manager is accountable for end‑to‑end delivery oversight across the programme, ensuring governance, strategic alignment, and effective stakeholder management. This role acts as the primary interface between delivery teams, senior stakeholders, and the client steering group. The individual owns programme performance, scope, budget, risks, and dependencies. Provide overall leadership for programme delivery, ensuring milestones, deliverables, and outcomes are met. Own resource planning, financial tracking, budget management, and contract compliance. Ensure adherence to delivery methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid) and organisational standards. Act as escalation point for critical delivery challenges, blockers, vendor issues, and scope variations. Required Skills/Experience The ideal candidate will have the following: Understanding of enterprise delivery frameworks, SDLC, Agile at scale, and cloud transformation programmes. Ability to interpret solution architectures, integration requirements, and data dependencies at a high level. Experience with project management tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, MS Project, and Confluence. Desirable Skills/Experience Although not essential, the following skills are desired by the client: Tools: Jira, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, Confluence Vendor & contract management Agile, Waterfall & hybrid delivery methodologies If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply now with your updated CV in Microsoft Word/PDF format. Disclaimer Notwithstanding any guidelines given to level of experience sought, we will consider candidates from outside this range if they can demonstrate the necessary competencies. Square One is acting as both an employment agency and an employment business, and is an equal opportunities recruitment business. Square One embraces diversity and will treat everyone equally. Please see our website for our full diversity statement.