Senior Programme Manager

Job title: Senior Programme Manager

Salary: Circa £92,500 + TfL Benefits
Grade: Band 4

Contract type: TfL    

Reference: 2871

Number of roles: 2 Contract details: 1 x Permanent role as per the job description. 1 x Fixed Term Contract /Secondee role for strategic integration across the Payments portfolio, interfacing programmes and the supply chain (see addendum). Location: Pier walk, London Application closing date: Monday 22nd December 2025 

Introduction and Job Purpose: 

Senior Programme Managers lead our delivery teams to create valuable outputs from TfL’s Technology Investments. In either role your leadership will help millions of Londoners travel every day, shaping the future of payments for London’s iconic transport network. Success means you will ensure seamless revenue collection during a very complicated transition between strategic revenue collection contracts.  Both roles require outstanding leadership, communications, organisation, prioritisation, escalation management, scheduling and financial acumen. You will lead teams through uncertainty and complex challenges. You will ensure collaboration across teams and suppliers with a network of different incentives – all to achieve TfL’s goals. This will require resilience and proactivity commensurate with such an impactful, influential role. 

Senior Programme Managers are the interface for senior stakeholders across teams and departments. You will ensure that Directors are appraised and can steer the portfolio, without reliance on them to achieve our goals. Your leadership will ensure that we predict problems, seize opportunities and manage escalations to ensure success. You’ll deliver programmes through a mix of in-house capability and external partnerships to ensure best value for TfL. You agree resources and strategies, proactively managing threats and opportunities, mindful of the forward demand and evolving context.  

Permanent role: Leads a team of up to 25 programme delivery professionals, delivering technology change across TfL and the Greater London Authority through programmes and projects worth up to £75m, spanning over 5 years. 

FTC/Secondee role (up to 24 months): Provides strategic leadership and integration across the Payments portfolio and interfacing technology programmes, ensuring alignment, dependency management, and delivery assurance during the peak of activity as TfL navigates a change to our strategic revenue collection contract. This role is time bound to the transition from one strategic contract to another, it is focussed on delivery leadership via influence, not direct people leadership. 

Both Senior Programme Manager roles are senior leadership positions that will ensure integration and delivery of strategic priorities, they offer a unique opportunity for you to shape TfL’s Payments transformation during a critical period of change. In either role you’ll gain exposure to senior decision-makers, influence delivery of our strategic priorities, and develop your leadership profile in one of the UK’s most complex and high-impact organisations. 

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. We value diversity of thought and experience to deliver the best outcomes for London. Part time applicants are welcome. 

Key Responsibilities:  

Senior Programme Managers lead and inspire a team of up to 25 programme and project professionals to deliver technology change and business transformation. Our permanent role will deliver complex programmes worth up to £75m, ensuring delivery on time, within budget, and to the highest quality standards. Our FTC role will lead strategic integration over multiple programmes and business as usual activities which contribute to the Payments portfolio, leading to strategic realisation by integrating across the portfolio via influence and building strategic alignment across teams.  

You will be responsible for Resource and Stakeholder Management, ensuring effective resource allocation in a matrix environment and building strong relationships with stakeholders and suppliers at Director and Band 5 level. You will assure delivery by working with our Programme Management Office colleagues to implement robust project controls. You will own the ‘single source of truth’ for your area (delivery in the case of the perm role, pan Portfolio in the case of the FTC/secondment role), to enable informed decision-making consistent aligning local imperatives to the outcomes within your remit. To do this you will identify threats, opportunities and dependencies, implement mitigation plans, and champion best practice across the area or areas in your remit.  

You will hold internal teams and external partners to high standards, being accountable for meeting or exceeding those standards in delivery and compliance within their clear roles and responsibilities. The perm role will develop the capability of its team via coaching and facilitating mentoring to achieve outstanding performance and professional growth. It must ensure the team collaborate effectively with their stakeholders, peers and functional leads to execute tightly defined plans. The FTC/Secondment role will provide strategic guidance and steering to all teams involved in or contributing to the Payments Portfolio.

Skills:

• Influencing at executive level within a similar environment for technology programmes to deliver strategies and associated programmes and contracts
• Expert-level capability to form and implement a deliverable portfolio plan to challenging timescales
• Proficient in specifying and implementing risk management methods and techniques to minimise risk across multiple technology and business change programmes
• Leading and inspiring a highly skilled team of project and programme professionals to deliver
• Ability to deliver cost-effective solutions when met with difficult and challenging directorate, team and portfolio impacting risks and issues
• Negotiation and problem-solving skills including resolving complex issues which have a high impact on delivery, business outcomes or customers. 
• Setting high quality standards, and leading teams to deliver them

 Knowledge: 

• Excellent understanding of portfolio / programme level delivery leadership to realise strategic intent 
• Well-developed understanding of TfL’s finances, financial controls, procurement legislation, processes and techniques
• Well-developed understanding of TfL’s policies, management structure, and business objectives and Technology strategies (or commensurate experience of a similarly complex operational business) and how these drive the management of IT operations. 
• Extensive understanding of commercial and contract issues to ensure effective, fit for purpose supply chain arrangements to deliver value, quality and reliability for the product programme and projects
• Well-developed knowledge of relevant national and international legislation relating to Government/Public Sector IT – e.g. Data Protection Act, EU Procurement Directives, IT security mandates and Freedom of Information Act
• Well-developed understanding of business change frameworks and methodologies
• Desirable: Recognised project and programme methodologies (such as PRINCE or PMM), and general ITIL service management principles and their contractual and practical application within a complex safety-critical, multiple-site operational business

Experience:

They ideal candidate will demonstrate their experience of using the skills and knowledge above to "make a difference” in the successful delivery of multiple, varied change projects and programmes in a large, complex organisation, preferably in a technology environment, and achieving agreed benefits

Application Process:

• Please apply using your CV only
• Think carefully about the skills, knowledge and experience in the advert and cover this in your CV
• PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images
• We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. 

Equality, diversity and inclusion:

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. 

Benefits:

In return for your commitment and expertise, you will enjoy excellent benefits and scope to grow. Rewards vary according to the level of role but mostly include the below:

• Final salary pension scheme 
• Free travel for you on the TfL network 
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home or 75% reimbursement on a 28-day flexi ticket
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays 
• TfL is committed to work-life balance, operating a hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional) 
• Tax-efficient cycle-to-work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers 
• Discounted Eurostar travel

Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50 per cent of time split between the office and home over a 4 week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements. 

We will make every effort to give you as much notice as possible, however some interviews/assessments could be organised at short notice.