Infrastructure Programme Manager

Infrastructure Programme Manager
12 Month contract
5 Days per week on site in Basildon
Up to £570 per day (Inside IR35)

My client is looking for a Programme Manager to join their fast-paced team on an initial 12 month contract.

The ideal candidate will have experience with Infrastructure Migrations, Mergers and Strategic IT initiatives within a global environment

More details
This role is accountable for programme vision, planning, governance, and successful delivery, ensuring alignment with organisational standards and business objectives. The Programme Manager also mentors other managers, drives PMO capability growth, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities
Programme Leadership & Delivery
Lead end-to-end delivery of infrastructure migration, merger, and transformation programmes, including post-merger integration of networks, data centres, cloud platforms, and security controls.
Define programme vision, scope, objectives, success criteria, and governance structures aligned to organisational standards.
Develop and manage multiyear, multi-project plans, budgets, risk registers, and resource plans.
Establish and maintain target state architectures in collaboration with Enterprise Architecture, Information Security, and Compliance teams.
Create migration runbooks, cutover strategies, testing plans, and transition-to-BAU activities with minimal business disruption.

Project & Programme Governance
Establish PMO governance, reporting cadence, and executive steering mechanisms.
Deliver regular status reports, dashboards, and artefacts to senior leadership and stakeholders.
Manage programme finances, including budgeting, forecasting, cost tracking, and vendor/contract oversight.
Monitor quality, performance metrics, and benefits realisation; implement corrective actions as needed.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management
Engage CIO/CTO, business unit leaders, Legal, Compliance, Security, and Procurement.
Manage third-party vendors, managed services, and integrators; formalise contracts, SLAs, and performance reviews.

Risk, Issue, Change, and Communications Management
Proactively identify risks and implement mitigation strategies; maintain risk appetite alignment with governance.
Manage change communications to business units, IT teams, and executive sponsors; prepare training and adoption plans where required.

Training & Capability Development
Design, implement, and run scalable training programmes for Programme Managers covering methods, governance, tooling, and best practices.
Develop curricula, playbooks, templates, checklists, and knowledge transfer materials.
Establish communities of practice; coach and mentor other Programme Managers; drive continuous improvement in PMO maturity.

Operational Readiness & Handover
Ensure migration/transformation outputs are instrumented for BAU, with runbooks, support models, incident management playbooks, and CMDB alignment.
Validate post-migration stabilisation, performance, and service levels; transition operations to the appropriate support teams.

Qualifications & Experience
Certifications: PMP or PgMP (or equivalent); additional certifications such as MSP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, or SAFe/Agile preferred.
Very strong IT Infrastructure programme/project management, with strong experience in large-scale migrations, data centre moves, cloud adoption, and post-merger integration.
Proven success in delivering medium to large complex IT Infrastructure projects within budget and specified time-frames, while ensuring customer satisfaction.
Significant experience in matrix-managing teams and stakeholders for the successful completion of projects.
Technical expertise in enterprise infrastructure (networks, data centres, storage, compute, backup/DR), cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), and on-prem architectures.
Familiarity with hybrid/multi-cloud models, modern security controls, IAM, and compliance frameworks (PCI DSS, GDPR, SOX).
Experience running complex programmes with multiple workstreams, RAID/logging, financial governance, and stakeholder management at senior levels.
Proven ability to design and deliver training programmes and enablement for Programme Managers and IT leaders.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
On-time delivery and milestone achievement for migration and merger workstreams
Budget adherence and forecast accuracy
Benefits realisation and value delivery as defined in business case
Post-migration operational readiness and handover quality
Stakeholder satisfaction and executive sponsor feedback
PMO maturity metrics (templates adopted, governance adherence, reporting quality)
Number and effectiveness of training programmes delivered to Programme Managers; improvements in participant competencies

Disclaimer:

This vacancy is being advertised by either Advanced Resource Managers Limited, Advanced Resource Managers IT Limited or Advanced Resource Managers Engineering Limited ("ARM"). ARM is a specialist talent acquisition and management consultancy. We provide technical contingency recruitment and a portfolio of more complex resource solutions. Our specialist recruitment divisions cover the entire technical arena, including some of the most economically and strategically important industries in the UK and the world today. We will never send your CV without your permission. Where the role is marked as Outside IR35 in the advertisement this is subject to receipt of a final Status Determination Statement from the end Client and may be subject to change