Interim Programme Manager — Cyber Defence Improvement Programme

Interim / Contract | On-site / Hybrid (Netherlands) | ~1.5–3 years

Our client, a major international organisation, is launching a large-scale programme to strengthen and remediate its cyber defence capability. They are looking for an experienced interim Programme Manager to lead this end to end — owning delivery, governance, and the executive narrative across a multi-year mandate.

This is a senior, high-visibility role. You will sit at the centre of a complex remediation programme, coordinating technical workstreams while translating progress, risk, and decisions into clear communications for steering committees and executive leadership. The mandate is leadership and orchestration, not hands-on technical delivery — you bring the structure, drive, and board-level fluency that keeps a programme of this scale moving.

About Riverflex 
Riverflex was founded in Amsterdam and London in 2018, eventually growing into a global team of consultants united by a mission to help courageous leaders drive transformative change. Today, we offer an integrated service through three service pillars: strategy and transformation consulting that Creates Change, talent services that Build Teams, and business-accelerating products that Augment Intelligence. For more information, visit www.riverflex.com.

Responsibilities

• You own end-to-end delivery of a complex, multi-year cyber defence improvement and remediation programme.

• You drive governance — running steering committees, managing programme-level risk, dependencies, and milestones.

• You translate technical workstream progress into clear, decision-ready communications for steerco and executive stakeholders.

• You coordinate across technical teams, security leadership, and business stakeholders to keep workstreams aligned and on track.

• You maintain a credible programme narrative — status, risk, and remediation roadmap — that leadership can act on.

Job requirements

• Proven track record leading large, complex cyber risk improvement or cyber defence remediation programmes.

• Strong programme and stakeholder management at scale, including managing multiple technical workstreams.

• Excellent executive communication — able to translate technical detail into steerco/exec-level narrative.

• Comfortable operating at senior director level in a large, matrixed organisation.

• EU work authorisation.

The following are a plus:

• Background in regulated or enterprise-scale environments.

• Familiarity with cyber security frameworks and remediation methodologies (enough to challenge and coordinate, not to deliver hands-on).

Why this role

This is a multi-year mandate to lead a cyber defence programme that genuinely matters to the organisation's resilience. You'll have real ownership, board-level visibility, and the scope to shape how a complex remediation effort is governed and communicated from the top down.

Apply now 
Interested in this role? Submit your CV and a brief note on your relevant experience through the Riverflex website or reach out to our talent team directly.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse environment. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, medical condition, or disability. Even if you believe you do not tick all the aforementioned requirements for the role, we still encourage you to take the time to apply.