Senior Project Manager - Finance

Our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. 

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer work place accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

The Role:

Reporting to Head of Finance Change Portfolio, this role owns the end-to-end delivery of medium to highly complex projects. You will be responsible for driving the definition of the business case, project objectives, scope, resources and expected business outcomes, together with detailed project plans. You will be expected to implement and adhere to the required project management methodologies and governance and provide the project team with direction and confidence to deliver and leverage the expected benefits.

Key responsibilities for this role:

• Own the end to end delivery of medium to highly complex Finance projects, identifying key business stakeholders; leading on defining business case, project objectives, scope, resources and agreed set of expected benefits and outcomes.
• In conjunction with the Project Sponsor, communicate the outcomes/benefits of the project across the organisation to garner support and buy-in.
• Create and maintain high quality project plans (with built in risk mitigation strategies) and work packages that support delivery, ensuring that responsibilities are assigned to project resources.
• Evaluate delivery options and the team’s performance, providing feedback where necessary and adjusting plans at regular intervals against  the scope, schedule, budget, risks, outcomes and benefits.
• Provide regular forecasts of the future Change and BAU resources required for the project
• Provide the project team with direction and confidence to deliver and ensure that the project delivers the required benefits and outcomes within the specified tolerances of time, cost, quality, scope, benefit and risk.
• Undertake regular lessons learnt sessions during the life of the project, implementing agreed recommendations to ensure the project team learns from experience and proactively shares lessons with the broader Project Management community.
• Adhere  to governance standards, including Project Change Standard and guidelines, maintaining accurate RACI and RAID logs and Service Now records.
• Produce timely management information ensuring all mandatory documentation (e.g. business case, requirement documents/user stories, stage gates, test plans, change requests, closure documents) is completed and signed off at the appropriate stages during the life of the project and establish additional governance to reflect the complexity of the project as required.
• Forecast future external costs, understand the drivers of project cost variance and take actions to control costs to budgets or raise change control
• Monitor and report progress to the impacted stakeholders (e.g. sponsor(s), programme manager, Change Programme Directors, steering committee) including ongoing business case viability.
• Independently identify and take ownership of issues, risks and dependencies, making recommendations to mitigate the risk or to reduce/remove issues. Escalate where appropriate to maintain progress towards project delivery and act as an escalation point on behalf of the Project Sponsor.
• Complete handover to BAU, and business benefits realisation activities to close off projects.
• Manage resource planning and motivate the project team to ensure a high standard of output, focused on customer satisfaction and delivery through developing others through providing  ongoing guidance, mentoring or coaching
• Manage relationships with required teams e.g. Technology, external suppliers  and other business functions to achieve timely delivery.
• Assist the Programme Manager/Director and Change Programme Director with interviewing and hiring of resources
• Support the Lead Programme Management Officer in establishing appropriate governance and assuring that the Project Change Standard is appropriately applied.
• Conduct training workshops with Project Managers focused on improving both project and change management capabilities across the Project Management team
• Participate in improving the change capability across the firm through sharing project and change management disciplines with the wider business
• Mentor and coach project team members with the aim of improving delivery efficacy and supporting their personal development

Key Skills, Competencies & Experience:

Skills and Competencies

• Confident and effective communicator (both written and verbal) across all levels of the organisation. Confident in  facilitating medium to large sized workshops and meetings with stakeholders.
• Ability to motivate, influence and constructively challenge where appropriate.
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships across the business and with external parties.
• Strong organisational and planning skills with the ability to manage multiple projects, resources, priorities and deliverables to tight deadlines.
• Passionate about developing a work environment that embraces and values diversity. 
• Attention to detail and the ability to articulate complex ideas/concepts to stakeholders.
• Ability to anticipate, prioritise and resolve issues using problem solving and analytical skills.
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, leading by example and exercising good judgment and decision-making skills.
• Strong programme budgetary control and financial management
• Commercial mindset to highlight risks covering contractual clauses including penalties.
• Advanced understanding and practical application of project management methodologies
• In depth understanding of the asset management, asset owner and asset servicing operating model and associated infrastructure. Specific domain knowledge e.g. Regulations, ESG specific (add as applicable to specific role)
• Placeholder for specific domain knowledge, if required.

Experience:

• Significant and demonstrable track record of end-to-end delivery of projects, including demonstrable experience of successfully turning around failing projects, building momentum, and buy-in to a new project.
• Experience of leading business transformation projects, working with both internal and external stakeholders within a Finance Function.
• Experience of working in a highly controlled and regulated environment
• Working effectively with stakeholders at different levels including executive and non-executive directors [C-Suite and NEDs] and external parties.
• Management and coaching of Project Managers, Business Analysts, Testers, Developers, SME (line and matrix)

Work Level: Manager / Expert

Recruiter: Hollie Doran

Location: Edinburgh (Hybrid 2 - 3 days in the office per week)

What we offer:

At M&G, we’re committed to helping you thrive and supporting your wellbeing, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, while planning confidently for your future. Our UK benefits include:

• As a savings and Investments firm we are proud to offer a valuable pension scheme of 18%, with 13% made up of Employer Contributions and 5% Employee Contributions. We also offer Share Save and our Share Incentive Plan, together with access to financial wellbeing and support services - to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.

• Enjoy 38 days annual leave including bank holidays, with the opportunity to purchase up to 5 extra days and additional flexibility through our Time Off When You Need It policy – to balance your work and personal commitments.  

• Our market leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - as supporting families is a core aspect of our inclusive culture.

• Health & Protection cover including Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with family options - for peace of mind.

To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit Life at M&G

We have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture at M&G, underpinned by our policies and our employee-led networks who provide networking opportunities, advice and support for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or long term condition, we are looking to attract, promote and retain exceptional people. We also welcome those who take part in military service and those returning from career breaks.

M&G is also proud to be a Disability Confident Leader, and we welcome applications from candidates with long-term health conditions, disabilities, or neuro-divergent conditions. 

If you need assistance or an alternative means of applying for a role due to a disability or additional need, please let us know by contacting us at: [email protected]