Data Programme ​/ Project Manager

Role Purpose

The Data Programme / Project Manager plans and controls DAI Consultancy engagements and implementation programmes involving data governance, architecture, quality, platforms, analytics and organisational change. The role converts agreed scope and outcomes into a realistic delivery plan, coordinates multidisciplinary teams and maintains transparent control of milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, quality and acceptance.

The manager is the central coordination point between DAI Consultancy and client delivery stakeholders. The role supports client governance and prepares accurate status and decision material, but does not replace the client's sponsor or accountable programme authority. Success requires disciplined delivery management together with enough data-domain understanding to identify hidden dependencies, challenge incomplete plans and ensure that technical deliverables, adoption activities and handover are treated as one integrated programme.

• Translate engagement scope, outcomes and contractual commitments into an integrated delivery plan and work-breakdown structure.
• Define milestones, dependencies, resources, responsibilities, quality gates, acceptance criteria and reporting cadence.
• Coordinate consultants, specialists, partners, vendors and client contributors across multiple work streams.
• Maintain risk, assumption, issue, dependency, decision, action and change-control records.
• Track schedule, effort, budget, deliverable status and commercial performance and initiate recovery action when required.
• Prepare accurate status reports, steering materials, decision requests and escalation summaries.
• Facilitate planning, progress, dependency, risk and retrospective sessions with clear actions and owners.
• Ensure deliverables pass internal quality review before submission and that client feedback is controlled and traceable.
• Coordinate access, data, environment, security, procurement and stakeholder dependencies affecting delivery.
• Manage scope changes, assess impact and maintain alignment between contractual commitments and approved plans.
• Plan adoption, training, transition, acceptance and handover rather than treating them as end-of-project activities.
• Capture lessons learned and improve reusable delivery methods, estimates and controls.

• Bachelor's degree in project management, business, information systems or a related field.
• An equivalent combination of relevant education and directly applicable consulting or implementation experience may be considered.

• Typically 5-9 years managing technology, data, analytics or transformation projects.
• Experience managing technology, data, analytics, governance or transformation projects and multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience controlling scope, schedule, resources, risks, changes, quality and client acceptance.
• Experience producing executive status reporting and facilitating governance meetings.
• Consulting or professional-services experience, including commercial and contractual awareness, is preferred.

• Programme and project planning, estimation and scheduling.
• Delivery governance, stage gates and acceptance management.
• Risk, issue, dependency, assumption and decision management.
• Scope, change, resource, financial and commercial control.
• Quality management and deliverable-review workflows.
• Vendor, environment, access and procurement dependencies.
• Data and digital delivery lifecycle awareness.
• Transition, training, adoption and operational handover planning.

• Integrated planning.
• Risk and issue management.
• Stakeholder leadership.
• Agile/hybrid delivery.
• Vendor coordination.
• Executive reporting.
• Planning discipline.
• Delivery leadership.
• Commercial awareness.
• Resilience.
• Client-facing planning, reporting and expectation management.
• Facilitating decisions and escalating issues with clear evidence.
• Coordinating technical, business and change specialists.
• Writing concise status, risk and decision communications.
• Maintaining delivery discipline in ambiguous or changing conditions.
• Challenging unrealistic assumptions while preserving constructive relationships.
• Balancing quality, schedule, scope and commercial considerations.

• PMP
• PMI-ACP or equivalent agile credential

• Integrated planning
• Risk and issue management
• Stakeholder leadership