Programme Manager

Location Leeds Valley Park (LVP), Leeds, with regular site visits across Yorkshire Waters operational estate

Contract Interim / contract, approx. 6 months

Start date Late November 2026

End date End of May 2027

Day rate £800 - £850 per day

IR35 status Inside IR35

Vetting Basic DBS (Level
1)

Yorkshire Water is establishing a Welfare Site Standards Programme to assess and improve welfare provision across its 286 operational sites. The programme will consider legal, regulatory and operational requirements, including obligations relating to workplace welfare, health and safety and employee wellbeing. Phase 1 (Discovery, Assessment and Baseline) will establish the current position across the estate, identify compliance gaps and produce a prioritised, costed roadmap that provides the evidence base for Phase 2 investment and implementation.

We are looking for an experienced Programme Manager to establish and lead the Welfare Site Standards Programme. You will provide strategic leadership while also being capable of stepping into a hands‑on project delivery capacity where required to maintain pace and momentum.

You will lead stakeholder engagement, governance, discovery activity, compliance assessment and roadmap development, ensuring the programme delivers a robust evidence base for future investment decisions. You will need to build credibility quickly with operational leaders while maintaining effective engagement with executive stakeholders and sponsors.

• - Establish and lead the Welfare Site Standards Programme.
• - Define the programme governance structure, reporting arrangements and decision‑making framework.
• - Lead stakeholder engagement across Operations, Health & Safety, Land & Property, HR, Facilities and Executive leadership teams.
• - Act as the senior point of coordination between operational stakeholders, programme sponsors and delivery resources.
• - Directly undertake project management activities where required to maintain pace and momentum.

• - Oversee the assessment of welfare facilities and standards across all 286 operational sites.
• - Ensure compliance requirements are understood and assessed against current provision.
• - Support and challenge discovery outputs, site assessments and gap analysis activity.

• - Develop an integrated programme roadmap for delivery across all sites.
• - Establish prioritisation criteria based on risk, compliance requirements, employee welfare and operational needs.
• - Produce costed delivery options and investment recommendations for future phases.
• - Develop programme benefits, success measures and the implementation approach.
• - Prepare the programme for Phase 2 implementation and investment approval.

• - Significant experience leading complex operational, compliance, asset, facilities or workplace transformation programmes.
• - Proven track record managing programmes spanning operational, property, facilities, health & safety and organisational change disciplines.
• - Strong programme leadership, with the ability to establish clear direction, governance and delivery structure across multiple stakeholders and functions.
• - Experience operating as both Programme Manager and Project Manager, undertaking hands‑on delivery where required.
• - Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, working with Directors, Heads of Service, Operational Managers, Health & Safety, HR, Property and frontline operational teams.
• - Experience of programme discovery, current‑state assessment, gap analysis and development of implementation roadmaps.
• - Strong understanding of…