Benefits Manager

Location: South East London

On behalf of Homes England, we are looking for a Benefits Manager (Inside IR35) for a contract until the end of December 2026. This is a hybrid working role (flexibility required for travel on an ad-hoc basis - Birmingham/Bristol or London). Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency, plays a central role in tackling the housing challenges the country now faces.

We have the appetite, influence, expertise, and resource to drive positive market change, and our mission is to ensure more homes are built in areas of greatest need, improve affordability and create a sustainable housing market. Following the publication of the government's Levelling Up White Paper, Homes England has also been tasked with a core role in spearheading regeneration, partnering with places to reduce economic disparity, empower local leaders and create equal opportunities across the country to ensure communities reach their full potential.

Job Purpose:

The Business Change Manager will lead the development and delivery of end-to-end business change and readiness activities for the programme's data work streams, aligned to Homes England's Business Change Framework. They will ensure that colleagues are supported and prepared to adopt new ways of working. Working closely with programme colleagues and business stakeholders they will assess change impacts and translate programme plans and delivery outputs into clear, practical implications for affected teams and colleagues.

They will use these insights to develop and deliver targeted business change plans, spanning stakeholder management, colleague communications and engagement, business readiness and transition planning, adoption approach and monitoring and benefits identification and tracking. They will act as the bridge between programme delivery and the business, helping colleagues understand what is changing, why it matters and what it means for them.

They will build engagement and commitment for the change and help ensure that new ways of working are effectively integrated into business processes and ways of working. As part of the wider programme business change team, they will align messaging and approaches, manage cross-programme risks and dependencies and join the dots to help provide colleagues with a cohesive experience of change.

As a Benefits Manager, your main responsibilities will be to:
* Create and maintain change plans, stakeholder analyses, impact assessments, readiness criteria, communications and training strategies to secure adoption and embedding of change.
* Define and coordinate readiness and transition activities with programme and business stakeholders. Assess readiness, identify gaps and risks, and provide evidence-based recommendations to support implementation and go-live decisions.
* Identify and build relationships with key stakeholders across the programme and business. Understand their interests, concerns and level of influence, secure their active involvement in the change, and work with them to resolve issues, build alignment and support delivery.
* Support business owners and programme colleagues to identify intended benefits, the changes and adoption outcomes needed to realise them, and appropriate measures and baselines. Coordinate tracking and reporting, providing insight into progress and risks.
* Identify and actively manage business change risks, issues and dependencies, including those that span multiple work streams. Escalate concerns appropriately and work with relevant colleagues to agree practical mitigations. Essential:
* Significant demonstrable experience leading business change in a large, complex organisation, including experience working on digital or data initiatives (public sector experience preferred).
* Can work collaboratively with our stakeholders to help them identify and define benefits, establish meaningful measures and baselines and put mechanisms in place to track and report on benefits realisation.
* Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with experience of working with senior leaders and holding business areas to account.
* Practical experience of readiness assessments, adoption planning, communications and training to embed change into BAU.
* Knowledge of digital and data tools and environments.
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to produce clear business case and reporting material.
* Ability to manage competing priorities, work autonomously and provide pragmatic…