Small Business Programme Manager; Made Smarter & AI

Small Business Programme Manager (Made Smarter & AI)

Final date to receive applications: 1 August 2026

Department: Strategy

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London

Compensation: £58,000 - £60,000 / year

Purpose of the role

The Made Smarter Programme Manager will be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining ways of working for the Made Smarter London programme. This includes developing processes and systems to ensure successful delivery of the Made Smarter programme – strong financial management, governance, business planning, reporting, and compliance mechanisms. The role also involves external and internal stakeholder management whilst convening all Made Smarter team to assess the programme’s delivery plan and performance against targets.

The successful candidate will be a self‑starter capable of independently managing complex coordination across L&P teams and overseeing critical projects.

In addition to the tasks mentioned above, the Made Smarter Programme Manager will be responsible for key tasks associated with the Made Smarter programme:

• Ensuring timely and accurate completion of monthly and quarterly reporting to the GLA and the Government’s Department for Business & Trade (DBT).
• Administering grant funding to small businesses, including designing, implementing, and coordinating an application, scoring, and management process to ensure funds are spent and claimed in adherence to funding rules.
• Leading the procurement of, and subsequent relationship management with, delivery partners to ensure outputs are delivered as contracted.
• Managing relationships and contract delivery with commissioned partners.
• Convening the Made Smarter team to ensure consistent ways of working.
• Line management of a Made Smarter Operations Executive.

The postholder will be able to work independently, proactively, and take initiative, but will also be expected to cascade issues and decisions as required. The post holder may be required to work on other areas that support the Small Business Directorate.

• Establish and maintain reporting systems that effectively communicate programme progress, KPIs, and day‑to‑day business metrics to internal and external stakeholders, enabling data‑driven decision‑making.
• Systematically gather, analyse and present precise and timely performance data alongside insightful recommendations to the Grow London Local Senior Leadership Team based on this data.
• Guarantee the accuracy, reliability, and compliance of data used for both internal and external reporting.
• Draft compliance reports for external funders, ensuring the inclusion of accurate information regarding outputs and outcomes where necessary.
• Establish and implement monitoring processes for grants distributed to small businesses ensuring funds are spent as expected and compliance with funding rules.

• Work with the Finance team to ensure accurate budget forecasting and reporting; conduct analysis of financial reports to identify trends enabling informed decisions regarding budget allocation.
• Draft compliance reports for external funders, ensuring the inclusion of accurate information regarding spend, forecasts and variances where necessary.
• Establish thorough processes to administer and deliver the grant element of the programme convening all internal stakeholders to ensure fairness and compliance.

• Establish and implement robust governance processes for the Made Smarter programme across various areas including decision making, change control and post‑project/programme reviews.
• Develop clear document workflows, standard operating procedures and ensure consistency around documentation.
• Identify ways to enhance collaboration and streamline working practices within the Directorate as well as with other internal stakeholders.
• The post holder will also work closely with the Operations team to deliver timely outputs and budget reports as required.

• Provide support, guidance and coaching to direct reports and support them to build relationships across the organisation.
• Set clear direction, accountability and ensure high performance.
• Build strong working…