Programme Manager

Company Description

Following several years of accelerated growth Culina Group is now a £2.2 billion turnover business, employing over 22,000 staff, with a fleet of more than 2500 vehicles. Culina Group operates from over 100 depots across the UK and Ireland, serving more than 650 + clients over its framework of chilled, ambient, contract packaging solutions and fresh and baked goods.

Are you an experienced Programme Manager looking for your next challenge? Culina Group have an new opportunity to join our growing team!

Reporting to the Group Programme Director, you will play a critical role in ensuring quality outcomes for programmes and projects, maintaining high standards of governance, reporting, and overall delivery. You will ensure consistent performance, capability development, and alignment with group standards, overseeing programme-level planning, risk management, and benefit tracking to support strategic decision-making.

This is a group wide role that will require good and detailed understanding of the programme to be delivered, not just an application of ‘governance’. You will contribute to shaping the group’s portfolio management approach and strategic delivery capability. This is a high-profile role requiring confident engagement with senior stakeholders across the organisation.

• Define and maintain the overall programme vision, roadmap, and strategic alignment with organisational goals.
• Lead cross-functional teams to deliver complex, multi-project initiatives on time, within scope, and budget
• Establish and manage programme governance structures, ensuring compliance with internal controls and external regulations.
• Monitor programme performance using KPIs, risk logs, and benefit realisation metrics.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders, sponsors, and delivery partners.
• Communicate programme progress, risks, and decisions clearly and effectively at all levels.
• Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate programme-level risks and issues.
• Ensure contingency plans are in place and escalations are managed appropriately.
• Develop and manage the programme budget, ensuring accurate forecasting, cost control, and value for money.
• Report financial performance and ensure alignment with funding and resource plans.
• Coordinate resource allocation across projects, resolving conflicts and optimising team performance.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and development of programme team members.
• Drive organisational change initiatives and ensure successful adoption of programme outcomes.
• Track and report on benefits realisation, ensuring alignment with business case objectives.
• Champion best practices in programme and project management.
• Conduct post-implementation reviews and embed lessons learned into future delivery.

• Proven experience delivering complex, multi-workstream programmesacross diverse functions.
• Strong knowledge ofprogramme and project management methodologies(e.g. MSP, PRINCE2, Agile).
• Demonstrated ability tolead cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams.
• Expertise in governance, risk management, and benefits realisation.
• Skilled in strategic planning and aligning programmes with organisational goals.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, including at executive level.
• Strong financial acumen, including budget management, forecasting, and cost control.
• Proficient in resource planning and capacity management across multiple projects.
• Experience managing organisational change and transformation initiatives.
• Ability toanalyse data and KPIsto drive performance and decision-making.
• Skilled inproblem-solving, decision-making, and managing ambiguity.
• Proficient inproject management tools(e.g. MS Project, Jira, Power BI, Smartsheet) – experience with Planview desirable but not essential
• Experience working withthird-party vendors and delivery partners.
• Knowledgeofcompliance, regulatory, and quality assurance standards.
• Committed to continuous improvement and embedding lessons learned into future delivery.

As part of our drive to make Culina Group a great place to work. We are proud to be an inclusive and diverse…