Senior Delivery Manager

Job Location:

Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department:
Strategic Delivery

Closing Date: 7 January 2026

Weekly

Working Hours:

37

Contract Type:
Permanent

Fixed Term

Contract:

End Date:
Not Applicable

Welsh Language:
Not Applicable

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to You Tube by clicking this link).

This role of Senior Delivery Manager sits within the Strategic Delivery Team which provides the university with the capability to deliver high priority, cross unit/faculty and strategic change.

The role holder will work in multi-disciplinary/matrix teams requiring collaboration across the team and with key stakeholders from across the University.

As a Senior Delivery Manager, you will:

• Understand when and how to employ Agile and other Delivery Management techniques – as well as team health and happiness to get the best result.
• Coach team members, and influence stakeholders in Delivery Management techniques.
• Monitor, facilitate and communicate effective delivery progress
• Remove blockers to successful delivery, by actively addressing risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Continually improve delivery methods and approaches to team working
• Collaborate with stakeholders and team members to ensure we don’t just deliver efficiently – but also achieve valuable outcomes.
• Be an active member of the Delivery, Change and Project community
• Work with stakeholders to plan the required resource for changes and lead the building of investment cases as appropriate.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate :

• Proven knowledge and experience of Delivery Management using a range of techniques (for example Agile, APM).
• Experience of delivering complex and high impact changes in academic environments with senior stakeholders.
• Proven experience balancing multiple priorities for complex and high visibility services and products.
• Strong people, communication and negotiation skills and a proven ability to influence stakeholders, third party partners and customers. Including the ability to push back, challenge and escalate as appropriate.
• Experience of working in high performance, highly skilled multidisciplinary/matrix teams (large and small) delivering a specific product, service or transformation.
• Skilled at building trust, managing team dynamics and motivating people - applying a servant leader mindset.

Ideally, the successful candidate will also demonstrate:

• Knowledge of the application of coaching and mentoring techniques.
• Experience of managing project budgets and costing business cases.
• Experience of working with procurement , and supplier management.
• An understanding of how to work in collaboration with colleagues across the institution (professional units and faculties) and the ability to show consideration towards competing demands and pressures.
• Demonstrate a high-level understanding of the university’s key processes and patterns (e.g. our presentation pattern, curriculum production, tutor student allocation etc.)

Essential personal abilities and qualities:

• Communication: Communicates effectively with a variety of audiences online and face to face as appropriate; negotiates well and appropriately manages conflict.
• Initiative and problem solving: Uses initiative to identify and solve problems proactively; uses good judgment to refer issues upwards as necessary and identifies and manages risk.
• Planning and Organising: Plans, schedules, prioritises and allocates work effectively and delivers to multiple deadlines.
• Budgets: Experienced in working within budget parameters and understanding of estimating / budget setting.
• Teamwork:
  Is respectful and polite towards others, builds productive working relationships and works collaboratively across organisational boundaries towards common goals.
• Working under pressure: Remains effective and positive even when under pressure.
• Ability to learn: Understands and adapts to…