Principal Delivery Manager

The Home, United Kingdom

11/19/2024

When you join Kainos, you get to think beyond limitations to make an immediate and positive impact – like transforming digital services for millions of citizens or helping Fortune 500 companies get live and thrive on Workday.

You’ll be part of a people-first culture that is growing around the world. We’re a creative, committed, and diverse group of individuals who succeed as a team.

At Kainos your ideas are heard and valued and you’ll leave a legacy that you can feel proud of. Join us and discover how our people write our story.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE BUSINESS:

As a Delivery Director (Principal) at Kainos, you will be accountable for leading the delivery capability for the Sector/Region in the Digital Services/Workday business unit, working closely with delivery managers to ensure successful and efficient delivery of multiple engagements across an account portfolio. You will empower and support Kainos teams to perform well, learn and grow in a manner that is consistent with Kainos company values. You will strengthen and ensure successful delivery across engagements that will benefit us in winning new business with existing customers. Owns a sector view of demand for people and works with BU Operations to manage our delivery capability. You will have oversight and support Customer Success, investing in client relationships from a delivery perspective as a trusted advisor to address business problems through digital delivery. As this is a senior management role, you will also be expected to take on additional management responsibilities for Kainos as required.

You Will Be Responsible For

• Leading & championing a team – you will lead, motivate and empower teams within your capability to create a positive and creative culture for our people to perform well, learn and grow:
• Put people first & develop others – You’ll manage, coach and develop a small number of senior staff, with a focus on managing employee performance
• Ensure all team members have clear goals, receive regular feedback and have timely and constructive appraisals.
• Have accountability for staffing and on-boarding of new team members.
• Act as the escalation point for issues relating to an individual, team or project.
• Build and maintain constructive and collaborative relationships with the client, other suppliers and third-party stakeholders.
• Providing delivery leadership - Understand critical success factors and anticipate industry trends for the clients and projects (beyond the traditional measures: on time, on budget and to agreed scope) and ensure each work stream has a plan in place to achieve the success factors.
• Delivering commercially viable services – you will be responsible for achieving or exceeding profitability targets plus accurate and timely forecasting and reporting of project variables (revenue, staffing, work in progress, debt etc.). You will understand the contracts and commercial terms applying to our projects and ensure that Kainos is not compromised by non-compliance.
• Nurturing our customer base – You will understand industry trends and anticipate customer needs. You will manage relationships with our customers and looking for opportunities to add value to the client, increasing the ROI that clients achieve with, ensuring that expectations are proactively managed, and issues are addressed promptly and appropriately. You will create, influence and negotiate strategies for the longer-term benefit of our customers.
• Understand current thinking from the Technology, Experience Design and Consulting capabilities and drive alignment accordingly.
• Encourage innovation in technology and process both within the project and outside the project.
• Proactively assist with recruitment activities to enable stable organisational growth
• Being a point of escalation – Your expertise will be leveraged to help respond to customer needs with precision and efficiency
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement – you will be responsible for leading and implementing process efficiencies to the benefit of our customers, encouraging innovation in technology and process
• You will also sponsor initiatives within your capability or wider BU. Understand current thinking from the Technology, Experience Design and Consulting capabilities and drive alignment accordingly.
• Proactively assist with recruitment activities to enable stable organisational growth
• Provide assurance and governance – you will ensure appropriate project governance arrangements and technical quality standards are developed Work with the Kainos assurance function to perform/support health checks, risk assessments and any required follow-up activity.
• Comply, and ensures team members comply, with all confidentiality and non-disclosure policies and agreements and ensure the security of information, at alltimes. You will ensure appropriate project governance arrangements and technical quality standards are developed and followed throughout the customer lifecycle. You will effectively manage project risks and issues, escalating where appropriate
• Developing Kainos as a business - Support future growth by working closely with Regional Sales Directors, Account Executives, Customer Success Managers, assisting where required with the sales/procurement cycle to best position Kainos to win profitable new business. You will promote successes Kainos-wide, to our customers and to the market, through case studies, award submissions, blogs, tweets etc
• Being a role model - You’ll support your colleagues and reconcile the needs of the individual with the needs of the team or Workday whilst embodying the Kainos values. You’ll be the person people look up to – people trust your decisions because they are transparent and justified.
• Putting people first & developing others – You’ll manage, coach and develop a small number of staff, with a focus on managing employee performance and assisting in their career development.
  
  

Workday Minimum (essential) Requirements

• Good/Excellent verbal and written communications skills, with the ability to simply and clearly communicate technical solutions and benefits to a non-technical audience.
• Excellent prioritisation and time management skills, with the ability to work across a number of major projects simultaneously.
• Excellent customer focus, able to build open and trusted client relationships assess customer needs and manage and challenge customer expectations. You will be able to intervene effectively and resolve customer escalations appropriately
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives within the Management and Leadership Capability.
• Experience of delivering to blue-chip companies and ability to communicate effectively at all levels within a client organisation (including C level)
• Understand current thinking from the Technology, Experience Design and Consulting capabilities and drive alignment accordingly.
• Encourage innovation in technology and process both within the project and outside the project.
• Proactively assist with recruitment activities to enable stable organisational growth. Flexible (including willingness for short term travel or not regular working hours). Long term travel may be required but is voluntary and not mandatory.
• Experience of delivering risk-based testing solutions and capabilities
  
  

Desirable

• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrable success managing the delivering of technology-based projects to blue-chip companies.
• Substantial experience in managing and leading project teams including line management responsibility.
• Evidence of developing and managing sound client & partner relationships and good knowledge of at least one industry vertical (e.g. Financial Services, Higher Education or HCM).
• Awareness of the Workday eco-system and a sound understanding of how HCM, FINs, Payroll business practices are evolving.
• Experience of adhering to robust project governance and technical quality standards.
• Experience of project delivery aimed at providing a high return on investment for Kainos products and services.
• Evidence of innovating or leading initiatives to improve management and leadership practices within a team or an organisation.
• Proven ability to manage, motivate and empower teams and lead by example.
• Strong commercial awareness and sound understanding of project dynamics.
• Excellent team player capable of delivering results in less than perfect circumstances.
• Have a natural willingness to share information freely.
• Highly flexible (including willingness to work away from home base).
  
  

People Management

Your role will involve managing people and your responsibilities will include:

• Agreeing, setting and reviewing your and your team’s goals aligned to Kainos, Workday BU and your Capability
• Accountable for creating a talent pipeline within the capability or wider Workday.
• Providing support so that your and your team’s goals can be achieved
• Reviewing and refining goals for relevance and to keep performance on track
• Reviewing performance against goals and provide feedback
• Conducting 1:1 monthly and/or project completion feedback meetings
• Requesting and providing regular feedback in Workday
• Completing End of Year reviews and agreeing the outcomes for the year
• Identifying training to support your and your team’s development
• Pursuing and supporting your and your team members’ career paths and progression
• Reviewing weekly workload forecasting (staff allocations and timesheet checks) and utilisation
• Actively being involved in recruitment/interviews
  
  

Digital Services Minimum (essential) Requirements

• Minimum of 4 years of demonstrable success managing the delivery of technology-based projects using agile methodology.
• Substantial experience in managing and leading project teams including line management responsibility.
• Evidence of developing and managing sound client-supplier relationships and good knowledge of at least one industry vertical (e.g. Financial Services, Health or Government).
• Broad technology experience, awareness of current technology trends and a solid understanding of contemporary software engineering practices and behaviours.
• Evidence of taking responsibility for contract and commercial terms on projects.
• Experience of adhering to robust project governance and technical quality standards.
• Strong ability to make reasoned decisions under pressure taking a balanced view of client demands, Kainos commercial interests and the impact on the Kainos team.
• Proven ability to manage, motivate and empower teams and lead by example.
• Strong commercial awareness and sound understanding of project dynamics, particularly in a multi-supplier environment.
• Affable, credible and can communicate effectively with clients and colleagues, including formal presentations.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and strong negotiating prowess.
• Excellent team player capable of delivering results in less than perfect circumstances.
• Have a natural willingness to share information freely.
• Mature, firm but non-confrontational style.
• Highly flexible (including a willingness to work away from home base).
• A positive attitude to overcoming the challenges facing our clients.
• Have the vision and drive to experiment and deliver ‘firsts’.
• We are passionate about developing people – a demonstrated ability in managing, coaching and developing senior members of your team and wider community.
  
  

Digital Services Desirable

• Experience of project delivery aimed at digital transformation.
• Experience of managing large-scale agile projects involving distributed teams in a multi-supplier environment.
• Experience of user research, analytics and design disciplines and their contribution to the effective delivery of digital services and platforms.
• Evidence of securing significant follow-on business with an existing client.
• Evidence of innovating or leading initiatives to improve management and leadership practices within an organisation.
• Evidence of thought leadership in the public domain.
• Holds a current and recognised Project or Programme Management certification.
  
  

So what are you waiting for? Let’s write the next incredible chapter of our story together.

Embracing our differences  

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive.   We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are.   We also believe every candidate deserves a level playing field. Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way, so if you require any accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out. We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.