Senior Project Manager (RR-00290)

Senior Project Manager – 12 MONTH CONTRACT

Are you interested in joining a team that is responsible for the successful delivery of business, operating model and technology change projects within the FCA’s Change portfolio?

About The FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our five-year strategy can be found here.

The team/ department

Our Change Directorate is at the forefront of our ambition to transform the FCA into a data-led regulator, and our work enables the FCA to effectively regulate some of the UK’s most complex financial markets.

Within the Change Directorate we have the Enforcement & Market Oversight (EMO), Sustainable Finance & International (ESFI) Change Department. We are responsible for the delivery of change to help shape and deliver divisional strategies to meet prioritised policy, regulatory and operational outcomes. We combine business and technical architecture, relationship management, portfolio, project and programme management, business change and business analysis expertise.

About This Role

This Project Manager role supports the EMO division, who are responsible for primary and secondary market monitoring (including the functions of the UK Listing Authority) and the investigation and prosecution of misconduct. It provides an exciting opportunity for an experienced Project Manager to deliver the Market Data Processor (MDP) project.

MDP is an externally managed platform that collects MiFID II / MAR data from Market Participants, validates the data, supports data management, and routes the data into the FCA MMR systems. The data is used to supervise financial markets, primarily for the detection of market abuse, market manipulation and breeches of commodity derivatives position limits.

The project will deliver the build of this currently outsourced system in-house, managing the creation of the infrastructure and environments, implementation of validation rules and data migration. The in-house build will create cost savings, as well as a single vendor managing all aspects of the market data platform (processing, collection, reporting) and introducing efficiencies across services.

What you will be doing?

The role of the Senior Project Manager is to lead / manage the project and the project team on a day-to-day basis. The Senior Project Manager is responsible for driving and overseeing the delivery of the project to ensure that the objectives are clearly defined and achieved within the agreed time, cost and quality constraints. The Senior Project Manager has a key role in project governance and working with stakeholders, to ensure the agreed project outputs are delivered to enable benefits to be realised.

Key Responsibilities

• Creates and leads medium complexity projects to deliver the agreed outcomes within time, cost and quality constraints.
• Provides effective leadership and management controls. Designs the project structure and organisation. Selects and applies appropriate delivery methodology in accordance with the Change Delivery handbook. Manages effective transition between project phases.
• Develops the investment case with input from specialists as necessary. Ensures the project objectives and outcomes are understood and accomplished.
• Ensures a comprehensive budget is prepared, reflecting the plan and all resource needs. Tracks delivery within budget.
• Identifies skill requirements and manages resources to deliver the project in an integrated team.
• Ensures benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked and owned. Ensures appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place and monitors longer term delivery of benefits against the Investment Case. Delivers the agreed business case benefits and outcomes.
• Identifies key stakeholders and develops effective relationships from different areas of the business, product groups and suppliers. Identifies the need for senior level support.
• Identifies and monitors project risks and issues. Develops mitigating actions and contingency plans and escalates as appropriate. Identifies and works with related projects to manage interdependencies.
• Establishes project governance arrangements and is responsible to the project board for delivery.
• Engages with assurance reviews and supports actions on recommendations. Organises the assurance processes including stage gate reviews and project health-checks
• Ensure effective Change Management processes are in place to agree and documents changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders.
• Provides support, guidance and coaching for the project team and PM community and seeks appropriate support, guidance and coaching. Shows commitment to personal development. Promotes effective individual and team performance.
• Cascade the vision and translates into delivery objectives for the team. Owns and builds the Project Plan in sufficient detail to ensure integration of all activities. Identifies and manages inter-dependencies. Understands and articulates the critical path and key milestones. Applies appropriate project principles to deliver stated objectives. Tracks and reports delivery to project sponsors.
• Ensures suppliers are managed and manages service readiness and transition activities.
  
  

Personal attributes

• Team Leadership & Empowerment – Inspires and motivates team members by fostering a collaborative environment, encouraging ownership, and supporting professional growth.
• Strategic Vision & Direction – Provides a clear and compelling vision for the team, aligning project goals with broader organisational objectives and ensuring consistent strategic focus.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Influence – Builds strong, trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders and colleagues at all levels. Skilled in managing expectations, navigating complex dynamics, and using influence and negotiation to drive alignment and support
• Project Management Expertise – Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of core project management methodologies, tools, and best practices to ensure structured and efficient delivery.
• Effective Communication – Communicates clearly and proactively, actively listens, and ensures timely, transparent updates to all stakeholders. Tailors messaging to suit diverse audiences and contexts.
• Results-Oriented & Resilient – Proven ability to manage complexity, drive progress, and deliver results under pressure. Maintains focus and adaptability in the face of challenges.
• Political Acumen & Conflict Management – Navigates organisational politics with tact and professionalism. Balances competing priorities and personalities, demonstrating resilience and diplomacy to resolve conflicts and maintain momentum.
  
  

Qualifications

• Desirable – APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) or similar
  
  

Technical Competencies

• Commercial and procurement skills – ability to work with commercial colleagues to ensure goods and services are procured and performance is monitored against contract.
• Requirements management – ability to capture stakeholder needs in the creation of requirements
• Solutions development – analytical, troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in the development of options and selection of the optimal solution.
• Planning – ability to define scope, deliverables, timescales, resource requirements, incorporating risks and inter-dependencies
• Scheduling – ability to develop and maintain a schedule of activities taking account of risks, dependencies and constraints to realise benefits
• Resource management – ability to identify, profile and secure resources required
• Budgeting and Cost Management – ability to estimate costs, control forecasts and monitor spend against budget
• Risk and Issue Management – ability to identify and monitor risks and issues, plan how to mitigate and implement the response
• Quality management – ability to maintain and apply quality management processed
• Business change and implementation – ability to integrate project outputs into BAU, leading people through structural, procedural and cultural change, gaining commitment to new ways of working.
• Governance – ability to define roles and responsibilities, establish controls, approval routes, and ensure compliance with corporate standards
• Frameworks and methodologies – ability to identify appropriate project frameworks
• Stakeholder engagement – ability to identify, analyse and communicate with stakeholders, build working relationships with sponsors, accountable executives, key business stakeholders and business SMEs
• Assurance – ability to establish, plan and manage reviews at appropriate points during all stages of the project lifecycle
• Change Control – ability to establish protocols for managing changes to projects
• Business case development – ability to prepare business cases to justify the initiation and continuation of a project in terms of benefits, VFM and risks.
• Benefits management – ability to identify, analyse and track project benefits to ensure realisation of benefits
• Knowledge management – ability to identify, share and promote best practice and lessons learned.
  
  

Desirable Experience Relevant To This Role

• Delivery within Financial Services or a government or regulatory body
• Strong understanding of data collection systems, databases, and integration processes across multiple organisations.
• Delivery of large scale technical change projects.