Senior Program Manager with Investment Management - London - 12 month FTC

12 month Fixed Term Contract - hybrid working - London- £160-180k + benefits

Leading Investment Manager in London is seeking a Senior Program Manager, with Investment Management to join their central change function. The successful applicant will drive delivery of mission-critical projects through from planning to post launch and transition, focusing on driving change to achieve our client’s ambitious growth targets. You will be expected to lead with an influential point of view and be versatile to take on a wide range of problem statements. Your scope will include various initiatives supporting Europe and Asia – inclusive of business, technology and organizational change efforts. You will ensure each initiative has clear outcomes, and is setup (e.g. resources, methodology, governance) optimally for success. You will successfully navigate a complex environment with project teams, business partners, leadership, external parties, and other stakeholders to deliver on our client’s business priorities.

Required Skills /Experience

1. You’ve had previous senior management experience in transformational change, with delivery of large scale operating model changes for other investment management firm/s
2. You have a Big 4 consulting background
3. You must have recent and long-term asset management experience
4. You thrive in staying abreast of the European and/or Asian asset management industry, and are familiar with how our peers operate
5. You are a transformational leader who engages and inspires others to achieve meaningful results.
6. You’ve had previous success with strategic and/or operational project delivery experience (business strategy, process improvement, change management, etc.), and have the ability to apply and lead flexible delivery models to execute the work.
7. You are a skilled communicator. You place a high value on being authentic, respectful and engaging. You’ve fine-tuned your communication style to influence a variety of personalities and senior stakeholders.
8. You are passionate about people development or have a proven track record in people development.
9. You are flexible and agile and thrive off working with people at all levels and across all functional areas.
10. When developing a vision, you consider long term impacts and make a personal commitment to exploring diverse perspectives and dissenting viewpoints.
11. You have recent (ideally current) experience with Change Activation as part of change strategy to drive sustainable change, including but not limited to: Marketing for change; Designing for change; Leveraging of go-to market customer enablement models.

The successful applicant can expect to be responsible for:

Change / Project Delivery

1. Develops and manages programs, or individual initiatives, of a highly complex nature with Director support; may lead programs/initiatives of high visibility across the firm with greater complexity. Independently shapes and implements multi-level governance structures for programs, usually including executive leadership.
2. Works with business sponsor and key stakeholders to surface and resolve meaningful topics at each level of governance. Coaches PM associates on how to surface and facilitate meaningful discussions.
3. Creatively pairs and blends methodologies and innovative ways of working into a seamless approach for the client/stakeholder.

Project / Team Leadership

1. Looks ahead and partners with key stakeholders to develop longer-term strategies and solutions.
2. Guides teams of stakeholders to resolve complex situations; may guide departments or business units through complex situations or areas of significant change.
3. Can lead and navigate teams and stakeholders through periods of high ambiguity and pressure providing a calm and focused presence.
4. Provides perspective to both key stakeholders and project teams on key topics that impact the team (e.g., issues, risks, etc.), leading with a point of-view
5. Focuses on building high performing cross- functional teams, working closely with partners across the LOBs to achieve.

Change Activation

1. Develops comprehensive change strategies for efforts under his/her purview.
2. Shapes the change strategy messages with stakeholder and executive sponsors on certain programs.
3. Oversees successful execution of the change strategy/plan.
4. Demonstrates the ability to plan and execute innovative methods needed as part of change strategy to drive sustainable change, including but not limited to: Marketing for change; Designing for change; Leveraging of go-to market customer enablement models.
5. Role models effective communication strategies with executive and program leadership to facilitate the discussions and decision-making to drive progress and adoption.

Influence and Stakeholder Management

1. Is viewed as a trusted partner by senior stakeholders and a sounding board to those individuals.
2. Influences senior stakeholders at the Director level and up across a broad range of topics (delivery approach, solution, business case, change management, resourcing, governance, etc.);
3. Influence executive stakeholders to implement best solution after considering all options.
4. Is viewed as the "go-to" person on the portfolio due to relationships built with stakeholders.

Resource and Value Management

1. Maximizes both change function and business resources to accomplish business goals.
2. Assesses initiative/program needs and knows what cross company resources to engage; leverages relationships to ensure to confirm prioritization and resource availability.
3. Can develop a strategy and approach to define and measure the value/benefit proposition of the change effort.

Business Knowledge

1. Demonstrates strong business knowledge within a business unit (i.e.., Investment Operations).
2. Demonstrates or builds ability to have strong business knowledge across multiple areas

Developing Talent

1. Demonstrates the ability to develop associates, assess talent and provide feedback to associates regardless of direct reporting relationship.
2. Can creatively deploy resources onto projects where they are best positioned to succeed, while also developing areas of skill that will position them for growth.
3. Capable of developing PMs and great delivery teams as a whole.

Portfolio Management

1. May have responsibility for an ongoing portfolio of work, aligned to a key business function or stakeholder.
2. May be partnered with business to plan, prioritize, and execute a body of work aligned to business goals and values. Can independently translate business strategies into actionable 3-5 year initiative/outcome plans.