Senior Project Manager, Programme Planning & Delivery

The Senior Project Manager, Programme Planning & Delivery is responsible for converting approved commercial and creative as well as operational objectives into integrated and executable delivery plans. This is a hands-on senior project-management role that leads complex projects from mobilisation and planning through procurement; readiness; live delivery; close-out and review. Acting as the central point of coordination, the role brings together internal teams; clients; commercial partners; consultants; agencies; venues and suppliers. The Senior Project Manager develops the overall programme structure while maintaining control of deliverables; dependencies; costs; risks; decisions and deadlines. The role drives workstreams to completion; challenges incomplete information; resolves coordination gaps and escalates decisions before they affect delivery.

• Programme Planning: Translate approved objectives into defined scopes and workstreams as well as deliverables; responsibilities and acceptance criteria. Develop and maintain an integrated programme plan across commercial; marketing; venue; operations; hospitality; production; procurement and other relevant workstreams. Establish the work breakdown structure; dependencies; critical path; milestones and key decision dates. Prepare realistic mobilisation; procurement; production; readiness; delivery and close-out schedules. Confirm that plans reflect available budgets; resources; approvals and delivery capacity. Identify missing information; assumptions and unresolved decisions that could affect delivery. Develop corrective and recovery plans when progress moves away from the approved baseline.
• Project Delivery: Lead assigned projects from mobilisation through execution; handover and close-out. Coordinate internal functions; clients; partners; consultants; agencies; venues and suppliers. Set clear actions; owners and deadlines across all workstreams. Monitor progress and follow up consistently until deliverables are complete. Maintain delivery quality and ensure outputs meet approved requirements. Support site mobilisation; testing; rehearsals; readiness and live operations. Lead project close-out; reconciliation; lessons learned and performance review.
• Scope; Schedule and Change Control: Establish and maintain the approved scope; schedule and delivery baseline. Control additions; exclusions and changes to project requirements. Assess the schedule; cost; commercial; resource and operational effects of proposed changes. Ensure approved changes are documented and incorporated into current plans. Prevent uncontrolled commitments from being made to clients; partners or suppliers. Maintain clear visibility of critical milestones; delays; dependencies and recovery actions.
• Budget and Commercial Delivery: Support project-budget development; forecasting; commitments and cash-flow planning. Monitor expenditure and identify potential overruns before costs are committed. Protect project contribution by controlling scope; avoidable costs; delays and variations. Ensure supplier scopes and project deliverables remain aligned with approved budgets. Incorporate contracted partner rights and commercial commitments into delivery plans. Track commercial fulfilment and escalate commitments at risk. Work closely with commercial and finance colleagues to support financially responsible delivery.
• Procurement and Supplier Management: Develop procurement requirements and schedules with relevant workstream owners. Support the preparation of scopes; supplier briefs; requests for proposals and evaluation criteria. Coordinate technical and commercial evaluations with appropriate specialists. Monitor supplier appointments; contracts; production; delivery; installation and close-out. Review supplier performance against scope; schedule; quality and budget. Identify long-lead requirements and procurement risks early. Ensure supplier variations and additional costs follow the approved process.
• Governance; Risk and Reporting: Establish project governance; reporting rhythms; decision rights and escalation routes. Maintain accurate risk; issue; action; decision; assumption; dependency and change records. Ensure material risks and issues have clear owners; actions and deadlines. Escalate decisions early with clear options; implications and recommendations. Chair project meetings; planning workshops; supplier reviews and readiness sessions. Prepare concise evidence-based reports covering progress; budget; risks; decisions and readiness. Ensure meeting activity results in decisions; actions and measurable progress.
• Stakeholder Management: Act as the principal day-to-day project-management contact for clients and key stakeholders. Establish clear expectations concerning scope; responsibilities; approvals and deadlines. Manage conflicting priorities across different workstreams and organisations. Communicate honestly when timing; budget; quality or delivery is at risk. Maintain professional relationships while protecting approved project requirements. Handle confidential commercial and project information with appropriate judgement.
• Readiness and Live Delivery: Establish the readiness framework and evidence required before delivery. Coordinate inspections; testing; commissioning; rehearsals and final approvals. Confirm that people; suppliers; venues; systems and operating plans are ready. Maintain contingency and recovery plans for critical delivery risks. Support operational coordination; issue escalation and reporting during live activity. Ensure incidents; changes and decisions are properly documented and closed.

• Creates structure and direction when information is incomplete while supporting complete and effective project mobilisation.
• Manages both programme-level priorities and detailed delivery requirements while driving achievement of approved milestones.
• Takes ownership of problems and drives risks; issues; actions and decisions through to resolution and closure.
• Challenges unrealistic assumptions; deadlines and commitments while protecting schedule and critical-path performance.
• Maintains strong control of scope; schedule; budget; risk and project variations while protecting project contribution.
• Communicates clearly and confidently with clients; leadership teams and delivery stakeholders while driving agreed commitments through to delivery.
• Remains calm and decisive in high-pressure delivery environments while maintaining a strong focus on operational readiness.
• Operates effectively within lean delivery structures while maintaining oversight of procurement; supplier appointments and delivery commitments.
• Moves confidently between programme planning; supplier coordination and on-site delivery while maintaining delivery quality and stakeholder confidence.
• Brings strong delivery discipline while maintaining practical reporting; project close-out and lessons learned.
• Delivers measurable project outcomes against agreed milestones; budgets; risks; readiness and stakeholder commitments.
• Maintains a strong focus on delivery quality and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Maintains high standards of project close-out and lessons learned.

• Approximately 8 to12 years of progressive project-management experience.
• Proven experience personally managing complex projects from planning through delivery and close-out.
• Experience managing projects of significant scale within complex budget or multi-stakeholder environments.
• Proven responsibility for scope; schedule; cost; risk; procurement and supplier management.
• Experience managing live; venue-based or deadline-critical delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and resolve significant delivery challenges.
• Proven track record of successful project delivery with measurable outcomes.
• Strong programme-planning capability with experience in critical-path and dependency management.
• Strong commercial awareness with experience managing budgets; forecasts and supplier costs.
• Excellent facilitation; negotiation; problem-solving and written communication skills.
• Strong working knowledge of project-management; scheduling and collaboration platforms.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience or a relevant project-management qualification.
• PMP; PRINCE2; APM or comparable certification is advantageous but not essential.

This role provides the opportunity to progress into broader programme and project leadership through increasing responsibility across complex sports and major-event programmes.

Join XPRTX to lead complex sports and major-event projects across internationally influenced and multi-stakeholder delivery environments. The role offers direct responsibility from programme planning through live delivery and close-out.