Senior Project Manager

We are looking for a Senior Project Manager to lead a multi-year global program implementing Workday timekeeping capabilities across a large, multi-country footprint. This role will drive end-to-end country deployments—localising a global design, coordinating cross-functional delivery, and ensuring consistent execution across rollout waves.

The Senior Project Manager will initially support the rollout in the pilot country reporting into the Program Manager. Following pilot completion, the role will assume overall responsibility for delivery across all remaining country waves. This position requires at least 10 years of proven global program execution skills, strong governance and planning discipline, and the ability to lead across senior business and technology stakeholders, including external implementation partners.

Key ResponsibilitiesEnd-to-End Country Deployment Leadership

• Lead end-to-end deployment for each country/wave: planning, localization of the global template, build coordination, testing, cutover, go-live, and post go-live hypercare.
• Drive consistent execution across a wave-based global rollout model, ensuring all entities in each country transition together.
• Coordinate and align cross-functional stakeholders across Operations, HR, Payroll, IT, and Finance to deliver outcomes on schedule and with quality.

Integrated Planning, Schedule, and Dependency Management

• Own the integrated master schedule and detailed project plans across workstreams, countries, and waves.
• Identify and manage cross-workstream dependencies; proactively remove blockers and escalate issues to maintain delivery momentum.
• Establish and enforce stage-gate readiness criteria, including clear entry/exit criteria for key milestones.

Governance, RAID, and Executive Communication

• Own and maintain RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies), ensuring risks are actively mitigated and decisions are made at the right level with the right timing.
• Prepare consolidated program status reporting (progress, risks, milestones, financials, decisions needed) for senior leadership.
• Run program governance cadence, including:
• Weekly workstream governance
• Cross-workstream integration forums
• Steering committee meetings
• Coordinate go/no-go governance and readiness reviews for each deployment.

Financial, Scope, and Delivery Control

• Track program financials and spend vs plan; maintain forecasting and variance analysis to support program decisions.
• Manage scope and change control, ensuring impacts to time, cost, and quality are sized and approved through governance.
• Support business case and benefits tracking, including operational efficiency and labor-related benefits (e.g., overtime reduction, reduced manual administration effort).

Implementation Partner Management

• Manage external implementation partners and contractors, ensuring delivery commitments, timelines, quality, and interdependencies are met.
• Coordinate partner change requests and commercial processes in collaboration with procurement and internal stakeholders.
• Drive issue resolution, escalation management, and deliverable acceptance to ensure predictable outcomes.

Functional and Technical Delivery Oversight (Timekeeping + Payroll Interfaces)

• Coordinate delivery across business and technology workstreams for Workday Time Tracking, Absence/Time Off, and time clocks/devices.
• Ensure payroll interfaces are delivered per country and are aligned with broader payroll strategy and related enterprise programs.
• Partner closely with HR/Operations to ensure process adoption, controls, and operational readiness.

Post Go-Live Governance (Through Program Completion)

• Lead post-go-live governance for deployed countries, including oversight of configuration change requests to maintain alignment to global standards.
• Stabilize deployments and coordinate transition planning toward a future global support/CoE operating model.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Management, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience, leading large global programs with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated success leading global, cross-functional technology deployment programs in complex enterprise environments.
• Strong project management capability: integrated planning, RAID, stage-gate governance, executive reporting, and decision facilitation.
• Experience influencing and driving accountability across senior stakeholders (including director-level leaders) without direct reporting lines.
• Experience managing external implementation partners/consulting organizations and coordinating change control with procurement.
• Excellent English communication skills (verbal and written), including comfort presenting to executive audiences.

Role is an initial 6 month contract, fully remote (must be based in the UK) and £Neg per day.

Please send me your CV for an immediate review.