Principal Consultant – Project and Programme Delivery (Data and AI)

About the job

As part of the Transform Together Consulting team you will lead impactful change primarily in the area of Data and AI by partnering with industry-leading companies to shape strategy and drive operational excellence.

You will be working across organisational levels, depending on your comfort and experience, from SMEs to the C-Suite to help provide structure, knowledge, and insight into the best methods to deliver their transformation agenda.

This typically involves taking a business objective from discovery through to adoption into BAU, utilising a combination of agile and traditional project and change management techniques. You will get real responsibility and accountability from the outset - you tell us how far you want to go; it's our job to get you there!

About Transform Together

Our mission is to enable people to live and work to their greatest potential. We are a consultancy full of business and technology transformation specialists who share the same values, attitude and work ethic. We believe that we do our best work with clients when we collaborate, feel truly valued and put happiness at the forefront of our operating model.

At Transform Together, we help clients define, design, assess and deliver their transformation initiatives. But make no mistake, delivery and measurability are at the forefront of our consulting model. Our fresh, innovative viewpoint and delivery discipline create a competitive advantage, which is evident in our growth rate; we have maintained a triple-digit growth rate year-on-year.

We are a delivery and team-oriented firm looking for like-minded individuals who have a passion for value creation. In return, you will be rewarded in ways that other consultancies don’t: all-inclusive weekends away to the world’s best cities, a fantastic array of benefits and most importantly, you’ll always be treated with respect.

About You

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years’ consulting experience, with evidence of operating in complex client environments and taking accountability for delivery outcomes.
• Minimum of 4 years’ Financial Services experience, ideally across Wealth, Asset Management, Investments and/or Insurance.
• Minimum of 7 years’ total professional experience.
• Strong programme and project delivery experience, with the ability to take complex transformation initiatives from mobilisation and discovery through design, build, testing, implementation and transition into BAU.
• Experience mobilising programmes from the ground up, establishing the delivery structure, governance, roles, ways of working, reporting and controls required to move quickly from strategy into execution.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery, including establishing delivery teams, sprint structures, backlogs, refinement, Definition of Ready/Done, ceremonies, release planning and appropriate delivery metrics.
• Ability to operate across Agile, Waterfall and hybrid delivery environments, selecting the appropriate approach rather than applying methodology for methodology’s sake.
• Experience creating and managing integrated programme roadmaps and Plans on a Page (POAPs), translating strategic objectives into clear workstreams, milestones, dependencies, critical paths and measurable outcomes.
• Strong planning capability, including integrated programme plans, dependency mapping, sequencing, resource planning, RAID management and delivery forecasting.
• Proven ability to organise, motivate and drive multidisciplinary teams, creating clarity around what needs to happen, who owns it and when it needs to be delivered.
• Comfortable taking accountability for delivery performance, identifying where teams are blocked or falling behind and actively intervening to get delivery back on track.
• Experience establishing effective programme governance, including SteerCos, programme forums, design authorities, delivery governance and executive reporting.
• Experience managing senior stakeholders from SMEs and technical leads through to ExCo/C-suite, providing clear and concise communication around progress, decisions, risks and required interventions.
• Strong experience working across business and technology teams, translating business outcomes into executable technology roadmaps and ensuring technical delivery remains aligned to the underlying business objective.
• Experience delivering data-led transformation programmes, with sufficient technical understanding to confidently manage programmes involving modern data platforms, data architecture, data quality, governance, migration, integration and reporting.
• Working knowledge of modern technology architectures, including cloud infrastructure, microservices, APIs, integration patterns, data pipelines and platform architectures. You do not need to be the architect, but you must understand the implications for delivery, sequencing, dependencies and risk.
• Experience managing complex data and/or platform migrations, including source-to-target dependencies, data readiness, reconciliation, testing, cutover, parallel running and transition into production.
• Strong understanding of technology delivery lifecycles, including environments, architecture decisions, engineering dependencies, testing, release management, cutover and production readiness.
• Ability to establish meaningful programme KPIs and management information covering delivery performance, team health, milestones, risks, dependencies, financials and benefits.
• Excellent communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to simplify complex technology programmes for senior business audiences.
• A natural collaborative leadership style with the confidence to challenge constructively, make decisions and create momentum across difficult or highly dependent stakeholder groups.
• A proactive, outcome-focused approach with high quality standards and the ability to operate effectively within an entrepreneurial consulting environment.

Data & AI Expectations

• Data and AI are increasingly central to the programmes we deliver, and we expect our Principal Consultants to be comfortable operating in this environment.
• An understanding of AI is increasingly native to how we operate as a business, rather than being treated as a standalone specialism.
• You should understand the fundamentals of Generative AI, agentic AI, machine learning and AI-enabled automation sufficiently to manage programmes where these capabilities form part of the solution.
• Experience delivering AI, automation or data-enabled transformation is highly desirable, including understanding the additional considerations around data, governance, testing, adoption and benefits realisation.
• Comfortable using AI tooling personally to accelerate programme delivery, analysis, reporting and decision-making, while applying appropriate judgement and validation to outputs.
• Able to identify where AI can improve both the client solution and the way the programme itself is delivered.
• Experience working with technical specialists across data engineering, architecture, cloud, software engineering, analytics and AI, while maintaining ownership of the overall programme outcome.

Benefits and Perks

• Highly competitive base salary and industry leading bonus scheme
• Shareholding in Transform Together (opportunity to be part of a growing scale-up boutique consultancy)
• Training opportunities and incentives - improving yourself through experience and knowledge is one of Transform Together's top priorities
• Life Assurance (4 x annual salary)
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private Health Care with a leading provider
• Transform Together on Tour (See our LinkedIn)
• Quarterly Socials and more

Requirements added by the job poster

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK. All offers of employment are conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment right to work check .