Principal Delivery Manager

Role: Principal Delivery Manager

Type: Full time, permanent

Location: Manchester or London

WoW: Hybrid, 1 to 2 days per week in the office.

All applications will be reviewed W/C 8th and W/C 15th December 2025.

About us

We're Transform.

Transform is a fresh alternative to Big Consulting. As an end-to-end transformation partner, we define, design, build and operate systems that solve our clients' toughest challenges and seize their biggest opportunities. That often means combining strategy, data, AI, technology, and change management. Sometimes we manage and operate the systems we create; other times, we hand it over for the client to run – standing by to make improvements when things change. It all comes down to making an impact: improving lives, supporting citizens, streamlining workflows, and making the world a better place. We specialise in public sector and public-facing organisations—from government agencies and local authorities to energy, utilities, transportation and healthcare. We also work for some of the world's most dynamic brands across automotive, retail, financial services, and consumer goods.

In 2024, Transform acquired Cadence Innova, the UK's leading public sector change consultancy. The result is a fresh kind of partner: together, we're able to deliver change from the very first ideas through to deployment—building on our deep relationships at every level of government.

We're part of the Next 15 group, a multi-national organisation spanning over 25 brands. We combine the financial robustness and breadth of services of a large organisation, with the nimbleness and innovation of a smaller brand.

If you are keen to help us build the workforce of the future, we should talk.

We're all in! That's what gets us out of bed every day. We hope you feel the same.

Principal Delivery Manager

We're looking for a Principal Delivery Manager to join our Product and Delivery team.

As a Principal Delivery Manager, you will set the standard for our DM community, providing leadership, guidance, and support to more junior colleagues. You'll work across a wide range of projects in both the public and private sectors, helping organisations deliver better outcomes for their customers, clients, and stakeholders.

You'll have proven experience leading teams (including other Delivery Managers) and driving improvements in delivery. You'll be confident "speaking digital" with both specialists and non-specialists, enjoy tackling complex challenges, and be comfortable contributing to business development activities such as tenders and pitches.

Key Responsibilities:

Expert DM Practitioner

• Lead key and complex pieces of work across multiple sectors
• Understand the impact of organisational culture and be able to support clients with positive change
• Be able to lead engagements of all sizes successfully including large programmes
• Provide thought leadership within Transform's DM community, fostering an open culture of knowledge-sharing and best practice.
• Bring your own ideas, perspectives, and recommendations, drawing on both professional and personal experience
• Lead clients in applying best practice, demonstrate account leadership, and ensure quality throughout delivery engagements
• Demonstrate detailed understanding of delivery methodologies and approaches and particularly how to apply to the specific context of an engagement

Practice Leadership

• Role-model the behaviours and attitudes expected across the practice
• Support the development of the Delivery Management practice's processes and toolkits
• Provide line management for the Senior Delivery Managers, supporting their growth and development
• Play a key role in DM recruitment, helping attract and assess top talent
• Maintain a growth mindset, championing new practices and innovations to keep Transform ahead of the curve
• Contribute to wider business growth through capability and community development, knowledge-sharing, well-being initiatives, proposal development, and brand visibility

Key Skills/Experiences:

• Proven track record leading teams to improve how organisations deliver for their stakeholders
• Experience in team growth activities, including recruitment
• Demonstrable experience in coaching senior stakeholders through complex challenges and organisational change
• Experience of leading teams through the full product life-cycle with multi-disciplinary teams
• Skilled in Agile methods, including continuous improvement and continuous delivery methods
• Demonstrable experience in implementing Agile across organisations
• Experience delivering great outcomes in complex sectors at scale such as the public sector or utilities
• Skilled in thinking strategically about problems at scale with stakeholders and in the detail with delivery teams
• Experience developing and mentoring team members including more junior delivery managers
• Experience working with research, design, technical and data teams - helping set priorities, make key technical choices and identify risks
• Experience of contributing to wider business growth initiatives and success, both as part of a team and individually

Desirable:

• Mastery of Government methods such as GDS and Digital-by-Default Service Standards

Our culture is built on:

• Being one team; looking out for each other as a team
• The world never stops changing and we'll never stop learning
• Infinity & Beyond; we're crazy ambitious, not afraid to fail along the way (it's just falling with style)
• Integrity is everything; we're honest with each other and with our clients
• Diversity is our superpower; everyone's story is different, and we celebrate differences
• We're all in; we take on tough, complex challenges with lots of moving parts and we're committed to the work, our clients and each other

Our benefits include:

• Holiday entitlement, 28 days with the option to buy/sell up to 5 days
• Day off (on or in the week of) your birthday
• Pension eligibility, up to 5% matched contributions
• Private healthcare
• Life assurance
• Enhanced maternity and enhanced paternity and shared parental leave
• Cycle to work & electric car schemes
• Gym & retail discounts
• Regular social events/activities
• A range of other benefits from our flexible benefits package

At Transform we believe in a culture of inclusivity, we celebrate difference and believe that diversity makes our business more relevant, our work more meaningful and our people more empowered. We're committed to equality of opportunity for all, and we actively seek applications from all ethnicities, orientations, beliefs, gender identities + those with neurodiverse traits and disabilities. We want you to have the best opportunity to show us who you are and what you can do. Please do let us know if you need any adjustments now or at any point in the recruitment process.

If this sounds like you, please get in touch to discuss in more detail.

Use of AI in CV and Interviews

Whilst we are a technology company and promote using AI the right and ethical way, we value authenticity and transparency in our hiring process. To ensure fairness and accuracy in assessing your skills and experience, we kindly request that you refrain from using AI-assisted tools to generate answers during interviews or enhancing your CV.

We are looking for genuine insights into your abilities, experiences, and personality. Any misrepresentation through AI-generated content may impact our ability to make an informed decision. We look forward to getting to know the real you!