Principal Program Manager

Principal Programme Manager / 6 month freelance / EU travel

Please note: This position requires regular travel to the client offices to Paris & Brussels (expenses paid). Frequency likely 2 days every fortnight, but can be flexible.

YunoJuno has partnered with a renewable energy company who are hiring for a freelance Principal Program Manager for an upcoming 6 month contract.

They are seeking an experienced and hands-on Principal Programme Manager to take single-point accountability and full ownership of delivery across the implementation programme in Belgium. Reporting to the Client Delivery Director, this is a delivery leadership role for a practitioner who thrives in the detail — someone with a strong project and programme management toolkit, a structured approach to governance, and the drive to keep complex, multi-workstream programmes on track.

Key Responsibilities

Single accountable delivery lead — own end-to-end programme delivery across all eight implementation tracks, with ring-fenced capacity and formal decision rights.

Critical path governance — enforce weekly critical path steering with variance and dependency control across all active work packages, ensuring risks are identified and acted upon before impacting milestones.

Reporting & tracking — establish and maintain consistent programme reporting, with clear status tracking, milestone progress, and delivery metrics that give stakeholders an accurate and up-to-date picture of programme health.

Governance — ensure all programme communications follow the agreed governance structure, with clear decision rights and a rapid escalation path for time-critical issues.

RAIDD & dependency management — own the RAIDD log and actively manage cross-stream and Global Core dependencies, ensuring delivery-critical dates are visible, tracked, and protected.

Scope & change control — manage scope change requests formally, maintaining contractual alignment throughout and preventing scope creep from eroding the critical path.

Joint accountability — produce and sign off a joint delivery responsibility matrix with named accountable owners and agreed acceptance criteria across all programme layers.

Stakeholder management — act as primary company's counterpart to the senior programme leadership, maintaining trust through consistent delivery on commitments and proactive, honest communication.

Skills & Experience Required

Proven track record of leading complex, large-scale enterprise software implementations ideally within energy retail, utilities, or comparably regulated industries.

Demonstrated experience as a single accountable delivery lead on multi-workstream programmes, with formal authority and executive sponsorship.

Exceptional governance and controls capability — critical path analysis, RAIDD management, dependency tracking, change control, and formal escalation processes.

Ability to impose delivery rigour and urgency across teams without losing collaboration or momentum.

Experienced in client-vendor partnership models, managing senior stakeholders on both sides with credibility and candour.

Strong command of MSP/Jira/Confluence as planning and reporting tools; able to drive adoption and standardisation across diverse teams.

Proven ability to challenge and reset delivery estimates — replacing optimism bias with velocity-based, data-driven planning.

Comfortable operating under scrutiny, with experience preparing and presenting at senior governance forums.

Experience managing cross-geography programmes with stakeholders across multiple countries; cross-cultural awareness essential given the UK/Belgium/France context.

Familiarity with cloud-native SaaS platform implementations and energy retail processes (billing, market messaging, CRM, customer migrations) is strongly preferred.

French or Dutch language skills advantageous but not essential.

What You'll Be Joining

A high-profile client programme at the heart of the digital transformation, with real scope to make a tangible delivery impact from day one.

A multidisciplinary team spanning product, engineering, QA, migrations, and operations across the UK, Belgium, and France.

A collaborative environment with direct executive sponsorship and senior visibility across both organisations.

The opportunity to shape and professionalise the delivery model for future enterprise client implementations.

Success Measures

Programme milestones delivered on time and within agreed scope, in accordance with contractual commitments.

Weekly delivery reporting in place within four weeks, grounded in validated velocity and FTE data.

Consistent, accurate programme reporting in place and actively used by the team within the first month.

Joint delivery responsibility matrix signed off by both company and client leadership.

All critical path risks actively managed, with no unplanned surprises at governance forums.

Strong, trust-based relationships established and maintained with client senior programme counterparts.

Start date: ASAP

Duration: 6 month contract (likely to be extended)

Location: London, with travel to Paris and Brussels (must be OK to travel at least 2 days a fortnight). Hybrid set up.

Rate: Depending on experience