Operations Transformation Project Manager

Exciting opportunity to join a world class banking environment on a substantial Operations Transformation programme as a Project Manager contractor, initial 12 months. Send your CV for more info

Role Purpose

We are seeking an experienced Project Manager to provide maternity cover for a critical Operations Transformation role supporting a large-scale banking platform migration programme across four countries.

The role will lead operational readiness, delivery planning, dependency management, governance, risk assessment, and migration execution activities as countries transition from the legacy Bank-in-a-Box platform into multiple target applications, operating models, controls, and reconciliation processes.

This position requires an individual who can operate independently across senior stakeholders in Operations, Finance, Technology, Product, Risk, and Programme Management while driving successful delivery of complex, multi-workstream migrations.

Key Responsibilities

Programme Planning & Delivery

• Drive detailed delivery planning across four country migrations.
• Maintain Cross Operations plan factoring in Technology, Finance, Product and Programme dependencies and a significantly supressed timeline; plus analysing status of jira developments
• Assess impacts of plan changes on operational readiness and delivery timelines.
• Identify sequencing risks and propose mitigation and acceleration opportunities.
• Track critical milestones, deliverables, dependencies and decisions.

Migration & Operational Readiness

• Coordinate operational readiness activities for country migrations.
• Support migration dress rehearsals and production cutover planning.
• Track completion of entitlements, SOPs, controls, training and readiness criteria.
• Drive operational go-live scorecards and readiness reporting.
• Ensure operational risks are identified, assessed and escalated appropriately.

Governance & Stakeholder Management

• Provide summaries for weekly working groups.
• Produce executive-level status reporting
• Track programme actions, decisions, risks and issues.
• Maintain transparency of delivery status, blockers and escalation items.
• Partner with senior stakeholders across Operations, Finance, Technology and Risk functions.

Risk & Dependency Management

• Assess operational risks arising from migration decisions, design changes and delivery sequencing.
• Perform impact assessments across multiple workstreams and countries.
• Drive remediation plans for identified issues.
• Challenge assumptions and delivery approaches where required.
• Escalate emerging risks to programme leadership.

Transformation Support

• Support post-implementation daily reviews and stabilization activities.
• Monitor lessons learned and implement continuous improvement actions.
• Assist with future country planning and migration strategy development.
• Contribute to development of repeatable migration frameworks and governance processes.

Required Experience

Essential

• 8+ years programme or project management experience within Financial Services.
• Experience delivering large-scale transformation programmes.
• Strong knowledge of banking operations and operational readiness activities.
• Experience managing multi-country migrations or platform transformations.
• Proven track record managing complex dependency networks.
• Strong risk management and governance experience.
• Experience producing senior management and executive reporting.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and challenge constructively.
• Advanced PowerPoint, Excel and project planning skills.

Highly Desirable

• Experience with core banking platform migrations.
• Experience transitioning services from legacy platforms to multiple strategic target applications.
• Understanding of reconciliations, controls, operational risk and finance processes.
• Experience supporting testing, dress rehearsals, cutovers and go-live activities.
• Familiarity with Agile, Jira and large-scale delivery programmes.
• Knowledge of banking product processing and operational workflows.

Key Competencies

• Strategic thinking
• Delivery focus
• Risk assessment and problem solving
• Stakeholder management
• Executive communication
• Organisation and planning
• Attention to detail
• Influence without authority
• Change leadership

Success Measures

The successful contractor will:

• Maintain delivery governance across four country migrations.
• Ensure readiness criteria are met for all planned go-lives.
• Deliver accurate and timely executive reporting.
• Proactively identify and mitigate programme risks.
• Improve visibility of dependencies and critical path activities.
• Support successful migration and stabilization of countries moving from Bank-in-a-Box into target-state applications and processes.
• Enable smooth programme continuity throughout the maternity leave period.

Ideal Candidate Profile

An experienced banking transformation Project Manager who has previously delivered complex operational migrations, platform replacements, or large-scale banking change programmes and is comfortable operating in ambiguous environments with significant senior stakeholder engagement.