Senior PM (Education) at CPS in Reading, England, GB

1 Role Overview

Senior Project Manager at CPS, reporting to the Head of Delivery. The role combines senior project delivery, engagement leadership, mentoring and delivery governance across the Project Management Team. It requires a confident, commercially aware project professional who can lead complex client engagements, build trusted relationships and help raise delivery standards across CPS. Experience within the education sector is essential, ideally within higher education, Microsoft-based technology delivery and digital transformation environments.

This role will entail:

· Lead client engagements from pre-sale support through mobilisation, delivery, commercial control, handover and sustainment.

· Own delivery quality, governance, scope, planning, RAID, change control, reporting, financial control and client acceptance.

· Provide consultative leadership to clients and internal teams, ensuring delivery reflects client objectives, adoption needs, business change impacts and the realities of education-sector stakeholders.

· Maintain strong commercial awareness, protecting project profitability while identifying opportunities to grow client relationships.

· Improve and embed CPS Project Management standards across engagements.

· Support resource utilisation, escalation handling, problem resolution and client issue management.

· Mentor Project Managers, supporting objectives, appraisals, development plans, career roadmaps and succession planning.

· Support PM Team Lead cover, annual leave planning, sickness cover and recruitment activity.

1 Primary Duty

Deliver high-profile and complex client projects while supporting the PM Team Lead with team guidance, governance and development. The role owns the full project lifecycle, from pre-sales and mobilisation through to delivery, commercial control, client acceptance and handover.

The Senior Project Manager sets the standard for delivery quality, commercial control, client confidence and PM team capability.

1 Desirable Personal Attributes

· Confident, credible and commercially aware

· Structured, thorough and quality-focused

· Resilient, persistent and solutions-focused

· Strong communicator and relationship builder

· Able to influence without imposition

· Quick to assimilate information and solve problems

2 Experience and Capability

· End-to-end project lifecycle delivery experience in professional services, consulting or shared services.

· Proven ability to manage multiple clients, projects, priorities and commercial commitments.

· Strong financial control, including budget delivery, billing, forecasting and commercial performance.

· Able to lead multi-disciplinary teams across CPS, clients and partners.

· Experience delivering Microsoft and third-party technology projects, from design through release and sustainment.

· Experience delivering Microsoft-based digital transformation programmes, ideally using Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure, Copilot or related Microsoft ecosystem technologies.

· Understanding of higher education operating environments, including academic departments, professional services, student experience, research, governance and complex stakeholder groups.

· Business analysis awareness, with the ability to shape, review and challenge requirements.

· Experience of Agile and Waterfall delivery approaches.

· Willingness to travel as required.

3 Typical Background

· Senior Project Manager, Project Manager or Change Manager with experience delivering IT, digital or business transformation projects, ideally in higher education or wider education-sector environments.

· Background in an IT consultancy, professional services or client-facing delivery environment.

· Background delivering Microsoft-centred transformation, adoption or systems implementation projects for universities, colleges or comparable complex public-sector organisations.

· Experience managing multiple client engagements, project teams, budgets, risks, stakeholders and commercial expectations.

· Strong understanding of project governance, delivery methodologies and technology implementation lifecycles.

· Relevant professional qualifications such as APM, PRINCE2 or Agile/Scrum certification.

· Degree-level education or equivalent professional experience.

Current at the time of writing. Subject to change.

• 9 Day Fortnight (compression of 10 working days into 9 to be able to not work every other Friday)
• PMI with Vitality Health
• Medical Cash Plan with Medicash
• Life Assurance (Death in Service) with YuLife
• Employee Assistance Programme
• 25 days holiday (plus all Public Holidays) – increasing to 26 days after 1 year, to 27 days after 2 years and to 28 days after 5 years
• Your birthday day off
• Access to Costco Membership
• Salary Sacrifice Scheme, applicable to:
  • Workplace Pension https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/about-pensions/why-save-with-a-workplace-pension.html
    • Employer contribution is currently 5.5% of qualifying salary (above legislated minimum and will increase if we achieve certain business targets)
    • Employee contribution is 4% of qualifying salary (legislated minimum but you can elect to increase)
  • EV Car Schemes
  • Discounted Gym Membership
  • Cycle Schemes
  • Home & Tech discounts for IKEA and Curry PC World
  • Holiday Exchange Scheme: buy up to 10 additional day per year and sell up to 5.

In addition, these are just some of our cultural benefits

• Quarterly and annual star performer awards – voted for by your peers and colleagues
• Spot Awards of £25 and up, to instantly recognise excellence in you and your colleagues
• Annual professional and personal training budget to support your PDP
• Career Development Frameworks
• Reward schemes that are designed to thank you for your hard work and make life a little more affordable.
• Monthly employee experience/engagement survey
• Quarterly company meetings
  • At least one, usually the kick-off in March/April, will typically be in-person.
    • The others are conducted as Town Halls.
  • Duration of in-person company meetings is generally 2 or 3 days and location changes every year.
• Social/team building events, organised by our incredible Employee Forum
• Regular, meaningful 1 to 1s
• Long service recognition at 5, 10, 15, 20 years and onwards
• Award winning culture Great Place to Work™ Nov 25 to Nov 26; Best Workplaces for Development™ 2026, Best Workplaces for Wellbeing™ 2026, Best Workplaces for Women™ 2025, Best Workplaces in Tech™ 2025