Senior Technical Programme Manager - International

A phenomenal opportunity has arisen to work with International Online which operates within 103 markets, with 3 operating models.

We are looking for a Senior Tech programme manager to be accountable for delivery, commercial and financial management across 4 squad teams, leading sophisticated dependencies and multiple partners.

As an experienced Senior Technical Programme Manager (TPM) you will drive the execution of product solutions across multiple domains within M&S. You will successfully be responsible for the various stages of the product development life-cycle or Programme of work, acting as an equal partner with our Engineering and Product teams and leaders to deliver solutions that contribute and help balance, coordinate and supervise cross-functional dependencies while ensuring the overall delivery remains smooth and efficient.

This will require a hands-on approach, combined with strong technical foresight and excellent partner management, to drive engagement and measures such as OKRs, building strong, trust-based partnerships with colleagues and suppliers. You will drive collaborations between product functions to deliver shared goals providing inspiration, support and mentoring when required operating as a servant leader. A key attribute will be to empower others to foster a demeanour of continuous improvement across people, process and technology to enhance the delivery and flow of value.

You will play a key role in shaping the Technical Programme Management subject area to help bring about an innovative, continuous improvement culture that allows M&S products to be built at scale with high agility. As a leader you will drive, coach and support the continuous maturity of the Technical Programme Management Community.

As a Senior Technical Programme manager with experience of project and product development you will combine your business knowledge with technical expertise to drive product innovation, removing ambiguity and promoting an ‘own it and get it done’ demeanour.

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities

The Senior Technical Programme Manager (TPM) is the glue of engineering, product and business strategies working across the domains performing various functions whether that be within the product organisation or leading cross-functional programmes of work. You will utilise your technical expertise in handling constraints, improving quality or removing blockers within the development lifecycle.

The mission is to harness agile ways of working and embed our strategic ambitions to successfully deliver change at scale. The key to the success of this role is building positive, trusting relationships through consistent, on-time delivery of solutions and effective communication in-line with the M&S Way.

More specifically, the Senior TPM role is the embodiment of ‘own it and get it done’ with key responsibilities as follows:

• Lead sophisticated and multi-disciplinary initiatives/Programmes of work within a Product led organisation to deliver innovative product solutions
• Closely supervise and handle Product/Programme execution progress to deliver planned outcomes, through sync up events providing visibility and transparency on progress through appropriate cadence and tools
• Create roadmaps and OKRs with Product Manager(s) and engineering teams to ensure alignment to strategic ambitions for M&S and driving a customer first mind-set in Tech
• Be responsible for and assure the technical development and release strategy, ensuring senior partners are advised and act as point of escalation for key risks and issues
• Drive proactive dependency management between Product functions or domains to confidently plan and deliver integrated solutions
• Implement strong quality assurance and continuous improvement processes to minimise risks to programme delivery
• Able to foresee potential risks and issues, facilitate discussion and lead customer concerns
• Responsible for the technology budget and driving value for money in the hardest working, most efficient way
• Drive the successful adoption of DevOps supporting in the triage and resolution of major incidents and collaborating with Engineering and Product to ensure operational success
• Work collaboratively with partners across business area(s) using deep and relevant technology experience to simplify sophisticated technology issues
• Build trusted relationships with and optimally handle contractual obligations with vendors and other external partners to ensure successful delivery of outcomes
• Proactively evaluate industry, technology and delivery trends to demonstrate external findings and drive improvements internally
• Interact with and contribute to the rest of the TPM Community to share lessons learnt and drive consistency across the organisation
• Actively contribute to learn and grow within the TPM Community
• Line Managing and ensuring that the functions of these positions are properly and effectively being implemented, encouraging collaborate 360 feedback interactions from the community, partners & team

• Job knowledge – specialist skills, experiences, qualifications, specific systems or practices relevant to the role, the latest function specific knowledge
• Business knowledge – level of commercial awareness, economic, commercial, political experience, industry specific knowledge to differentiate M&S from competitors
• Problem solving – analytical skills, ability to advise, lead and deliver solutions that go beyond existing ways of doing things
• People & Leadership skills – communications, leadership and talent development skills.

• Extensive experience of Software development or Technical Product/Programme Management
• Excellent interpersonal skills, proactive can do demeanour and ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non‐technical individuals
• Experience delivering large-scale initiatives across multiple teams and functions
• Strong solid understanding/experience of Agile/Scaled Agile practices including Scrum, Kanban and DevOps
• Highly diligent professional with excellent leadership and coaching skills in lean agile practices
• Experience in defining and handling key achievements and outcome led Product/Programme delivery
• Strong financial and commercial foresight including experience of managing budgets and being responsible for contractual discussions.
• Strong facilitation skills to articulate clear outputs, drive teams or individuals towards specific desirable outcomes

• Experience in multiple Agile Project/Portfolio Management tools e.g. Jira/JiraAlign/Rally
• Experience using facilitation techniques, Design Thinking techniques, coaching and learning frameworks
• Experience of engineering practices like BDD, XP and Agile Testing, Continuous Integration and Continuous delivery
• Prior experience working in the Retail Industry
• Bachelor’s degree
• Project Management, Agile or Scaled Agile certification

• Product Managers, Engineers, Architects and Service Owners
• Business Leaders
• 3rd Party suppliers where applicable
• TPM Community members
• Major Incident Management

M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact. We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working.  We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process. If you consider yourself to have a disability or learning difficulty which means you are unable to complete the application process online, please get in touch either by phone on 0345 300 3725 or by email recruitment.online@marksandspencer.com so we can make alternative arrangements for you.

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