Programme Manager - 12mth Fixed Term Contract

At M&G our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. As an international savings and investments business with roots stretching back more than 170 years, we offer a range of financial products and services through Asset Management, Life and Wealth. All three operating segments work together to deliver attractive financial outcomes for our clients, and superior shareholder returns.

Through our behaviours of telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer work place accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

Programme Manager – Change Delivery - 12 month Fixed Term Contract

M&G Life | Operations & Transformation

The Role

M&G Life supports over 5 million customers with more than £300bn invested across its products and wrappers, and has an ambitious growth and transformation agenda for 2026 and beyond. Our International business unit encompasses the oversight and delivery of operations and change across M&G’s international markets, including governance of strategic initiatives, partner‑led service delivery, and local business change. It operates across multiple geographies including the UK and regulatory environments, requiring strong coordination between global services, external suppliers, and local leadership teams.

We are seeking a high‑performing & experienced Programme Manager to provide hands‑on leadership and drive the successful delivery of a strategic & transformative integration programme, within the International portfolio.  Reporting to the Portfolio Director, you will translate strategic direction into tangible outcomes, ensuring that delivery is matched by demonstrable business readiness and adoption. This role can be based from the UK or Ireland.

This role is pivotal in ensuring that change is not only delivered, but ready, embedded, and sustainable across the business.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end‑to‑end delivery of a sizeable strategic integration project, ensuring alignment to portfolio objectives and business priorities.
• Establishing and maintaining key stakeholder and sponsor relationships which serve to underpin the dynamic, energy and success of the programme.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels, supporting the Portfolio Director in governance forums (e.g. SteerCo) and day‑to‑day delivery.
• Prepare and present delivery and readiness updates to governance forums, escalating risks and issues appropriately with agreed mitigants ready to share in advance.
• Act as a hands‑on delivery leader, resolving issues, removing blockers, and maintaining momentum across workstreams.
• Work closely with business areas to define, track, and evidence progress, ensuring people, processes, controls, and capabilities are ready to adopt change at go‑live.
• Apply and coach best‑practice delivery approaches (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid), adapting methods to suit project and business needs.
• Support benefits tracking and realisation, ensuring outcomes are measurable and linked to successful adoption.
• Own and maintain all delivery artefacts (plans, RAID, dashboards, reporting packs), ensuring accuracy, transparency, and timeliness.
• Establish clear readiness criteria, milestones, and evidence, integrating Business Readiness into programme plans, RAID, and governance.
• Line manage, coach, and develop Project Managers, setting clear expectations and high standards of execution and accountability.
• Champion the use of delivery tools and data‑driven decision making .
• Foster a culture of accountability, challenge, collaboration, and continuous improvement across delivery and business teams.

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience delivering complex projects or programmes, ideally within financial services or a regulated environment. A previous Integration role will be advantageous.
• Strong programme and project management capability, with confidence managing multiple workstreams, dependencies, and risks.
• Led teams doing transformational change – likely to have involved multiple parties and had unclear solutions/outcomes to the achieve the objectives/goals set.
• Demonstrable experience working with business areas to assess, track, and evidence Business Readiness, including operational readiness, training, controls, and handover to BAU.
• Experience leading and developing delivery teams, including day‑to‑day direction and formal line management where required.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders and governance forums.
• Strong ownership mindset, with a clear focus on outcomes, adoption, and benefits realisation.
• Proficiency with delivery tools and reporting; Jira experience highly desirable.
• Relevant qualifications (e.g. PRINCE2, AgilePM, MSP, PMP) desirable; degree‑level education or equivalent experience.

Key Behaviours

• Sets the tone for delivery excellence, readiness discipline, and execution focus.
• Proactive, adaptable, and resilient under pressure.
• Takes full ownership for delivery outcomes and business adoption.
• Constructively challenges delivery teams and business stakeholders where readiness is at risk.
• Collaborative, inclusive, and committed to continuous improvement.
• Leans into hard conversations and brings a good energy to the team.

Work Level: Manager / Expert

Location: UK or Ireland

Closing Date: 17 March 2026

We have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture at M&G plc, underpinned by our policies and our employee-led networks who provide networking opportunities, advice and support for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or long term condition, we are looking to attract, promote and retain exceptional people. We also welcome those who take part in military service and those returning from career breaks.