Program Manager at Areti Group | B Corp™, London Area, £Contract Rate

Programme Manager — ERP Workday Implementation (Public Sector)

Contract: 6 months, Outside IR35

Location: London (hybrid on-site with government client)

Engagement: Professional Services delivery into central/local government

Overview

Lead a complex Workday ERP implementation for a government organisation, spanning HCM, Finance, and integrations. You will own the end-to-end programme—governance, scope, delivery plan, risk/issue control, vendor management, and stakeholder alignment—ensuring compliant, secure, and value-focused outcomes within public sector constraints.

Key Objectives

• Establish and run programme governance, controls, and reporting aligned to government standards.

• Deliver Workday modules to agreed scope, quality, cost, and schedule.

• Orchestrate multi-supplier delivery (Workday SI, client teams, third-party integrators).

• Manage change, benefits, and readiness across HR, Finance, Procurement, and IT.

• Ensure security, data protection, and audit compliance suitable for government.

• Land sustainable BAU support, including hypercare and knowledge transfer.

Responsibilities

Programme Leadership and Governance

• Stand-up and chair programme boards, design authority, and workstream ceremonies.

• Define and maintain the integrated master plan (IMP/IMS), RAID, dependencies, and critical path.

• Set programme controls: change control, configuration management, quality gates, stage exits.

Scope, Planning, and Delivery

• Refine scope and milestones across Workday HCM, Finance, Time/Absence, Payroll interfaces, and Reporting/Prism (as applicable).

• Coordinate discovery, fit-to-standard, configuration, data conversion, integrations, testing, cutover, and hypercare.

• Align SI methodology (e.g., Workday Launch/Accelerate) with government stage gates.

Stakeholder and Supplier Management

• Manage C-suite/SRO, programme sponsors, unions, and operational leaders.

• Drive performance of SI and tool vendors against SoW, KPIs, SLAs; manage commercials and acceptance.

• Communicate progress and decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

Security, Risk, and Compliance

• Embed information security, privacy, and records management controls; align to UK data protection requirements.

• Ensure auditable processes for access, SoD, financial controls, and payroll-critical integrations.

• Proactively manage risks/issues; execute mitigation and contingency plans.

Change, Readiness, and Benefits

• Lead organisational change and comms; plan training and role-based adoption.

• Define benefits, baselines, and tracking; ensure realisation plan post go-live.

• Prepare and execute cutover, command centre, and hypercare; transition to BAU with clear RACI and runbooks.

Data, Integrations, and Reporting

• Oversee data strategy: cleansing, migration cycles, reconciliation, and sign-off.

• Coordinate integration design (APIs, middleware, payroll, finance, identity), non-functional requirements, and performance.

• Govern reporting strategy (core, dashboards, Prism/analytics) and data quality controls.

Essential Experience

• 10+ years leading large-scale ERP/HCM/Finance transformations; 3+ end-to-end Workday programmes preferred.

• Proven delivery into UK government or regulated public sector (governance, assurance, procurement).

• Multi-supplier management (prime SI, niche vendors, internal teams); strong commercial acumen on SoWs and change notes.

• Full lifecycle: discovery to BAU; hands-on with RAID, plans, financials, and status reporting.

• Data migration, complex integrations, testing at scale, cutover/hypercare leadership.

• OCM experience: stakeholder mapping, comms, training, and adoption metrics.

Desirable

• Familiarity with Workday modules: HCM, Payroll interfaces, Finance, Time/Absence, Security, Reporting/Prism.

• Knowledge of public sector standards and processes (e.g., approvals, audit, information governance).

• Experience with identity/access (SSO/MFA), P2P, banking interfaces, payroll bureaus, and finance subledgers.

• Understanding of SoD, internal controls, and year-end processes.

Skills and Attributes

• Exceptional programme governance and delivery discipline.

• Clear, concise communication; strong executive presence.

• Negotiation and supplier performance management.

• Analytical, risk-aware, and outcome-focused.

• Comfortable operating in hybrid agile/waterfall environments.

Deliverables

• Programme Charter, Plan, and Governance Framework.

• Workstream plans (HCM, Finance, Integrations, Data, Testing, OCM).

• RAID log, dependency map, decision and action registers.

• Monthly steering packs; weekly status reports and financials.

• Data migration strategy, mock cycle reports, and sign-offs.

• Integration catalogue, non-functional test results, and support model.

• Cutover plan, runbooks, command-centre playbook.

• Hypercare plan, exit criteria, and BAU transition artefacts.

• Benefits realisation plan and measurement approach.

Engagement Model (Outside IR35)

• Statement of Work with clear deliverables, acceptance criteria, and milestones.

• Autonomy over methods and working practices to deliver outcomes.

• Ability to provide competent substitution and work across multiple clients.

• Own equipment, professional indemnity/public liability insurance; no employee-like benefits.

• Fees tied to milestones/outcomes; no timesheet-based managerial control by client.

Logistics

• Duration: 6 months (with potential extension based on milestones).

• Location: London; hybrid with on-site governance, workshops, and cutover/hypercare presence.

• Travel: As required for key events and stakeholder engagement.

How Success Will Be Measured

• On-time/on-budget delivery of agreed scope and quality gates.

• Clean audit/assurance outcomes and security sign-offs.

• Stable go-live with controlled defects and effective hypercare.

• Achieved adoption KPIs and benefits tracked to baseline.

• Smooth handover to BAU with agreed SLAs and operating model.

Application Requirements

• Brief capability statement aligned to the above scope.

• Evidence of two comparable public sector Workday or ERP programmes.

• Example governance pack (redacted) and delivery plan excerpt.

• Day rate expectations and availability within 2–4 weeks.