PROGRAMME DIRECTOR

Are you excited at the prospect of working with the people in a business to identify the root cause of problems, trial possible solutions, and then deliver them to effect measurable change?

Do you use evidence and fact – not opinion – to intelligently drive results?

Have you worked on change management programmes across a range of functions?

We are living through unprecedented times and families in Britain are facing choices between heating and eating. Retail has to step up to meet this challenge and at Asda we believe our purpose is to be there for those families that are hardest hit and offer brighter moments for everyone.

As we embark on a significant period of transformation at Asda, we’ll touch every one of our 140,000 colleagues over the next three years with some kind of change and we’re creating a dedicated Transformation Function to drive the change we need to make.

As a Programme Director, you will lead the delivery of a large transformation programme which will deliver measurable change through others. These roles are about change management; not about governance, or reporting, or auditing – but about taking people with you through ensuring they understand and feel empowered to deliver.

You’ll use your ability to engage and influence to ask difficult questions. You will use your critical, commercial, and analytical skills to find solutions that meet multiple needs. And you will bring clarity of thought and communication to gain buy in and collaboratively deliver solutions that inter-connect across our business.

Please see below to view the Role Profile which summarises the skills and experience we hope you will have, what the job is, and what it is not. If you feel you meet our spec, and if you are interested in joining the team, please apply by submitting your CV with a short covering note.

At Asda, we are proud of our culture and our commitment to flexible working. These roles are based at Asda House, Leeds with the flexibility to work from home 2-3 days per week. They are offered initially on an 18-24 month fixed term contract.

Summary Role Profile

PROGRAMME DIRECTOR

Lead

• Be a functionally agnostic champion for the customer, colleague, community, planet, and business;
• Lead a team (hard and dotted line reporting) to deliver the programme;
• Be a force for positive challenge and driving momentum and pace, cutting down silos, and finding ways through;
• Stay aligned to the business strategy (and help others to do the same) and drive strategic conversations based on analysis and facts;
• Be a best practice coach to your team, peers, and other leaders.

Assess

• Analyse the data to identify opportunities and root causes;
• Scope, design, plan, and resource large change programmes;
• Create the vision and engage the business in the programme direction.

Design

• Collaborate with others to problem solve, trial, and stress test solutions;
• Drive a focus on the end users and BAU, ensuring changes are designed for adoption to deliver measurable results;
• Be the glue between functions in the business;
• Work right to left, always keeping the end in sight, planning ahead to ensure success;
• Identify organisational performance drivers and collaborate with the wider business to put them in place (e.g., effective KPIs).

Implement

• See the programme through to the bottom line, supporting change adoption and transition into BAU.

About You

• You will relish the opportunity to solve for more than one thing at a time; you will be passionate about analysing data to understand root causes;
• You will have extensive experience of delivering transformational programmes – both complex and multi-functional ones;
• You will likely have a deep consulting or strategy background – but it will need to also have been with a focus on playing a major role in operational delivery, not just design;
• You will need the ability to work under pressure, to tight deadlines;
• You will thrive on bringing clarity where there may be ambiguity;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to listen, persuade and collaborate are essential;
• We expect you will be able to clearly and succinctly articulate messages.

What This Job Is Not

• These are not IT transformation roles; the focus is on evaluating complex business-wise information to find various solutions that will make a difference across the business;
• We are looking for people who are not just focussed on tracking and reporting on project delivery – but who have experience of (and enjoyed) being an integral part of the delivery itself.