Global Director, Programme & Project Management
Job description
About the Role
The Financial Times is one of the world's leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide.
At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Here, you're given the chance to reach millions, create work that matters and deliver impartial journalism in a polarised world.
In our warm, collaborative culture, you'll connect with a diverse community of experts who support your growth, career aspirations and wellbeing.
Your future at the FT will be filled with opportunities that challenge and inspire you. With no fixed path, you'll discover new skills and forge a career that can take you anywhere.
Build a newsworthy career at the FT.
About the Role
The Commercial Client Group (CCG) is undergoing an exciting evolution with the integration of two content businesses: creative agency FT Studio (formerly Alpha Grid) and thought leadership consultancy FT Longitude, into a single business unit. This integration includes combining the Programme and Project Management teams from both entities. The Financial Times is seeking a commercially and operationally minded leader to head this Programme and Project Management function.
The successful candidate will be responsible for evolving the team into a unified operation that delivers excellence for clients and an exceptional experience for internal content delivery teams. The FT believes Project Managers are central to successful client relationships and content delivery excellence, making this role a critical lever for client satisfaction, retention, and operational efficiency.
What You'll Do
The Global Programme & Project Management Director will lead the end-to-end delivery of client campaigns across all content products, globally. The role exists to ensure that all commercial campaigns are delivered to the highest standards, growing client relationships through exceptional delivery and client experience. The Director is accountable for delivery throughout the client lifecycle, from pre-sale and contract, through to execution, reporting, and renewal.
As a senior leader, this role acts as a bridge across the Commercial Client Group and the wider organisation, bringing together Sales, Client Solutions, Content, Performance Marketing, and Finance teams to ensure seamless delivery and alignment around client success.
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Define and Implement a New Programme & Project Management Model: Lead two different PM teams, one from FT Longitude and the other from FT Studio, defining and implementing how these teams will work together to deliver content campaigns. Architect the working relationship between the PM team and the FT Studio and FT Longitude content teams, clearly delineating roles between producers, editors, and project managers. Redefine team structures, workflows, and processes within the context of the Monday.com technology platform.
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Programme and Project Management Leadership: Lead the global Programme & Project Management function responsible for the end-to-end delivery of all client campaigns. Oversee a team of PMs responsible for delivering across multiple products, platforms, markets, and client sectors. Ensure delivery excellence across every stage of the client lifecycle working closely with Client Solutions, Sales, and content delivery teams. Act as the senior escalation point for client campaigns, ensuring campaigns are delivered on time to budget.
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Client Success & Commercial Performance: Ensure all client campaigns are delivered to the highest standards, strengthening client relationships and supporting future revenue growth. Monitor and improve client satisfaction metrics, identifying opportunities to enhance service delivery and operational effectiveness. Manage client expectations and scope-creep, ensuring that the appropriate trade-offs are made between delighting our clients and managing content team capacity, budgets and delivery timelines.
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Strategic Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the primary coordination point across all functions involved in client programme delivery including Sales, Client Solutions, FT Studio, FT Longitude, Legal, Product, Performance Marketing, Operations, and Finance teams. Facilitate effective decision-making and issue resolution across complex programmes.
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Operational Excellence: Identify opportunities to improve workflows, resource utilisation, automation, and operational effectiveness working closely with business operations teams. Ensure Monday.com is used optimally across the team, ensuring timelines are up to date and both client contacts and delivery teams are aligned. Ensure reporting and performance measures provide visibility of programme delivery and business outcomes.
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Financial Management & Governance: Ensure programmes are delivered in a financially disciplined and commercially sustainable manner. Partner with Finance and Commercial leadership to support forecasting, planning, and business performance management.
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Leadership & Talent Development: Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing global team. Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. Coach and mentor team members to support professional growth. Promote knowledge sharing and best-practice adoption across regions and functions.
Requirements
Significant leadership experience within Programme and Project Management or related disciplines, for content products. Experience operating within media, publishing, advertising, marketing services, agency, events, consulting, or similarly client-focused environments.
About the Role
The Financial Times is one of the world's leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide.
At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Here, you're given the chance to reach millions, create work that matters and deliver impartial journalism in a polarised world.
In our warm, collaborative culture, you'll connect with a diverse community of experts who support your growth, career aspirations and wellbeing.
Your future at the FT will be filled with opportunities that challenge and inspire you. With no fixed path, you'll discover new skills and forge a career that can take you anywhere.
Build a newsworthy career at the FT.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.
Leadership Profile
We are at an exciting stage in the evolution of the Commercial Client Group, with the coming together of our two content businesses, creative agency FT Studio (formerly Alpha Grid) and thought leadership consultancy FT Longitude, into one business unit. We have also brought together the Programme and Project Management teams of both business areas into one combined team, which will help to drive excellent campaign delivery through the combined content business unit.
We are seeking a commercially and operationally minded leader for this Programme and Project Management function, to evolve the team into a unified operation which delivers excellence for our clients and a great experience for our content delivery teams. We firmly believe that PMs are the centre of successful client relationships and excellence in content delivery - and that the team is therefore a hugely important lever for client satisfaction and retention, as well as efficiency and best-in-class content operations.
The successful candidate will have a proven track record of building and leading high-performing programme and project management teams. They will combine strategic thinking with operational excellence and possess the ability to navigate complexity, align diverse stakeholder groups, and deliver exceptional client outcomes at scale. They will be interested in the detail of delivering projects and programmes, as well as the strategic impact that excellent project delivery has on the business and on client relationships.
They will have a passion for and experience of managing teams which deliver content products (video, digital, text reports, audio) in a commercial environment.
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The role will lead two different PM teams, one from FT Longitude and the other from FT Studio, defining and implementing how these teams will work together to deliver content campaigns
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The role will also help to architect how the PM team will work with the FT Studio and FT Longitude content teams on campaign delivery, clearly delineating the roles of PMs from producers and editors
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Team structure, workflows and processes will need to be re-defined, in the context of our technology platform, Monday.com
Programme and Project Management Leadership
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Lead the global Programme & Project Management function responsible for the end-to-end delivery of all client campaigns
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Oversee a team of PMs responsible for delivering across multiple products, platforms, markets, and client sectors
-
Ensure delivery excellence across every stage of the client lifecycle working closely with Client Solutions, Sales and content delivery teams
-
Act as the senior escalation point for client campaigns, ensuring campaigns are delivered on time to budget
-
Manage complex client dynamics, seeking to align key stakeholders and manage client expectations
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Complex problem-solving is essential, requiring a careful balance between client expectations and the practical realities of campaign execution
Client Success & Commercial Performance
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Ensure all client campaigns are delivered to the highest standards, strengthening client relationships and supporting future revenue growth
-
Monitor and improve client satisfaction metrics, identifying opportunities to enhance service delivery and operational effectiveness
-
Manage client expectations and scope-creep, ensuring that the appropriate trade-offs are made between delighting our clients and managing content team capacity, budgets and delivery timelines
Strategic Cross-Functional Leadership
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Serve as the primary coordination point across all functions involved in client programme delivery including Sales, Client Solutions, FT Studio, FT Longitude, Legal, Product, Performance Marketing, Operations, and Finance teams
-
Facilitate effective decision-making and issue resolution across complex programmes
Operational Excellence
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Identify opportunities to improve workflows, resource utilisation, automation, and operational effectiveness working closely with business operations teams
-
Ensure Monday.com is used optimally across the team, ensuring timelines are up to date and both client contacts and delivery teams are aligned
-
Ensure reporting and performance mea