What are the responsibilities and job description for the Delivery Lead position at WHSmith North America?
DELIVERY LEAD
Summary
The Delivery Lead is responsible for end-to-end delivery of a technology project, ensuring outcomes, timelines, and budget are achieved. This role defines the delivery approach and leads daily project decision-making. The role integrates and aligns business and technical teams, including third party vendors, managing interdependencies, risks and issues. They define the governance and ways of working for the project, serving as the face of the project to senior leadership. Overall, the Delivery Lead ensures cohesive, high‑quality technical solution delivery across design, build, test, and implementation phases.
Key Responsibilities
- Responsible for successful delivery of project against agreed upon outcomes, managing the natural tension between scope, timeline and budget
- Accountable for development of, and delivery against, overall project plan from design, through build, test, cutover, and hyper care
- Shapes project organization and team, providing clear direction on roles and responsibilities, resource identification, and vendor engagement
- Provides leadership and direction to manage a cross-functional project team against plan, deliverables, and objectives
- Establishes governance and reporting process, chairing key meetings (e.g., Steering Committee, Design Authority, etc.)
- Manages delivery decisions, risks, and issues, drawing on prior delivery experience
- Establishes project controls and ensures adherence
Key Skills / Experience
- Experience managing similar technology projects
- Experience managing multi-disciplinary teams across Business and IT
- Experience managing third party vendors
- Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills
- Strong communications, able to negotiate and influence to align between different interests
- Strong problem-solving and risk/issue management experience
- Relentless focus on integrating activity across workstreams
- Able to challenge leadership constructively, bringing different views into the open
- Takes responsibility for achieving results, overcoming obstacles and adapting approach
- Preferred: Retail experience