NHS Programme Planner

NHS Programme Planner – ARCA ASSURE

Rate: £500/day
IR35: Outside IR35
Location: Remote
Duration: Long-term contract opportunity

ARCA ASSURE is our PMO as a Service offering, providing experienced programme controls, assurance and delivery support into complex transformation programmes.

We are looking for an experienced Integrated Programme Planner to join the ARCA ASSURE team, where you will work on a multi-Trust digital transformation programme 

The successful candidate will take ownership of the integrated programme plan, bringing together multiple workstreams, organisations, milestones and dependencies into a coherent and credible programme schedule.

This is a senior planning role requiring someone who can do considerably more than maintain a project plan. You will provide programme-level planning expertise, identify critical dependencies and challenge workstreams where plans are incomplete, unrealistic or misaligned.

Key responsibilities

• Own and maintain the integrated programme plan

• Consolidate plans from multiple programme workstreams and organisations

• Identify and manage cross-programme dependencies

• Establish and maintain key milestones and critical paths

• Identify schedule risk, slippage and downstream impacts

• Challenge workstream plans and improve planning quality

• Support scenario planning and programme re-planning where required

• Provide clear schedule reporting to programme leadership and governance forums

• Work closely with RAID, reporting and assurance colleagues within ARCA ASSURE

• Support the alignment of design, build, integration, testing, migration, training, readiness, cutover and go-live activity

Experience required

• Significant programme planning experience within large, complex digital transformation programmes

• Strong experience developing and managing integrated programme plans

• Excellent understanding of dependencies, milestones, critical path and schedule risk

• Experience consolidating multiple workstream plans into a single programme view

• Confidence working with senior programme and workstream leads

• Strong programme controls discipline

NHS experience is highly desirable, with experience of EPR or other major clinical system implementations particularly relevant.

We are looking for an experienced programme planning specialist rather than a generalist PMO Manager — someone comfortable owning the integrated plan for a complex, multi-organisation transformation programme.