Title:  Project Manager

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

Job Purpose

The Project Manager leads cross-functional teams to deliver projects using Agile practices, ensuring products are delivered on time and meet business goals and customer expectations.

They are accountable for successfully delivering specific work packages, supported by a multi-disciplinary team from IT & Change functions and key business stakeholders, to maximise delivery results.

With autonomy over all aspects of the project—including scope, schedules, finances, risk, quality, and resources—the Project Manager is also responsible for clear, timely communication of progress and metrics.

Project delivery approaches may be Agile, Waterfall, or a mix of both. The Project Manager selects the best methodology based on their expertise, building an appropriately sized team with guidance from the Senior Project Manager. They collaborate closely with business leads, product owners, and other stakeholders to ensure outcomes align with requirements.

Throughout all stages of package or project delivery, the Project Manager maintains focus on the broader strategic objectives set by the portfolio team.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Work with Portfolio Lead to develop and maintain the Portfolio Roadmap for those packages within the project manager’s scope of delivery.
• Propose and gain agreement for the governance organisation to be applied to the Agile, Waterfall or combined delivery to be followed.
• With the Product Owner, demonstrate to the Business Lead and other required stakeholders the planned delivery lifecycle, expected outcomes and confirm resources are committed to fulfil that delivery.
• Measures performance of packages and projects within ownership of the project manager, communicating progress, budget position and delivery of outcomes at the required cadence to stakeholders
• Remove blockers for the Scrum Master and Delivery Team, escalating to the Portfolio Team for support where needed
• Work with portfolio team to support resource, dependency, and risk management across the portfolio
• Continually monitor risks and their impact on delivering outcomes, allocating ownership and tracking actions to ensure mitigating actions are effective
• Provide a positive work environment to build a cohesive and productive team
• Confirm with stakeholders that outcomes have been met and a benefits plan is in place to validate expected value has been delivered
• Lessons Learned or deliver retrospective are complete and learnings made available for continuous improvement of portfolio delivery capability 

Skills/Knowledge and Experience 

• Agile Methodologies: In-depth knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, or other Agile frameworks.
• Project Management: Proven experience managing projects in an Agile environment. 
• Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences.
• Leadership: Strong leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to motivate and inspire teams.
• Problem-Solving: Analytical mindset with a proactive approach to identifying and resolving issues.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Experience managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Tools: Familiarity with Agile project management tools 

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance.  We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us.  We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures.  Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others.  Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward. 

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us.  We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus. 

“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.”  Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.