Programme Manager - Banking Transformation (Contract)

We're looking for a senior, hands-on Programme Manager to lead a large-scale technology transformation within a highly regulated banking environment. This is not a PMO or light-touch role - you will be accountable for end-to-end delivery of a complex, multi-year change portfolio impacting critical payments and gateway platforms.

What you must have

Extensive banking/financial services experience

• 5+ years delivering technology change in Tier 1/Tier 2 banks, payments providers, or similarly regulated environments

Proven delivery of complex programmes, including:

• Platform or gateway migrations
• Resilience uplift (active-active, DR, failover)
• Legacy decommissioning
• High-risk production cutovers

Strong governance & regulatory capability

• Deep experience with banking change governance (CAB/ECAB, SDLC, approval gates)
• Hands-on ownership of RAID, dependencies, and executive reporting
• Working knowledge of PCI DSS, operational resilience, technology risk, and audit controls

Technical credibility (you don't need to be hands-on, but you must understand):

• API gateways and payment/card message switching
• Network routing, security layers, encryption, TLS, HSMs
• Observability, monitoring, and non-functional requirements

Senior stakeholder leadership

• Comfortable engaging CIO/CTO-level stakeholders
• Experience managing vendors and delivery partners under SOWs and SLA

Nice to have

• Cloud transformation experience in regulated environments
• Experience working closely with Cyber, SRE, Network, and Architecture teams