Benefits Realisation Manager

North West (2 days onsite)

6-12 12 Months

£675 a day (Inside IR35)

The Benefits Realisation Manager will be responsible for ensuring the Programme delivers tangible, measurable value from its ERP investment. The role focusses on the identification, planning, tracking, and realisation of benefits across the full programme life cycle and into business-as-usual.

This role is about owning the benefits framework and holding the programme and business areas accountable for delivering agreed outcomes. Working closely with programme leadership, Finance, Strategy, Change, and Operational teams, the Benefits Realisation Manager will ensure that benefits are clearly defined, realistically planned, actively managed, and Embedded into the organisation.

Key Responsibilities, Accountabilities or Duties:

• Lead the identification, validation, and prioritisation of programme benefits, ensuring alignment with the strategic objectives.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive Benefits Realisation Framework, including benefit profiles, baselines, targets, KPIs, owners, dependencies, and timelines.
• Work with business owners, subject-matter experts, and delivery teams to translate ERP outputs into clear, value-driven outcomes that can be measured and realised.
• Ensure benefits are realistic, evidence-based, and linked to agreed scope, process change, and adoption activities.
• Own and maintain the programme Benefits Register and Benefits Realisation Plan as living artefacts throughout the programme life cycle.
• Track benefits delivery from design through implementation and post go-live, highlighting progress, risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Collaborate closely with Finance to validate financial benefits, assumptions, and measurement approaches.
• Prepare clear, concise benefits reporting for programme governance forums (eg Steering Committee, Programme Board), providing insight into forecast versus realised value.
• Provide constructive, independent challenge on scope changes, design decisions, and delivery risks, assessing their impact on benefits realisation.
• Support evidence-based decision-making by assessing trade-offs and ensuring value considerations remain central to programme decisions.
• Work with Change, Communications, Training, and Operational teams to ensure benefits are enabled through effective business change and adoption.
• Support the transition of benefit ownership into business-as-usual, ensuring measurement and reporting mechanisms are Embedded into operational processes.
• Contribute to lessons learnt and continuous improvement of benefits management practice across the organisation.

Person Specification
Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Strong understanding of benefits management methodologies, covering the full life cycle from identification through to realisation, with the ability to apply best practice in complex environments
• Proven experience managing benefits on large-scale transformation or ERP programmes..
• Experience of working in large, complex, multi-stakeholder organisations, ideally within higher education, public sector, or similarly complex environments
• Excellent organisational skills, able to prioritise a variety of work activities in a busy environment and meet strict deadlines
• Ability to work confidently and constructively with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leaders, programme teams, and business owners,
• Expertise in problem-solving and making recommendations for decision-makers, engaging with relevant stakeholders, and using judgement when information is incomplete.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Qualifications:

• Experience of working in a PMO Office, supporting best practice PMO functions and services
• Experience in project management methodologies and tailoring these to be appropriate to the organisation and portfolio
• Experience of applying policies and procedures relating to Equality and Diversity, Information Governance and Data Protection

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