Project Manager - Central government - #2178354

In a Nutshell

Role: Project Manager

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Largely remote (UK), with occasional travel to client site for workshops

Clearance: SC Eligible

About Amber Labs

The digital transformation partner for highly regulated industries.

Our teams deliver digital transformation for organisations operating in complex, highly regulated environments. From securing national borders to supporting critical defence operations, we deliver secure AI, data, cloud and software solutions across high-stakes programmes.

What You’ll Be Doing

We’re looking for an experienced Project Manager to lead the replacement of an archive access and collections management system for one of our public sector clients. The project sits within a wider archive services programme and has recently been formalised.

Discovery is complete, and the preferred direction is a single off-the-shelf solution. Discovery has produced a user research report, an as-is overview, a requirements matrix and an options appraisal, and supplier demonstrations and initial market engagement have already taken place. A Request for Information (RFI), an initial Business Case, a Project Initiation Document (PID) and a Project Plan are in preparation.

You’ll take the project from mobilisation through procurement and data readiness, ending with an implementation-ready position. Working across business, technical, commercial and procurement teams, you’ll bring structure, pace and clear governance to a project at a pivotal stage.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Mobilise: Formalise the project, agree delivery arrangements, and establish governance, scope and planning within the wider programme
• Procure: Work with the procurement team to set the commodity strategy and route to market, refine requirements into procurement-ready documents, lead production of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) and support the process through to evaluation
• Fund: Update the Business Case using RFI intelligence to set robust budgets for the current and following financial years
• Prepare data: Define and agree a Move-Ready Data Statement of Work, then manage its delivery to improve the quality and readiness of archive and collections data
• Plan implementation: Develop provisional plans for organisational readiness, supplier onboarding and implementation
• Manage delivery: Run risks, issues, dependencies and reporting, and engage stakeholders across business, technical, commercial and procurement teams

Indicative timeline:

• Months 1–2: Mobilisation, governance, route to market, Business Case update and data scope definition
• Months 2–3: ITT development and sign-off; data work begins
• Months 3–6: ITT issue, procurement support and evaluation; data delivery; readiness and onboarding plans

What We’re Looking For

You will need:

• Experience managing public sector or regulated-environment technology projects through procurement
• Knowledge of UK public procurement routes, including frameworks and ITT/RFI processes
• Experience delivering or overseeing data migration or data quality work
• Business case development and budget management, with PRINCE2, APM or equivalent practice
• Confident stakeholder management at senior level

It would be great if you also have:

• Experience in archives, heritage, libraries or collections management
• Experience delivering off-the-shelf or SaaS system replacements

What’s In It For You

We believe benefits should be practical: things that genuinely support your day-to-day, give you flexibility and help you keep developing.

Here are a few of our perks:

• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Private medical insurance with Bupa
• Remote-first working, with access to our Liverpool Street office
• Personal training budget to support your professional development
• Perkbox membership, with discounts across retail, travel, dining and wellness
• Electric Vehicle Scheme after one year of service
• Regular team socials
• Referral scheme offering up to £3,000 for successful hires
• Employer pension contributions
• Your choice of PC or Mac

How We Work

We’ve worked hard to build a team of people who are experts at what they do. Because of that, we’ll trust you to get on with your job and give you the space to do it well. But you’ll always have plenty of support around you whenever you need it, whether that’s to sense-check an approach, tackle a tricky client challenge or simply bounce ideas around.

We keep our structure flat and our processes straightforward. If you have a good idea, you’ll be encouraged to run with it, and if something could be done better, we’ll encourage you to say so. Ultimately, we work with people who take pride in their work, support their team and want to leave things better than they found them.

Learn more about how we work.

What Happens Next?

Once you’ve applied, our in-house Talent team will review your application and, if it looks like there could be a good fit, they’ll be in touch.

For most of our roles, there are two interview stages: one focused on your technical expertise, and another focused on how you communicate and approach your work. We’re big believers that both are equally important!

For some roles, there may also be a final conversation with one of our Senior Leadership Team: Seb, James, Sanah or Mark.

Get to know them and the rest of our SLT here.

A Human Approach to Hiring

We use AI responsibly, in our client projects and internally. When it comes to hiring, though, there are always real people behind the process. Decisions throughout, from CV review and progressing to interview through to making an offer, are made by our Talent team (who are real people, we promise!).

Diversity & Inclusion

Amber Labs is an equal opportunities employer, and we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to do their best work, regardless of background, identity or experience.

If there’s anything we can do to make the recruitment process more accessible or comfortable for you, just let our Talent team know. We’ll be happy to help!