Principal Transition Lead - UK & Europe

Principal Transition Lead

Hybrid – attached to Solihull, Hook or London (with UK travel for meetings/visits)

Full Time, Permanent

From £73,000 per annum ( dependent on experience)

Company Car / Cash Allowance + Bonus

Are you an experienced leader with a strong track record in managing large programmes and delivering complex projects? Serco, a global leader in public services, is seeking a skilled Principal Transition Lead to join our UK&E Growth team. This senior-level role is ideal for candidates with extensive experience in managing high-stakes programmes, end-to-end project delivery, and stakeholder engagement. You’ll oversee governance and control measures across programmes, support bidding processes, and drive continuous improvement across a diverse portfolio.

As Principal Transition Lead, you’ll play a pivotal role in the successful delivery of major programmes, from initial bid stages through to full implementation. You’ll establish best practices for governance, risk, and issue management, ensuring each project meets Serco’s high standards for quality and compliance. Working closely with senior stakeholders, both internally and externally, you’ll foster collaborative relationships and ensure project objectives align with client needs and organisational goals. Your role will also include embedding continuous improvement initiatives to enhance our service delivery.

Key Responsibilities:

• Programme Leadership: Lead large-scale projects and programmes, providing oversight across planning, execution, and delivery to ensure all objectives are met.
• Governance and Control: Implement and monitor programme governance frameworks, ensuring robust management controls and high-quality reporting.
• Bidding and Business Development: Contribute to bid responses and programme proposals, enhancing quality and supporting business growth.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Foster strong relationships with senior leaders, clients, and partners, managing communications and aligning programme goals with organisational objectives.
• Continuous Improvement: Drive the development of methods, standards, and tools to support efficient and effective project delivery across Serco’s portfolio.
• Risk and Issue Management: Proactively manage RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) to mitigate challenges and support successful project outcomes.
• Operational Readiness: Provide expertise in operational readiness and cutover planning, supporting a smooth transition into operational phases.
• Quality Assurance: Lead assurance reviews to ensure deliverables meet quality standards, contractual obligations, and best practices.

What We’re Looking For:

• Extensive experience leading large, complex programmes, ideally within an outsourcing or high-stakes environment.
• Experience of leading business change/transformation is desirable.
• Strong expertise in governance, control measures, and programme assurance.
• Skilled in stakeholder engagement, including effective communication with executive leaders and external partners.
• Proactive leadership abilities, capable of overseeing complex project lifecycles and driving continuous improvement.
• Thorough understanding of programme management methodologies, with an MSP Practitioner qualification or equivalent preferred.
• Proven experience in bidding and business development.
• Advanced proficiency in MS Office (Project, Visio, and Excel); familiarity with Smartsheet, SharePoint, and Power BI is advantageous.

Why Serco?
Joining Serco means becoming part of a global community dedicated to delivering high-quality services that make a tangible impact on society. We provide career development opportunities, flexible working arrangements, and an inclusive, supportive environment where you’ll work with industry leaders on meaningful projects. With a focus on continuous improvement, we value your expertise in driving programme excellence and invite you to join a team that’s committed to making a real difference.

What we offer:

• Company car / £4200 cash equivalent allowance.
• Bonus potential up to 20%.
• Private medical insurance.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Up to 6% contributory pension scheme
• Flexible working options.
• A Serco benefits portal offering a wide range of discounts for major high street brands in Retail, Leisure & Hospitality.
• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more.
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.
• A safe and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services. We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks – SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging.

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.