Project Manager (12m FTC)

Company Description

Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Strategic Projects team as a Project Manager on a 12-month fixed term contract, with hybrid working from our office in Embassy Gardens, London (approx. 2 days per week). 

 

Your primary focus will be leading a company-wide File Management project, helping to simplify how colleagues across Penguin Random House UK store, organise, find and share files and information. The project will support our move away from existing shared drives, including Nasuni/R Drive and OurFiles, towards Microsoft 365 and Box.com, while helping teams establish clearer and more consistent ways of working. 

 

Alongside this, you’ll have the flexibility to support and lead other strategic projects in response to changing business priorities. Reporting to the Head of Strategic Projects, you’ll work across different areas of the business, bringing together stakeholders and specialist colleagues to deliver complex projects and business change successfully. 

 

The team 

 

The Strategic Projects team is a key part of Penguin Random House Operations (which also includes Technology, Facilities and Distribution). We help PRH deliver transformational change against our strategic priorities, working with departments across PRH and DK from initial discovery through to implementation. 

 

For this project, you’ll work closely with a Senior Business Analyst, alongside colleagues specialising in Continuous Improvement, Communications and Digital Training as part of the wider Transformation team and Technology colleagues to realise data migration. 

 

The role 

 

As Project Manager, you’ll provide the structure and leadership needed to bring different project workstreams together and keep delivery on track. While File Management will be your primary focus, you’ll need to be comfortable adapting to business needs and applying your project management experience across other strategic initiatives where required. 

 

Key responsibilities: 

• Lead and motivate a cross-functional project team, ensuring colleagues understand their responsibilities, priorities and key milestones. 

• Take ownership of the full project lifecycle, from discovery and planning through to implementation, migration and embedding new ways of working. 

• Develop and manage the overall project plan, coordinating business analysis, technical delivery, continuous improvement, communications and training activity. 

• Manage project resources, schedules, dependencies and financials, ensuring delivery remains on track. 

• Work closely with the Senior Business Analyst to translate discovery and stakeholder insights into practical project and migration plans. 

• Coordinate the transition from existing shared drives to Microsoft 365 and Box.com, working with technical teams and specialist SMEs as required. 

• Ensure the project considers both technical delivery and the people and process changes needed for successful adoption. 

• Manage project issues, risks and change requests, identifying and escalating potential impacts and putting appropriate mitigations in place. 

• Provide clear reporting on milestones, deliverables, dependencies, risks and issues to project sponsors, leadership and key stakeholders. 

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across PRH and DK, setting and managing expectations throughout delivery. 

• Work with internal teams and external suppliers where required, including reviewing relevant statements of work (SOWs), specifications and deliverables. 

• Ensure appropriate project governance is maintained and progress is measured against agreed success criteria. 

 

What you’ll bring 

Essential criteria: 

 

• Strong project management experience, with a track record of taking complex projects from planning and discovery through to implementation and successful delivery. 

• Experience of managing file management, document management or similar projects involving user data migration and changes to ways of working. You should be confident leading delivery across business and technical teams, managing dependencies and supporting successful adoption. 

• Experience of delivering projects involving significant business change, with an understanding of the people and process changes required alongside technical implementation. 

• Experience of leading cross-functional project teams and coordinating colleagues with different areas of expertise and responsibility. 

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to build relationships and manage expectations across different levels of an organisation. 

• Good knowledge of Waterfall and Agile project management frameworks, methodologies and associated governance structures, including approaches such as PRINCE2 and Scrum. 

• Confidence communicating technical or complex information to non-technical audiences in a clear and accessible way. 

• Experience with the Microsoft Office digital suite, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. 

• An understanding of technology delivery and the software development lifecycle, including areas such as requirements gathering, testing, deployment and change management. 

Desirable criteria: 

• Experience of Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Box.com, Nasuni or other enterprise file/document management platforms. 

• Experience of delivering projects involving large-scale data or content migration. 

• Proficiency in MS Project or experience using a PPM tool with planning capabilities. 

• Experience of using JIRA and Confluence. 

• Experience working with external suppliers and technical SMEs. 

 

Application instructions 

 

Please apply with your CV and Cover Letter by 23:59 on Sunday 8th November 2026. 

 

AI 

 

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team. 

 

We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you. 

 

Disability Confident 

 

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. 

 

There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview. We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request. 

 

Salary 

 

The salary for this opportunity is c.£70,000, depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus a generous bonus scheme and benefits. 

 

Hybrid working 

 

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. 

 

For this role we expect that you will work from our office in Embassy Gardens, London 2 days per week (typically Tuesday & Thursday). You will be required to be flexible on other days as required by the business. 

 

Qualifications

Additional Information

 

 

Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:

Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.

The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here.

You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address. 

Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here.
 

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