Senior Project Manager - 9 Month Contract View to extend - Inside IR35

Senior Project Manager

AI Transformation Programme | Financial Services | London, Hybrid

About the Client

Morela is supporting a leading UK management consultancy with a strong Financial Services practice, known for delivering complex change and transformation programmes for regulators, banks and insurers. They combine senior business consulting with hands-on delivery, working closely alongside clients’ teams rather than simply handing over a report.

This engagement supports a major UK financial services regulator’s AI transformation programme. Having established its initial AI foundations, the programme is now scaling AI across the organisation, including the technical foundations required for an increasingly agentic operating model.

The Role

This is a 9-month contract, with the option to extend by a further 6 months, starting early to mid-November 2026. The role is Inside IR35, so you must be comfortable working under these arrangements. It is based in London on a hybrid basis, with 50% of your time in the office. There are two Senior Project Manager positions available.

You will lead a key workstream within the programme and be accountable for delivering its outcomes. The work involves significant risk, ambiguity and dependencies, requiring strong delivery leadership, sound decision-making and the ability to manage senior stakeholders. We are looking for someone with around 5–7 years of relevant specialist experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead a key workstream and own delivery of its outcomes within the wider programme.
• Make autonomous delivery decisions, including prioritisation and trade-offs.
• Manage complex risks, issues and dependencies across the workstream and programme.
• Engage and influence senior and executive stakeholders.
• Provide clear reporting and assurance to senior governance forums.
• Manage workstream budgets and forecasting.
• Lead, coach and develop the workstream team.

Essential Requirements

• Experience within Financial Services, regulatory bodies or similarly complex regulated environments.
• Strong financial services or regulatory sector knowledge.
• Strong delivery leadership across complex, high-risk and ambiguous projects.
• Ability to make autonomous delivery decisions, including prioritisation and trade-offs.
• Advanced senior and executive stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
• Proven management of complex project and programme risks and dependencies.
• Clear reporting and assurance to senior governance forums.
• Strong people leadership, coaching and team development.
• Deep knowledge of project delivery methodologies and governance.
• Commercial and financial management capability, including budgets and forecasting.
• Strong organisational awareness and ability to deliver through influence.

Desirable Experience

• Managing the implementation of Agentic AI, covering both technology delivery and associated business change.
• Managing technical delivery and change within an HR function.

Working Environment

You will work hybrid, spending half your time in the London office and the rest remotely. You will be part of a consultancy team embedded in a high-profile regulatory programme, owning a workstream and working directly with senior stakeholders as AI scales across the organisation. This role suits a confident delivery lead who is comfortable with ambiguity, makes decisions, and wants to deliver agentic AI in a regulated setting.

To apply or find out more, please reach out to Kieran Sewell at (url removed).