The Delivery team sits within Cox Automotive Product & Technology Group (CAPTG), helping to deliver software products and services to support our UK and European businesses.
Our systems support multiple physical and digital businesses across the Wholesale division, underpinning millions of pounds worth of revenue each year.
We own and operate a mix of Greenfield and legacy systems, and we are on a journey to transform and modernise our technology estate and ways of working over the coming years. As such, we are investing in new technology, people and culture to deliver new Greenfield products across Wholesale, aimed at providing a technology foundation to underpin the business for the next 10 years and beyond.
As part of a wider drive towards modern product engineering practices and standardisation across all teams, this role will be pivotal in leading delivery across major projects and initiatives to realise digital transformation within the business and promote a delivery mindset alongside our Product group.
We are looking for an experienced delivery leader to join our team and to help push transformation forward at pace and at scale.
Scope of Role
As a Principal Delivery Lead you will collaborate closely and build influence with architecture, engineering, product, and business partners within Europe and the UK to work on designing next-generation, customer-facing, software-as-a-service applications. You will play a critical role in driving successful outcomes, fostering team collaboration, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Your primary purpose is to lead and successfully deliver major CAPTG projects and navigate the complexity of delivering software consistently in large environments. You will resolve and escalate impediments, manage risk, assure value delivery, and drive program-level continuous improvement. You will provide a critical link between multiple product engineering teams; facilitating communications, opening the flow of information, and sharing important progress updates to ensure all teams are focused on successful delivery. You are accountable for the overall coordination, execution and delivery of value through the program while ensuring alignment with company strategy, commitments and goals.
Finally, you will work closely with the Head of Architecture and CAPTG SLT to define the longer-term strategy for Delivery within Product Engineering to drive efficiencies and innovation.
Objectives for Role
1. Oversee delivery for projects spanning multiple teams with complex scope and interdependencies. Ensure timely and high-quality delivery of projects or products within scope, budget, and schedule.
2. Manage change to the delivery plan and the impacts of those changes. Monitor progress, identify risks, and implement mitigation strategies to avoid delays or cost overruns.
3. Ensure that delivery objectives align with the broader strategic goals of the organization.
4. Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and alignment on project goals.
5. Manage expectations by providing regular updates on progress, risks, and changes. Track and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) related to delivery, such as velocity, cycle time, and defect rates.
6. Be the primary point of contact for stakeholders regarding delivery status and issues.
7. Act as a servant leader, supporting the team by removing obstacles and fostering a collaborative environment. Promote cross-functional collaboration between teams, stakeholders, and external partners.
8. Responsible for backlog management as well as use of agile tooling to maintain integrity for accurate reporting. This includes the collection of metrics and KPIs.
9. Coordinate major feature releases and ongoing delivery of value to customers where multiple engineering teams, data teams, operation teams, or solution groups are involved in the development.
10. Resolve/report issues and manage dependencies and risks across the multiple product engineering teams within a project. Facilitate the resolution of blockers and dependencies to keep the team on track.
11. Drive continuous improvement through the facilitation of retrospectives quarterly, or more often as needed, to improve backlog management, release reviews, sprint reviews, or release coordination and higher-level function.
12. Establishment and active participation in the Delivery Community of Practice helping the organization to maintain alignment, learn new techniques, and improve technical and quality practices.
13. Work with Product, Engineering, Architecture, and Business leaders to determine ways to help improve delivery across the company including transformation of organizational models, operating models, and process improvements to facilitate improved coordination and collaboration.
14. Coaches team members to improve in the implementation of Agile processes, practices, and mindset.
15. Assisting in the execution of product vision.
16. Empower teams to be owners of their products and processes and help embed the culture of ‘You build, you run it’.
17. May have other delivery leaders and/or Scrum Masters reporting to them directly.
Skills, Knowledge, and Experience
1. Bachelor’s Degree + 4 years’ experience OR 8 years relevant experience.
2. 3-5+ years’ experience in a dedicated delivery leadership role.
3. Must have experience with collaboration and influence with Director level stakeholders.
4. Must understand the difference between being Agile and doing Agile.
5. Understands Lean thinking and implementation.
6. Must live near Manchester or Leeds and be willing to come onsite 2-3x and as needed beyond that.
7. Strong technical aptitude and experience leading teams in delivering quality software.
8. Experience applying Lean Thinking and Systems Thinking in large organizations.
9. Experience with Lean Portfolio Management facilitation for program, portfolio, or executive level.
10. Experience working in an Agile organization using Scrum, XP, Kanban, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), or other scaling model.
11. Servant leader and strong communicator with strong interpersonal skills who can:
12. Listen and support teams in problem-identification and decision making.
13. Encourage an environment that values mutual respect, openness, and courage.
14. Persuade by influence rather than authority.
15. Understand and empathize with others.
16. Think beyond day-to-day activities.
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