About the job
IT Project Manager
Permanent
Based in Burton Upon Trent with travel to Birmingham and London. (hybrid working with 3 days on site and 2 days at home)
We are seeking an experienced Project Manager to join our friendly and dynamic team here at Waterstones. You will lead the legacy platform replacement programme, particularly IBM iSeries (AS400), ERP, warehouse management integration, merchandising or customer-built business-critical systems. This is Phase 1 of a broader enterprise systems modernisation programme.
The role demands a unique combination of:
- Technical fluency (integrations, data migration, legacy vs modern architecture awareness)
- Operational insight (understanding finance and operations processes)
- Hands-on delivery leadership
- Strong governance and risk management
- Cross-regional coordination (UK + US teams)
The successful candidate will own delivery, manage risk, and ensure successful go live.
What you will be doing
Programme Leadership
- Establish and maintain programme governance and reporting structures
- Experience leading complex, multi-workstream transformation programmes with significant organisational change impacts.
- Ability to develop programme roadmaps, manage interdependencies and align technology delivery with strategic business objectives.
- Experience mobilising project teams, third-party partners and governance structures within large-scale transformation programmes.
- Maintain RAID logs and manage escalations
- Chair weekly delivery meetings with UK and US teams
- Lead cutover planning and go-live execution
Technical Oversight
- Work closely with Technical Leads to ensure architecture, integrations, and environments are fit-for-purpose
- Oversee data migration strategy and execution
- Ensure architectural decisions are validated and signed off
- Understand legacy AS400 / iSeries constraints and risk areas
- Challenge vendor proposals and technical assumptions
Operational Alignment
- Ensure ERP design aligns with business processes and operational realities
- Facilitate workshops with business SMEs
- Guide decisions on process redesign vs replication
- Oversee UAT cycles and business sign-off
- Balance operational needs against technical feasibility
Data Migration & Cutover Governance
- Oversee early data profiling and cleansing
- Ensure migration rehearsals are planned and executed
- Define reconciliation and validation checkpoints
- Own data governance during cutover
Cross-Regional Coordination
- Align UK and US teams on objectives, timelines, and responsibilities
- Work with project Sponsor to establish clear decision rights (RACI)
Steering & Executive Reporting
- Prepare monthly steering packs
- Present risk, budget, and delivery updates clearly to sponsor and steering group
- Ensure Go/No-Go decisions are based on objective evidence
What we need from you
Significant experience in large, complex systems programmes
- Proven experience delivering technology transformation programmes within a UK or international retail organisation.
- Strong understanding of retail business processes including merchandising, store operations, supply chain, ecommerce, stock management, order fulfilment and finance.
- Experience operating within multi-site retail environments where technology changes impact stores, distribution centres and digital channels.
- Leading multi‑year, multi‑workstream transformations.
- Demonstrable experience leading legacy platform replacement programmes, particularly IBM iSeries (AS400 type environments), ERP, WMS, OMS, merchandising or custom-built business critical systems.
- Proven track record of reducing technical debt through platform modernisation and technology transformation initiatives.
- Delivering replacements of legacy or core business systems (ERP, WMS, OMS, custom platforms, AS400-type environments)
- Managing cross‑functional teams and multiple vendors
Strong technical background
- Understanding of systems architecture, integrations, APIs, databases, and infrastructure
- Experience working closely with Enterprise Architecture teams to define and deliver target-state technology architectures.
- Understanding of modern architectural principles including Microservices, API-first, Cloud-first and Headless application design.
- Experience delivering programmes involving platform decoupling and transition from monolithic architectures to modular service-based solutions.
- Experience with data migration and cutover approaches
- Ability to challenge technical decisions and translate complexity into clear plans
- Exposure to cloud platforms, modern integration patterns, and enterprise system design
Proven programme and delivery management skills
- End‑to‑end ownership of programme planning, RAID management, governance, and budget
- Strong command of delivery methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, hybrid)
- Ability to run complex dependency management across tech, business, and 3rd parties
Leadership and stakeholder management capability
- Comfortable influencing senior stakeholders and resolving technical‑business conflicts
- Skilled at driving clarity, decision‑making, and accountability
- Able to lead diverse teams through technical ambiguity and change
Relevant qualifications or certifications (not essential but highly valuable)
- PMP, PMI-ACP, PRINCE2, or MSP for programme/project governance
- Scrum Master or Agile Delivery certifications
- ITIL for operational readiness and service transition understanding
Person Profile
- Resilient and calm under pressure, capable of navigating competing priorities across a multi‑year modernisation programme.
- Highly collaborative, able to build strong relationships with engineers, vendors, SMEs, and senior stakeholders.
- Pragmatic and delivery‑focused, able to balance ideal architecture with real‑world constraints of legacy environments and operational pressures.
- A strategic thinker who can simplify complexity and communicate clear technical direction across both technical and non‑technical teams.
Why work for Waterstones
Waterstones is the cornerstone of bookselling across the UK and Ireland. Joining Waterstones means being an active part in a success story that began in 1982, and books are as popular now as the day we started.
Trading across the UK, Ireland and Europe, we are present in over 300 shopping locations, where Waterstones continues to thrive, each year actively pursuing a programme of new bookshop openings. Online at Waterstones.com, we meanwhile mirror the essence of our bookshops, further showcasing the unique enthusiasm and knowledge of our booksellers.
If you have the relevant essential experience and you are interested, we would love to hear from you.
Waterstones is committed to encouraging equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and is dedicated toward eliminating unlawful discrimination.
Our aim is to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel fully respected and to be able to give their best.
Diversity Statement
At Waterstones, we are committed to creating a workplace that is fair and inclusive to people from all backgrounds, perspectives and experiences, and we strive to promote an inclusive work culture.
We are working hard to ensure our recruitment processes are free from bias, and our aim is to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel fully respected and able to give their best.
Reasonable Adjustments
We understand that some disabled applicants may, due to the nature of their disability, find some parts of the recruitment process challenging. If you need any reasonable adjustments during any part of the interview process, please make these known either to your interviewer or the person you liaise with when setting up your interview.