Dependency Manager

Dependency Manager

The Dependency Manager is responsible for identifying, analysing, and managing dependencies across programmes and portfolios to ensure successful, coordinated delivery. This role provides assurance, mitigates delivery risk, and enables evidencebased decisionmaking for complex, multiteam or multidepartment programmes.

Key Responsibilities

Dependency Management & Integration

• Establish and maintain a comprehensive dependency management framework across programmes.

• Identify, categorise, and assess inbound, outbound, and crosscutting dependencies across projects, teams, suppliers, and external departments

• Ensure dependencies are clearly documented, owned, tracked, and escalated through appropriate governance.

Risk & Issue Alignment

• Analyse the impact of unresolved dependencies on critical path, milestones, benefits and delivery confidence.

• Work closely with risk managers to integrate dependency impacts into RAID logs.

• Recommend mitigations, contingency planning, and corrective actions to senior stakeholders.

Governance & Reporting

• Produce highquality dependency reporting for Programme Boards, SROs, portfolio offices, and crossgovernment governance forums.

• Provide early warning insight to enable proactive decisionmaking and safeguarding of delivery plans

• Maintain dependency heatmaps, dashboards, and integrated delivery views.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

• Build strong relationships with programme leads, PMO, commercial teams, suppliers, crossgovernment delivery partners, and operational areas.

• Facilitate dependency workshops, integration sessions, scenario planning and crossprogramme alignment meetings.

• Influence senior stakeholders to ensure ownership and prioritisation of critical dependency activity.

Planning & Portfolio Alignment

• Work with portfolio planning colleagues to ensure dependencies feed into portfoliolevel plans, sequencing, and prioritisation.

• Support planning artefacts (roadmaps, critical path analysis, integrated schedules) with validated dependency data.

Assurance & Continuous Improvement

• Provide subjectmatter expertise for assurance reviews, including internal governance and external audit or IPA reviews.

• Develop and continuously refine dependency management tools, templates, and guidance.

• Champion adoption of Project Delivery Profession standards and contribute to capabilitybuilding.

Skills/Experience:

• UK government experience in a similar role in a complex programme environment of significant scale and size, with multiple stakeholders including suppliers.
• Dynamic and visible leadership with the ability to influence in a multi-disciplinary environment, where you do have line management (G7 and above roles).
• Proven track record of delivering at pace in a complex government programme/project.
• Confidence to challenge and influence senior leaders.
• Ability to identify problems, own solutions and deliver positive outcomes.
• Proven track record in role modelling good programme/project delivery practice and ability to coach others to enhance their capability.
• Ability and confidence to write well, with good attention to detail and pride in doing a good job.
• Real life experience of using programme/project tools and methodologies and flexing them to suit the delivery priorities.
• Must be able to travel regularly.