Head of Transformation Programme Office

Overview

This is a hybrid position based out of our Leicester office, (c. 3 days per week in office), with occasional travel to sites/partners.

Home. There’s no place like it. And there’s no feeling like helping people create the joy of feeling truly at home.

At Dunelm, that’s what we do.

We’re the UK's number one choice for homewares because we make home life lovelier for our customers. And the caring and supportive culture we've created makes this a place you'll feel right at home too.

Although we’ve been very successful over the last 40+ years, we see a significant opportunity to accelerate our business through strengthening our customer proposition, accelerating omnichannel growth, simplifying how we work, and building the data, technology and people capabilities to deliver sustainable long-term performance, all delivered through a programmatic transformational approach to delivering step change results.

What you'll be doing

Reporting to the Chief Technology and Transformation Officer, you will lead the Transformation Programme Office (TPO) — the engine room that enables our workstreams to deliver a connected set of outcomes at pace. You’ll create the governance, disciplines and visibility that allow leaders to move faster, make better trade-offs, and stay focused on measurable benefits. You’ll also manage key third-party partners to accelerate delivery while building internal capability over time.

The main responsibilities include

• Lead the Transformation Programme Office (TPO). Ensure the TPO is set up with the resource and capability needed. Defining clear ways of working, setting standards, developing and agreeing tools for both the TPO and the workstream leads. Running the programme’s governance rhythm (forums, templates, packs, actions/decisions, RAID) to ensure successful delivery of initiatives and targeted benefits.

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Integrated planning across workstreams

consolidate workstream plans into a single, connected programme plan (work packets / initiatives / milestones), maintaining alignment across sequencing, dependencies, and resourcing.

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Stakeholder support and challenge

act as a trusted partner to Exec Sponsors and workstream leads—helping them stay focused on outcomes, surfacing trade‑offs, and ensuring the programme remains ambitious, coherent, and deliverable. As a member of the Dunelm Leadership Team (DLT) you will be the senior external face of the programme, working with all leadership teams to balance their day-to-day trading responsibilities with the requirements our ambitious transformation programme.

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Resourcing and capability shaping

identify capabilities and resources required, to deliver the initiatives and prepare the organisation for the associated changes, resulting in mobilisation of the right people at the right time to balance the need to run the business day to day with the capacity to deliver our broader strategic ambitions.

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Financial plan development

support Finance partners to turn workstream inputs into an investable multi‑year plan, including scenario planning, phasing, high‑level cost/benefit shape, and ensuring outputs are consistent and “Board‑ready.”

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Organisation readiness

Ensure the breadth and depth of change lands effectively by coordinating the level of change across the various audiences and driving the adoption of strong change management principles within workstreams and initiatives.

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Performance tracking and value realisation

establish clear measurement and reporting against agreed outcomes, benefits, and proof points; ensure risks, issues and delivery blockers are visible early and actively managed.

• Third‑party partner management: manage our external consultant/partner(s) day‑to‑day—clarifying scope and roles, planning the work, assuring outputs, tracking value delivered, and ensuring knowledge transfer as internal capability builds.

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Programme quality assurance

put in place proportionate QA across the programme (standards, reviews, delivery health checks) and ensure workstream artefacts meet agreed expectations before governance and Board forums.

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Communication and engagement

ensure the programme has crisp, consistent materials for Exec, Board, and broader company updates.

To be successful you will bring a pragmatic, outcome focused approach; strong programme leadership; confidence to challenge constructively; a bias for simple repeatable ways of working; high standards of transparency; and strong partner management.

Measures of success

• The Transformation “Operating System” is running, with clear governance cadence, forums, ways of working and standards that make the programme easy to steer.
• Single, joined up view of delivery across the portfolio, providing transparent tracking and reporting across milestones, risks, dependencies, and outcomes, so leaders can understand progress and define requirements to ensure successful outcome delivery.
• Active portfolio integration and trade‑off management, so interdependencies are identified early, options are shaped, and decisions/escalations are driven to resolution to protect pace and focus.
• Benefits and outcomes discipline is embedded, with clear measures, ownership, and a fact‑based view of where value is accruing vs at risk, all reflected in active management of delivery priorities.
• Partner value and internal capability uplift, ensuring third‑party support is tightly directed and progressively reduces dependency through knowledge transfer, supported by proportionate independent assurance.

What we'll look for in you

• Led PMO / Programme Office / Transformation Office for complex, multi‑workstream programmes, and delivered success through building integrated plans, governance rhythms, and delivery disciplines that improve pace and outcomes.
• Strong dependency, risk, and benefits management across cross‑functional initiatives.
• Deep understanding of change management
• Comfortable operating with and influencing Exec/Board stakeholders and external partners.