Canal & River Trust
Project/Programme Planner (Boating Transformation Programme)
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
About the Trust
We're one of the UK’s biggest charities and we care for 2,000 miles of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs because we believe life is better by water. We're looking for people who support our cause and want to make a difference for future generations. Could this be you?
Along with our waterways we also manage museums, archives and the country's third largest collection of historic buildings, as well as the nature and wildlife that calls our canals home. All of this enables us to provide wellbeing opportunities for millions of people each year.
Join Our Team: Transforming Boating Project / Programme Planner (internal title) opportunity
Navigate your future and lock in your career as we keep our canals open and alive.
The Transforming Boating Project Planner is part of a team delivering a major multi-year Transforming Boating Programme. While specialist boating knowledge is not required, the role holder will be part of a team delivering a major transformation programme that improves the boating experience, rebuilds trust with the community, and delivers key reforms to licensing and customer engagement.
The role is responsible for keeping the transformation programme strictly on track, managing project interdependencies, scheduling timelines, and proactively liaising with responsible project officers cross-departmentally. Operating as the central planning hub for the team, and translating overarching strategic objectives into coordinated, cross-functional delivery plans to ensure project outcomes are met efficiently and transparently.
Working Hours & Location
This is a home based role which follows a 37 hour working week and will be assigned to one of the Trust's key operational hubs. Regular travel across England and Wales as required to competently perform the role. A valid UK driving licence and access to a vehicle are essential.
Role Overview
You will coordinate and track delivery of the Trust’s multi-year Transforming Boating Programme, ensuring key milestones, dependencies, and outcomes remain on schedule. Working across multiple teams, you’ll manage project plans, monitor performance, and provide clear reporting to support effective decision-making and successful programme delivery.
Key responsibilities
- Establish, maintain, and own the master project schedule and critical path for the 3-year Transforming Boating programme, ensuring all milestone deadlines for the pre-consultation, live consultation and resulting improvement projects are met.
- Proactively map, monitor, and manage complex project interdependencies, constraints, and risk registers across multiple parallel workstreams to prevent delivery bottlenecks.
- Liaise regularly with responsible project officers cross-departmentally (including Licensing, Enforcement, Welfare, Communications, and Legal) to track individual task progress and secure cross-functional alignment.
- Proactively identify 'quick wins' across all departments to add to the project timeline, ensuring operational items that can be implemented immediately are successfully incorporated into the programme and driven to completion.
- Provide guidance, and task allocation to the Transforming Boating Officer, ensuring field activities and panel administration align with the wider programme schedule.
- Support the Boating Transformation Programme Manager, and Boating Change Manager to deliver ongoing improvement projects driven directly from the master project outcomes.
- Collate progress data from across the departments to generate transparent status updates, timeline forecasts, and risk reports for the Boating Transformation Programme Manager, Executive Boards, and the Board of Trustees.
- Track operational outputs against key performance indicators (KPIs) and budgetary controls to ensure the programme delivers measurable improvements in customer satisfaction and network efficiency.
- Displaying the Trust values and behaviours at all times.
- Ensuring that diversity and inclusion are integrated into all aspects of Trust life and promoting inclusion by challenging behaviour, practices, actions, or decisions that are counter to the objectives of the Trust’s policies and values.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Key Relationships
- Boating Transformation Programme Manager: Direct line manager, providing day-to-day direction, overseeing delivery progress, supporting risk management, and coordinating timelines across programme workstreams.
- Transforming Boating Officer & Boating Change Manager: Working closely with the wider transformation team to support programme delivery, align activities to strategic objectives, monitor KPIs, and contribute to reporting for senior leaders and governance boards.
- Internal Cross-Functional Teams: Building strong relationships with colleagues across Licensing, Enforcement, Welfare, Operations, Communications, and Legal teams to support collaboration, understand current processes, and help embed programme outcomes across the Trust.
- Citizens Boater Panel & Stakeholder Groups: Coordinating engagement activities, onboarding, administration, and communications to ensure customer insight and lived experience inform programme decisions and delivery.
- National Boating Organisations (NBOs) & Local Boating Communities: Working collaboratively to support consultation activities, community engagement events, towpath hubs, and the distribution of accessible information and feedback opportunities.
About You
You will be an experienced programme planning professional with a strong background in infrastructure, engineering, maintenance, or asset management environments. You'll combine analytical capability with excellent stakeholder management skills and be comfortable working with complex programmes, substantial budgets, and technical asset information.
Most importantly, you will be motivated by maximising programme efficiency, optimising asset investment, and supporting the long-term sustainability of the Trust's nationally important infrastructure.
Skills & Qualifications
Technical skills:
- Significant experience in project or programme planning and scheduling within a large, complex, matrix-managed, or public sector organisation.
- Strong knowledge of recognised project and programme management methodologies, including PRINCE2, Agile, MSP, or equivalent.
- Experience managing complex programmes, including critical paths, interdependencies, milestones, risks, and delivery plans.
- Proven ability to identify and implement operational improvements, efficiencies, and quick-win initiatives.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess complex information and make evidence-based recommendations.
- Advanced IT and data management skills, including the ability to develop and maintain performance reports, dashboards, and programme tracking tools.
- Experience producing high-quality reporting and insights for senior leaders, project boards, and governance groups.
- Ability to manage programme risks, issues, dependencies, and change controls within a structured delivery framework.
General skills:
- Strong leadership, people management, or supervisory experience, with the ability to support, coach, and develop others.
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build productive relationships across multiple teams and functions.
- Strong communication skills, with the confidence to engage effectively with colleagues at all levels, including senior leaders and external stakeholders.
- Ability to work collaboratively across organisational boundaries to achieve shared objectives and deliver successful outcomes.
- A proactive, solution-focused approach, with the resilience to manage competing priorities and maintain pace in a dynamic environment.
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise workloads and manage multiple activities simultaneously.
- A strategic mindset, capable of navigating ambiguity, adapting to changing circumstances, and maintaining focus on long-term objectives.
- Ability to hold stakeholders accountable while fostering a collaborative and positive working environment.
- A commitment to delivering meaningful and sustainable organisational change that benefits colleagues, customers, and communities.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Contact & Application
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at CRT.recruitment@canalrivertrust.org.uk. We encourage early applications as we may close the vacancy once we receive enough suitable candidates.
What We Offer
In addition to your annual base salary of £45,450 - £50,085 (depending on experience) we also offer a competitive pension scheme, increasing holiday entitlement, and a range of employee benefits. For a full breakdown of our benefits, check out our brochure here: EVP - 1.
Learn more: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us/our-benefits
Our values
We care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce where everyone can thrive. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community.
We want everyone to have the opportunity to perform at their best during our recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments - whether for a disability, neurodiversity, or health condition - please let us know what you need and how we can support you. We’ll work with you to make any necessary changes.
All of our jobs can be considered on a part time, flexible or job share basis.
We operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. You are considered disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. We recognise not everyone who is classified as disabled under the Equality Act personally identifies this way, or with this definition of disability. Please do not let this discourage you from applying under the scheme.
At Canal & River Trust, we are committed to fair, transparent, and ethical recruitment practices. As part of our hiring process, we may use AI to analyse applications and support us work more efficiently. However, all hiring decisions – without exception - are made by our hiring managers.
Navigate your future and lock in your career as we keep our canals open and alive.
Find out more about us on our website: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location