Senior Project Manager – VDI Modernisation Project

This role is a day rate contract, estimated to last 5-6 months

The organisation is undertaking a high-risk platform replacement, driven by:

• End-of-life infrastructure and tooling
• Operational instability risks

This role exists to:

• Provide delivery control and structure
• Ensure alignment across technology and business teams
• Enable successful, timely execution of a critical programme

This is a finite, high-impact role with direct visibility at Director and Board level.

The contract will be considered successful when:

• Migration to AVD is delivered in line with planned milestones
• Executive stakeholders have clear, consistent confidence in delivery
• Risks and dependencies are actively managed and visible
• Programme delivery is:
• Controlled
• Transparent
• Well-governed
• The organisation exits the legacy platform safely and predictably

To lead the end-to-end delivery of a wide scale and high visibility VDI replacement programme, coordinating internal teams, external partners, and senior stakeholders to deliver a controlled migration from a legacy virtual desktop platform onto a newly deployed Azure landing zone and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).

This role exists to:

• Ensure structured, predictable delivery of a high-risk, high-visibility programme
• Provide clear coordination across multiple workstreams (infrastructure, applications, security, business)
• Enable executive and board-level confidence through effective communication and governance
• Drive timely decision-making and escalation to avoid delivery drift

This is not a purely administrative PM role: it is a delivery leadership role requiring strong coordination, ownership, and communication at all levels of the organisation.

By the end of the contract, the organisation will have:

• Successfully migrated ~3,500 users to Azure Virtual Desktop within the defined programme timeline
• Delivered a controlled transition off the legacy platform, including AWS exit planning
• Delivered an Azure landing zone accepted by security and architecture governance as the foundation for AVD
• Achieved clear governance and visibility across all programme workstreams
• Established trusted reporting to executive and board stakeholders
• Ensured risks, dependencies, and decisions are actively managed and visible
• Delivered a programme that is:
• Predictable
• Measured
• Clearly communicated

1. Programme coordination & delivery

• Own the end-to-end coordination of the VDI Replacement programme
• Align delivery across:
• Infrastructure (Azure landing zone, AVD build, networking, identity)
• Application packaging and delivery
• Security and compliance
• Business engagement and UAT
• Drive delivery against defined milestones, including:
• Partner mobilisation
• Design sign-off
• Core infrastructure build
• Phased user migration
• Hypercare and legacy environment decommission
• Ensure all workstreams are:
• Prioritised
• Sequenced correctly
• Actively progressing

1. Stakeholder engagement & communication

• Act as the primary coordination point between technical teams and senior stakeholders
• Provide clear, structured updates to:
• C-Suite level
• Group stakeholders
• Executive/board audiences
• Translate technical delivery into clear business language
• Ensure stakeholders:
• Understand progress
• Are aware of risks
• Are engaged at the right time

1. Governance, reporting & control

• Establish and maintain:
• Programme governance structure
• RAID logs
• Delivery tracking and reporting cadence
• Produce high-quality, concise reporting suitable for senior leadership
• Ensure all programme activity is:
• Documented
• Traceable
• Defensible

• Experience delivering:
• Migrations off legacy VDI estates (Citrix, VMware Horizon) or AWS-hosted desktop platforms
• Delivery aligned to the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, or in security-assured / regulated Azure environments
• Exposure to:
• Large-scale user migrations
• M&A-driven technology environments
• Familiarity with:
• Infrastructure delivery (networking, identity, security)