Job Specifications
About the Rainforest Alliance:
The Rainforest Alliance's mission is to protect forests, improve the livelihoods of farmers and forest communities, promote human rights, and help mitigate climate change by transforming business practices, land use, and consumer behavior. It partners with farmers, businesses, and governments to implement sustainable solutions for environmental and social challenges. The organization offers a positive work environment, emphasizing collaboration, purpose-driven impact, and opportunities for professional growth. Employees value its commitment to sustainability and ethical standards. Working there allows individuals to contribute to meaningful global change.
Role Purpose:
The Senior Delivery Manager is accountable for leading the successful delivery of complex technological initiatives, from strategy and planning through to execution and handover. This role combines project and programme management expertise with a strong understanding of SaaS and Agile delivery methods to ensure high-quality, timely, and cost-effective outcomes. The Senior Delivery Manager works closely with senior stakeholders, cross-functional delivery teams, and third parties to manage scope, resources, risks, and dependencies across the full delivery lifecycle
Key Responsibilities:
The responsibilities and deliverables outlined in this statement are not exhaustive. The Senior Delivery Manager may be required to undertake additional duties or provide further deliverables as reasonably requested to support the successful delivery of change projects and associated initiatives.
Planning and Roadmaps
Integrated Delivery Planning – Develop and maintain consolidated delivery plans showing timelines, milestones, dependencies, and critical paths across Common Components, Agile squads, and Waterfall programmes.
Quarterly & Annual Roadmaps – Provide forward-looking views of priorities, releases, and portfolio alignment, linking delivery commitments to organisational objectives and strategic outcomes.
Dependency & Risk Mapping – Document and manage inter-team, inter-system, and vendor dependencies, ensuring proactive identification of delivery risks and mitigation strategies across all methodologies.
Governance and Reporting
Portfolio-Level Dashboards – Maintain transparent delivery dashboards tracking velocity, milestones, risks, and overall progress across squads, programmes, and portfolios.
Standards & Compliance – Ensure practices adhere to internal policies, regulations, and industry benchmarks in both Agile and Waterfall domains.
Tooling & Data Integrity – Promote disciplined use of Jira and Confluence for backlog management, sprint tracking, documentation, and reporting, ensuring data accuracy for executive review.
Governance Leadership – Contribute to steering committees and portfolio boards, reporting delivery health, risks, and recovery strategies as needed.
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement – Identify and maintain maps of stakeholders, their influence, and interests; ensure business and product representation is secured for decision-making and prioritisation.
Conflict Mediation – Act as a senior mediator to resolve conflicts between teams, functions, and stakeholders, ensuring alignment to overall goals, timelines, and benefits realisation.
Executive Communication – Provide clear, value-focused updates tailored for senior stakeholders (CIO, COO, Portfolio Sponsors), highlighting delivery status, risks, and impacts on organisational objectives.
Delivery Management (Agile, Scaled Agile, Hybrid & Waterfall)
Culture of Ownership – Foster accountability within squads and programmes, ensuring team members own quality, delivery outcomes, and risk management.
End-to-End Delivery Leadership – Lead the delivery of SaaS platforms, Common Components, and enterprise solutions using Agile (Scrum, Kanban, Scaled Agile), Waterfall, or hybrid approaches, selecting the methodology best aligned to delivery objectives, risk profile, and stakeholder needs.
Ways of Working Guide – Define, document, and embed delivery standards and processes (ceremonies, stage gates, tools, governance rhythms) to support both Agile squads and Waterfall programmes operating across Common Components.
Onboarding & Engagement – Develop clear guidelines for consuming and integrating common components (integration patterns, delivery engagement model, escalation routes, key contacts), ensuring alignment across both iterative and linear delivery approaches.
Delivery Playbooks – Shape and contribute to playbooks for dependency management, prioritisation, integration testing, cutover readiness, and risk handling across multiple teams and delivery methodologies.
Squad & Programme Leadership – Lead multiple Agile squads through daily stand-ups and sprint ceremonies while also overseeing Waterfall delivery workstreams; remove blockers, manage escalations, and partner with Product Owners and Technical Leads to ensure delivery a