Available now for new engagements
Need a project manager? Get one direct.
Project Management Manchester provides senior, certified IT project management, engaged directly and business to business. No recruitment fees, no permanent overhead, and delivery from day one.
- PRINCE2 certified
- Fully insured
- SC ready
Controlled
Trusted on programmes for
Certified in
What brings you here?
Choose the option that fits, and we’ll show you what matters most to you.
A senior project manager, engaged direct, for as long as your project needs.
- Available now, with no hiring cycle or notice period
- No recruitment fee and nothing added to your payroll
- Live reporting, so you always know where things stand
Your badge, our delivery.
- Subcontract us, bring us in under your brand, or hold us on your bench
- Client-facing, composed and rigorous on governance
- Limited company, fully insured and SC ready
A quick fit check and a fast answer.
- Limited company, with engagements outside IR35
- Fully insured, SC ready and available now
- Replies usually within 20 minutes in working hours
Sound familiar?
Most projects don’t fail for lack of effort. They drift, and every week of drift costs time, money and confidence.
Without the right project manager
With Project Management Manchester
The project has been amber for months, and nobody can say why.
An honest diagnosis in the first week, and a plan the team believes in.
Status reports say a lot and tell you nothing.
Live reporting that shows progress, risks and decisions at a glance.
Suppliers are pointing at each other.
One plan, clear ownership and firm commercial control of every supplier.
The recruiter’s shortlist is still weeks away.
A senior project manager, available now.
Your best people are stretched between the day job and the project.
Delivery handled, so your team can get back to their day jobs.
The better way to find a project manager.
Recruitment was built for permanent roles. Projects have a start, a middle and an end. Here’s how the three routes compare, using published 2026 UK figures.
Paid to a middleman in the first year
Permanent hire: agency fee
£9k–£15k
Agency contractor: margin
£6k–£12k
Us
£0
UsUsDirect with Project Management Manchester£9,000–£15,000 agency fee, typically 15–25% of first-year salary
Nothing up front, but a margin of typically 10–20% in every day rate
Nothing. No fee and no margin
Typically 9–18 weeks: around five to an accepted offer, then a one to three month notice period
Typically one to two weeks, after shortlists, interviews and onboarding
Available now. We start once scope and terms are agreed
£8,250 a year in employer National Insurance, plus pension of at least 3%
Paid for through the agency’s margin, for as long as they’re engaged
None. One invoice from our limited company
The role and its salary stay on your payroll
The contract ends
So does the engagement. Nothing to unwind
The candidate who accepts your offer
Whoever the agency puts forward
A senior project manager you’ve already spoken to
Employment contract, payroll and HR
Agency terms and status checks
A simple B2B contract set up to sit outside IR35
Figures are illustrations using published 2026 UK data; your own will vary. Agency fees: Recruitly and ON3 Works 2026 benchmarks. Time to hire: Totaljobs survey reported by NatWest Mentor, April 2026. Notice periods: Incomes Data Research. Employer National Insurance: 15% on earnings above £5,000, GOV.UK rates for 2026/27. Contract margins: Pro Playbooks, 2026. Median salary: IT Jobs Watch, July 2026. Contractor start times: The Maine Group and Adria Solutions, 2026. The agency contractor margin assumes a year of contractor spend equal to the salary shown, so it is a conservative figure.
Major change to live services, without the outage.
Programmes where failure isn’t an option: national services, fixed end-of-life dates, and many suppliers who all need to land together.
of hardware and professional services across multiple suppliers, renewing the core infrastructure behind the UK Smart Meter service
NHS sites moved onto new infrastructure across Greater Manchester
service requests a month on a platform moved to ServiceNow
service interruption during a live disaster recovery data centre move
Your first 30 days, made tangible.
Engaging a project manager shouldn’t be a leap of faith. This is what a typical start looks like, and what you’ll have in your hands at each stage.
Week 1
Listen and diagnose
Conversations with sponsors, teams and suppliers, and a close review of the plan, the risks and the contracts.
You get an honest assessment of where things really stand.
Week 2
Plan and baseline
A realistic plan, a live risk and issue log, and a governance rhythm everyone has agreed to.
You get a plan the team believes in, with an owner for every risk.
Week 3
Make progress visible
A live dashboard in Smartsheet or your existing tools, updated as work happens rather than at month end.
You get progress, risks and decisions you can see at any time.
Week 4
Build momentum
Suppliers aligned to one plan, and the first steering report issued with clear decisions requested.
You get decisions made sooner, and a project moving with confidence.
How we can help.
Three ways to engage us, each a straightforward business-to-business agreement.
On-demand project management
Senior project management for the days you need, when you need them.
Ideal when a project needs direction and governance, but not a full-time lead.
- Regular reporting and updates
- Technical and non-technical projects
- A commitment that flexes with the work
Embedded project management
A full-time senior project manager inside your team, accountable from mobilisation to hypercare.
Ideal for significant programmes, or several workstreams at once.
- Infrastructure refresh and end-of-life replacement
- Data centre, platform and ServiceNow migrations
- Multi-site and national rollouts
Smartsheet expert consultancy
Plans, automated workflows, dashboards and client-facing reporting portals, designed around how live projects are actually run.
Ideal when reporting is manual and nobody can see the whole picture.
- Sheets, Gantt views, reports and dashboards
- Automation, forms and integrations
- Custom reporting portals for your clients
Not sure which fits?
Book a free call for a valuable discussion on where your project stands, your resourcing options, and a follow-up cost.
Bring us in when…
Six situations handled before, with the results to show for it. Choose one to see how it was delivered.
The end-of-life date is looming.
Core IT and security systems behind the UK Smart Meter service had to be replaced before vendor support ended, and the disaster recovery data centre moved, without an outage. Steve ran three concurrent projects to fixed deadlines, owned the £16M budget for hardware and professional services across multiple suppliers, challenged supplier costs and secured Energy Industry panel approval for an extraordinary outage schedule.
The rollout covers hundreds of sites.
A regional NHS shared service ran on disparate sites, networks and data centres, which limited clinical mobility and kept support costs high. Steve set new infrastructure standards and a repeatable, time-boxed cutover model, then delivered LAN, Wi-Fi and WAN site by site, consolidating systems and contracts to cut central costs.
“I have been running critical technical/clinical programs for many years now and am constantly reminded of the importance to have an excellent Project Manager at the helm… I must say I would re-employ Steve without hesitation.”
Nobody can see the whole portfolio.
A design partner for UK rail was running a high-volume portfolio under Network Rail’s GRIP governance, with manual reporting and no reliable view of future capacity. Steve led the portfolio and an offshore team of eight, and built a Smartsheet delivery system from scratch: standard plans, readiness checklists, capacity forecasting and client reporting portals.
“Steve was able to comprehend the range of difficult problems we faced, advise on options and then implement the platform, process and procedures needed to resolve them.”
Several suppliers must land one change.
A service management platform used by multiple providers had to move from an end-of-life system to ServiceNow against a strict deadline. Steve led testing and data migration, validated and challenged supplier statements of work, controlled spend, and brought every supplier through to a seamless service transition.
A delivery is going wrong, and the client relationship with it.
Councils, public health providers and NHS bodies were deploying a multi-app SaaS product at the same time, and several deployments had become high-friction. Steve listened to each client, identified what they actually needed and remobilised the team, guiding consultants and specialists through migrations and complex configurations.
“The experience, leadership, and calm approach you’ve brought have had a real impact, not only on the work itself but also on the people around you.”
Your workflows need a better system.
A US consultancy wanted to improve how its team ran its processes, with Smartsheet at the centre. Steve joined the team as its Smartsheet consultant, working remotely across time zones: improving the underlying workflows, setting up Smartsheet around how the team actually works, advising on how it connects with their other systems, and coaching people to use the platform to its full capability.
“Steve joined our team as a Smartsheet consultant… It’s clear he’s an expert and coaching us to the full capabilities. He’s also patient and kind and fun to work with.”
What clients and partners say.
From programme leads, directors and the firms who placed us with their clients.
Steve was hired on an initial contract and the fact that he has received numerous extensions and is still there years on should, simply, speak for itself! He is hardworking and very knowledgeable and we have received excellent feedback from the end client.
Your badge, our delivery.
Consultancies, systems integrators and managed service providers engage us to deliver for their clients without adding permanent overhead. Your client gets a senior project manager who is composed in the room and rigorous on governance, working under your brand if you prefer.
- Limited company
- Fully insured, including indemnity
- SC ready
- Onboarding pack on request
Subcontract
We deliver under your statement of work and report through you.
Under your brand
We work as part of your team, with your client, in your name.
Bench agreement
We’re lined up for your pipeline, ready to mobilise when the deal lands.
Our most recent engagement ran exactly this way: delivering for Ideagen, contracted through a professional services partner.
Senior leadership on every engagement.
Every engagement is led personally by Steve Hyde, our Director and Senior Project Manager. You deal with the person who delivers, from the first call to the final report.
- 14 years leading technology and infrastructure change, built on 15 years of hands-on infrastructure engineering
- Trusted with budgets of up to £16M and rollouts across 550 sites
- Equally credible with engineering teams and at board level
- A certified mediator, valuable when supplier or stakeholder relationships are under strain
A selective group of senior independent practitioners, chosen on track record and peer recommendation. View Steve’s Sentien profile
Questions buyers ask.
Something else on your mind? Ask us on a free call.
Immediately. We’re available now, and delivery can begin as soon as scope and terms are agreed. There’s no hiring cycle and no notice period to wait out.
Any size, large or small. From a focused single-site change or a Smartsheet setup to national programmes with budgets of up to £16M and rollouts across 550 sites. If it needs to be delivered well, we can help.
Simply. You contract with our limited company for a defined service, business to business, so there’s no employment relationship and nothing to add to your payroll. Engagements are set up to sit outside IR35 from day one. If you’re a medium or large organisation, you’ll complete your standard status determination, and we’ll provide everything you need to do it quickly.
Yes. We deliver under your statement of work, under your brand, or on a bench agreement ready for your next deal. Our most recent engagement ran exactly this way, delivering for Ideagen through a professional services partner.
Yes. We’re fully insured, including indemnity insurance, and SC ready: eligible for Security Check clearance through a sponsoring organisation.
Available now for new engagements
Book your free 30-minute call.
The quickest way to find out what your project needs, and what it would take.
You’ll leave the call with
- A valuable discussion on where your project stands
- Your resourcing options, and a follow-up cost
- A suggested plan for your first 30 days
No obligation and no hard sell. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so, and point you to someone who is.
Book your free 30-minute call- Book a time that suits you
- Agree scope and terms, business to business
- Delivery starts, as soon as you’re ready
Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00 (Wednesday until 18:30). Replies usually within 20 minutes.