Nitaya Mulkern
Warrington, Cheshire,,United Kingdom
Summary
A highly driven Head of Delivery with over a decade of experience in delivering technical (eCommerce, CMS, mobile Apps) and operational transformation projects and programmes. Building and scaling high-performing delivery teams and functions, with a people-first and goal-orientated approach.
Thrives on being an integral part of leadership teams, leading with integrity and pushing the standards of collaboration; influencing and reinforcing accountability and autonomy, streamlining hierarchy and fostering communication that is transparent and honest. Providing solutions that are not only customer-centric but balance business-initiatives and are outcome and value-based. Seeks fast-paced environments and the ability to add measurable business value.
Passionate about building delivery excellence and standards, refined operating models, and fit-for-purpose strategies. Expert in establishing predictable planning, improving delivery flow and output, and providing confidence in the delivery while supporting evolving product roadmaps.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
3
3
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Programme Director
Horizontal Digital
2025.04 - Current
- Delivering large-scale SaaS programmes, including CRM integrations and composable solutions
- Defining programme strategy, delivery frameworks and long-term roadmaps aligned to digital transformation objectives and success metrics
- Instilling delivery best practices and simplified governance models; creating clarity, transparency and flexibility to support predictable planning, decision-making, and change management
- Defining operational standards and implementing standardisation to streamline project set-up and reporting
- Implementing business initiatives, process and business change, through a test-and-learn approach, and embedding new technologies (AI)
- Serving as a client partner and advocate; fostering trust and building a long-term relationship with strategic alignment
- Leading account performance and commercial management; owning the financial health including margin management, forecasting, resource planning and commercial governance
- Coaching and mentoring the project and delivery teams, providing ongoing guidance, structure and support to grow their capabilities and promote cross-team collaboration
Head of Delivery
CTI Digital
2024.05 - 2026.05
- Delivery of high-impact projects and programmes of work, setting up cross-functional, hybrid and client-included teams
- Delivered against project and business performance KPIs, 60%+ gross profit with efficient resource management and forecasting
- Implemented KPIs for project governance, enhancing accountability, project transparency, team performance and client satisfaction
- Implemented change and corrective action plans to de-risk and implement lessons learned to improve operational processes
- Optimised timelines for cost-effective solutions, delivering measurable results
- Facilitated training to boost team efficiency, breaking down silos and creating a collaborative culture
- Built and introduced internal PMO standards and process, effective risk management and mitigation strategies, and change management standards
- Prioritised proactive ways of working and enhanced transparency with standardised and detailed reporting, improving stakeholder awareness, input and communication
- Led a team of 14 project managers
- Operated within the SLT, contributing to, implementing and leading strategic initiatives and business change
Programme Manager
Ingenuity, The Hut Group
2023.09 - 2024.04
- Managed £3.5M roadmaps, enhancing value-add, strategic decisions and governance
- Matrix-managed and led cross-functional teams (from Strategy, UX/UI, Tech, QA, Product, Operations) to deliver end to end eCommerce enterprise software solutions
- Streamlined client onboarding, improving efficiency, communication and satisfaction scores (NPS)
- Introducing internal onboarding, improving productivity, process, and role clarity (improving internal satisfaction scores, eNPS)
- Negotiated vendor and partnership contracts, achieving cost-effective results and defining roles & responsibilities
- Mentored teams resulting in progress, growth and increased productivity
- Introduced OKRs and a feedback culture
- Supported the Operations Leadership team to shape the delivery function, in strategy and vision
- Optimised the ways of working; introducing agile practices and championing quality and delivery excellence, bringing in best practices, strategies and solutions
- Spearheaded cultural shifts to enhance success and benefit realisation of transformation initiatives
Squad & Product Delivery Lead
AND Digital
2022.07 - 2023.05
- Led cross-functional teams in Scrum and Kanban, managing complex timelines; integrating new payment methods for an NHS app client, and delivering a digital transformation for a charity
- Optimised resources, enhanced project transparency, and improved team productivity through SME collaboration
- Aligned Club/business and client goals, implementing strategic initiatives for measurable business performance results
- Contributed to Club Leadership & Operations to identify value-add propositions, financial reviews and forecasting and driving strategic operational initiatives
- Led a team of 12 cross-discipline (Product, Tech, UX) and of varying experience levels, career coaching, up-skilling and mentoring (also included individual performance management)
Head of Delivery
Ampersand Commerce
2017.08 - 2022.06
- Managed £3M in annual revenue, ensuring 80% resource utilisation
- Created delivery excellence through agile practices and defined a standardised product delivery approach
- Implemented resourcing tools, improving team mobilisation, resource management and capacity planning
- Streamlined the ways of working and creating consistency in communication standards and reporting
- Collaborated and established continuous delivery processes and standards (DevOps, CI/CD, TDD)
- Line management and mentorship to a small team of project managers
Senior Project Manager
Ampersand Commerce
2016.07 - 2017.07
- Led cross-functional teams in delivering £1M eCommerce solutions, managing full SDLC of Magento re-platform projects and enhancing web performance for major clients
- Led £1M+ eCommerce projects through the full SDLC of new and replatform D2C projects/websites
- Managed cross-functional teams ensuring successful project delivery and reporting (RAID)
- Implemented Agile practices to improve delivery excellence
- Facilitated workshops, created goals and increased collaboration across the teams and clients
- Standardised the estimation process across all teams and working with different commercial models to meet client needs
- Expedited issue resolution to minimise project impacts
- Introduced risk management and mitigation strategies, ensuring project stability and team accountability
- Set-up partnership contracts and negotiated ways of working with third parties
- Introduced business KPI reporting on performance; capacity and velocity, and regular stakeholder reporting on budgets and engagement success
Technical Project Manager
RealityMine
2015.07 - 2016.06
- Led four global app rollouts for a digital consumer-behaviour (consumer data) study.
- Collaborated with internal product teams to align client needs with project goals
- Collaborated with different client markets to understand varying deliverables, campaigns, and expectations
- Optimised Jira and Confluence use, improving sprint management and documentation
- Established processes to streamline project planning, critical paths and support the project management team
- Process set-up to standardise and support all the teams for a new launch and subsequent handover to teams for warranty, support, BAU
Digital Project Manager
Amaze
2013.05 - 2015.06
- Led multi-FMCG client projects, delivering digital assets and omnichannel solutions.
- Managed scope, resources, and timelines, ensuring strategic alignment and client satisfaction
- Defined project scope and requirements, leading to successful sign off and minimal changes
- Improved project and team cohesion (across Account Managers, UX/UI, Tech, QA)
- Collaborated with account managers to align projects with client marketing strategies
- Collaborated with clients on roadmap planning, and joined marketing & strategy meetings
Junior Project Manager
Appitized
2012.01 - 2013.05
- Managed all App projects, ensuring timely delivery and budget control
- Implemented Basecamp for effective project tracking and reporting
- Managed an offshore delivery team to optimise resource allocation
- Introduced a project management framework
- Established and led the expansion of the project management function
Education
BA (Hons) - Business Studies
University of Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire 2008.09 - 2011.09
Skills
- Delivery & Programme Management; Sustainable and Optimised Delivery Plans, Strategic Product Roadmaps
- Strategic Account & Portfolio Leadership
- Operational Excellence; Forecasting, Reporting, Resourcing
- Risk & Dependency Management
- Commercially Astute; Revenue Tracking, Budgeting & Cost Modelling
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Team Motivation & Engagement
- People Leadership & Team Development: Training, Coaching, Mentoring
- Stakeholder & Team Alignment
- Change & Transformation Management; Scoping & Scope Control, Prioritisation, Continuous Improvement
- People-First and User-Centric Approach
- Action Planning; translating ambiguity into tangible actions and measurable plans
- Integrity & Growth Mindset
- Attention to detail
- Pragmatic
- Agility & Adaptability
- Systems-Thinker
- Transparent & Concise Communication
Certification
Prince 2 & PSM1 In progress
Languages
English
Proficient (C2)
German
Proficient (C2)
Industry Experience
Retail, FMCG, Healthcare / Pharma, Legal Services, Public Sector, Charity, Hospitality, Industrial Systems, Logistics
Technologies, Systems, Tools
- Sitecore, ContentHub, Magento, Drupal, Umbraco, WordPress, Episerver, HubSpot, Fredhopper
- Jira & Confluence, Trello, Smartsheet, Instagantt, MS Project, Basecamp, Resource Guru, Float, Miro, Figma
- MS Power BI, Tableau, Airtable, Salesforce, Synergist, Financial Force, ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Fathom, Granola
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Programme Director
Horizontal Digital
2025.04 - Current
Head of Delivery
CTI Digital
2024.05 - 2026.05
Programme Manager
Ingenuity, The Hut Group
2023.09 - 2024.04
Squad & Product Delivery Lead
AND Digital
2022.07 - 2023.05
Head of Delivery
Ampersand Commerce
2017.08 - 2022.06
Senior Project Manager
Ampersand Commerce
2016.07 - 2017.07
Technical Project Manager
RealityMine
2015.07 - 2016.06
Digital Project Manager
Amaze
2013.05 - 2015.06
Junior Project Manager
Appitized
2012.01 - 2013.05
BA (Hons) - Business Studies
University of Lincoln
2008.09 - 2011.09