Technical Project Manager

Technical Project Manager

Full time, hybrid. UK based, with your week split between home and our Bournemouth or London office.

About Rascal

Rascal Ventures is a B Corp technology studio, founded in 2021. We build bespoke digital products, platforms and AI automation for organisations that want change they can measure. People and process come first. Technology comes after, and AI usually comes last.

We're a small senior team of employees and contractors across the UK and Europe. Most of our work is fixed scope, so a loose plan or a vague ticket comes straight out of our margin. That's why we care so much about delivery.

The role

Our current work includes a global brand platform rolling out market by market, grant and case management systems for charities, mobile apps, and AI readiness work with leadership teams. You'd own delivery across all of it. Every live project should have a current plan, a named owner, and tickets in ClickUp that match what we contracted.

To be clear about where the role starts and stops: our technical lead sets the technical direction, and product owners decide what gets built. Your job is making sure every backlog is clean, the product ships, at the cost and quality we agreed.

The work

• Sprint planning and the monthly cycle, so everyone starts the month with tickets that are estimated and understood.
• You'll apply our Definition of Ready, Definition of Done and estimation standards every time. If a ticket isn't ready to build, it goes back.
• The client rhythm. You'll run onboarding, weekly status reports and change control, and escalate early so no client hears bad news from us late.
• You'll spot risk early and clear blockers yourself where you can. Bring in a founder when a decision needs one, not before.
• Margin. You'll track time against estimate and budget against margin, and flag problems while there's still time to fix them.
• You'll allocate work across our contractors. They work to fixed scope and own ticket delivery regardless of hours, so the brief has to be right.
• After each project, you'll turn what went wrong into better templates and checklists, so the next one runs more smoothly.

What you bring

• You've run technical projects in software, digital or data, and you can show us what you delivered.
• You've run several client projects at once in a studio or agency, owning the whole picture rather than one workstream inside a bigger programme.
• You can read a ticket, push back on an estimate, and recognise when a "quick change" is really a week of work.
• You've had a project heading for a loss. We'll ask what you did about it.
• You keep moving without needing someone to check in on you.

Some extra experience would help, but none of it is essential. That includes using ClickUp, or a similar tool, to run the business rather than just track tasks. It also includes delivery on a headless CMS such as Storyblok, mobile apps in React Native or Flutter, Salesforce, Make.com automation, or AI builds, and managing freelancers spread across countries. Certifications such as APM, PRINCE2 or Scrum are welcome, but what you've delivered counts for more.

How we work

• You'd rather tell a client bad news in week two than explain a failed delivery in week six.
• People believe your account of where a project stands, especially when it's bad news.
• You can be wrong in front of the team and say so.
• No two weeks look the same here, and that suits you.
• You share our B Corp commitment, and you can tell us about a trade off you made because of it.

Where it goes

As Rascal grows, this role grows towards Head of Delivery. You'd shape the delivery function before you lead it, with Jen and me backing you.

Terms

• The salary is £40,000 to £52,000 depending on experience, reviewed every year.
• The role is full time, 40 hours Monday to Friday, with flexible hours.
• You'll get a pension, 22 days holiday plus bank holidays, and support for training and certifications.

Applying

Send your CV with a note of up to 300 words about the messiest delivery you've brought under control, and how you did it.

There are 3 stages. First, an intro call with me. Second, a practical session on a real delivery scenario, including a project that has lost its margin halfway through. Third, a final conversation with Jen and me. You'll get honest, specific feedback at every stage, whether or not we go ahead together.

Everyone is welcome to apply, and we'll make adjustments at any stage. No agencies, please.

James Mallorie, COO