Natalie Powers

Accomplished Project Manager delivering complex, multi-stakeholder projects with strong governance, financial control and high-quality delivery. Brings structure, pace and control to programmes, ensuring delivery aligns to stakeholder expectations, project requirements and executive decision-making. Strengths span board reporting, critical path control, Risks, Assumptions, Issues and Dependencies (RAID), evidence tracking, budget governance and third-party coordination, including a £350k Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) budget and £2.6m Central Credit Register (CCR) programme across 5 workstreams.

Sector exposure includes banking, regulatory change, client-facing services, operational resilience, financial reporting, education, and public health operations.

Project Manager at Close Brothers Limited (2022-08 – 2026-06)

Delivered projects in a regulated banking environment during heightened focus on operational resilience, consumer protection, technology risk and financial controls. (FTSE 250 UK merchant banking group, c.4,000 employees)

• Led the 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) delivery across 5 senior stakeholder groups (finance, investor relations, company secretariat, external audit, suppliers), coordinating end-to-end delivery from planning through to board sign-off.
• Owned the integrated plan and critical path, aligning stakeholders around milestones, dependencies and decision gates.
• Chaired monthly Working Groups and produced board reporting on risks, dependencies and decisions required, enabling executive sign-off within accelerated timeline.
• Controlled the £350k project budget through reconciliation, budget tracking and supplier payment governance, strengthening cost discipline and audit readiness.
• Coordinated delivery activity across 4 bank-wide regulatory and resilience programmes, strengthening governance, stakeholder alignment and delivery discipline.
• Improved control through evidence tracking, RAID management, milestone and action governance, enabling earlier escalation.
• Delivered Treasury Deposit Protection changes by chairing weekly working groups and reporting to the Treasury Executive Committee.
• Led the Central workstream within Operational Resilience, maintaining visibility of risks, milestones and dependencies.
• Managed Central Credit Register (CCR) financial governance across a £2.6m budget and 5 workstreams, including reconciliation, invoices and purchase orders.
• Coordinated internal teams and suppliers across End-of-Life technology and CCR delivery, maintaining momentum across dependencies and governance checkpoints.
• Produced steering packs, minutes, action logs and governance updates, improving transparency of decisions and delivery status.
• Owned RAID logs, escalation tracking, reconciliations, forecasts and third-party payments, supporting audit readiness and delivery assurance.
• Contributed to the Project Support Office (PSO) forum and Project Management Community of Practice, supporting shared standards and project lifecycle best practices.

Office Administration at UWC International (2021-02 – 2022-08)

Coordinated operational, HR, finance and governance activity across a global education organisation, improving onboarding, IT coordination, supplier follow-up and records management. (Global education movement, consisting of 18 schools across four continents)

• Managed international office operations, administrative processes, internal communications and service requests across multiple stakeholder groups.

Covid-19 Test Centre Lead at Queen Mary University (2020-11 – 2021-02)

Led daily COVID-19 testing operations, supporting safe campus operations, service continuity and accurate reporting for a major Russell Group university. (Major Russell Group university, c.33,000 students)

• Maintained operational records and daily reporting, helping leaders monitor service demand and issue resolution.

Customer Service Representative at Orega (2019-11 – 2020-10)

Managed client queries, supplier coordination, contract administration and office scheduling, maintaining service consistency in a fast-paced client-facing environment. (Professional serviced offices with 26 locations across the UK)

• Built a foundation in client service, issue resolution and supplier coordination, later transferable into project delivery and stakeholder management.

Business Transformation Level 4 Business Analysis Apprenticeship in Business Analysis – Multiverse (2024-03 – 2025-06)

BSc (Hons.) in Geography – University of Nottingham (2015-09 – 2018-06)