Role Title: PMO Lead (Life Moments)

Duration: contract to run until 30/09/2025

Location: Northampton, hybrid 3/4 days onsite

Rate: up to £368 p/d Umbrella inside IR35

Role purpose / summary

Our client is looking for a PMO Lead to join the team and support the portfolio management team in the delivery of successful projects, while ensuring that portfolio management processes and practices are aligned with controls and governance standards and that projects are aligned with the organization's strategic objectives.

Key Skills/ requirements

- Strong PMO background (9+ years)

- Proven experience leading teams of 8-10 members

Accountabilities

• Facilitate portfolio prioritization, ensuring the portfolio is compliant with the established control framework, including oversight of controls and standards.
• Support the effective governance of the portfolio, helping establish and operate effective Portfolio Governance that enables quality, data driven decision making, ensuring executive reporting is fit for purpose and timely.
• Monitor portfolio performance, including tracking of programme and project progress, identification of thematic portfolio risks and issues, and reporting on portfolio status to senior management and key stakeholders.
• Facilitate the management of the portfolio Book of Work, prioritisation and dependencies of change initiatives, considering factors like resource availability, stakeholder buy-in, and potential risks.
• Oversight of change delivery to ensure alignment with relevant policies and standards, driving consistent, robust controls data; monitoring indicators of control adherence, acting to remediate any weaknesses in the controls; and identifying and implementing actions to drive greater maturity against key control indicators.
• Review, resolve, manage and escalate portfolio risks and issues, challenging where appropriate and actively supporting the resolution of variances as necessary.
• Engage and influence all stakeholders to help them to understand their responsibilities and fulfil them effectively through clear, timely communication and well facilitated portfolio management processes.
• Support an environment of effective delivery by empowering portfolio management resources, utilising data led thinking to inform decisions, leverage expertise, and drive accountability and transparency.
• Operate as a source of best practice guidance and expertise, to ensure consistent excellence around controls, and governance (including training) is embedded across the portfolio.

Assistant Vice President Expectations

• To advise and influence decision making, contribute to policy development and take responsibility for operational effectiveness. Collaborate closely with other functions/ business divisions.
• Lead a team performing complex tasks, using well developed professional knowledge and skills to deliver on work that impacts the whole business function. Set objectives and coach employees in pursuit of those objectives, appraisal of performance relative to objectives and determination of reward outcomes
• The four LEAD behaviours are: L - Listen and be authentic, E - Energise and inspire, A - Align across the enterprise, D - Develop others.
• OR for an individual contributor, they will lead collaborative assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments.
• They will identify new directions for assignments and/ or projects, identifying a combination of cross functional methodologies or practices to meet required outcomes.
• Consult on complex issues; providing advice to People Leaders to support the resolution of escalated issues.
• Identify ways to mitigate risk and developing new policies/procedures in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Take ownership for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work done.
• Perform work that is closely related to that of other areas, which requires understanding of how areas coordinate and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the organisation sub-function.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategy.
• Engage in complex analysis of data from multiple sources of information, internal and external sources such as procedures and practises (in other areas, teams, companies, etc).to solve problems creatively and effectively.
• Communicate complex information. 'Complex' information could include sensitive information or information that is difficult to communicate because of its content or its audience.
• Influence or convince stakeholders to achieve outcomes.

All profiles will be reviewed against the required skills and experience. Due to the high number of applications we will only be able to respond to successful applicants in the first instance. We thank you for your interest and the time taken to apply!