VMO Manager 12 Month FTC Lead Governance. Drive Value. Enable Strategic Delivery. Marston Holdings is seeking an experienced and driven VMO Manager to join the COO function and lead the effective operation of our Value Management Office (VMO). This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for ensuring robust governance, delivery standards, portfolio oversight and benefits realisation frameworks are embedded and consistently applied across the organisation. You will provide clear insight to senior leadership, strengthen delivery assurance, and help ensure our transformation portfolio achieves measurable strategic outcomes. If you are passionate about governance excellence, data-driven insight, and enabling high-quality programme delivery — this is your opportunity to shape how value is delivered across Marston Holdings. The Role As VMO Manager, you will act as the central coordination point between business stakeholders, delivery teams, technical functions and suppliers, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and business readiness. Leadership & Governance Lead day-to-day VMO operations, embedding consistent governance and delivery practices. Ensure adherence to Delivery Methodology, Stage Gate processes, standards, templates and controls. Oversee portfolio reporting, ensuring high-quality, insight-driven outputs for Board and SLT. Ensure governance forums operate effectively, with clear actions, decisions and escalations. Act as the primary escalation point for delivery risks and issues. Portfolio, Programme & Project Oversight Maintain oversight of programme and project health, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies and benefits. Drive portfolio planning, capacity management and resource forecasting aligned to strategic priorities. Provide challenge and support to Project Managers, VMO Analysts and delivery teams. Support business case development, ensuring clarity of scope, feasibility, financials and measurable benefits. Build and maintain roadmaps, project plans and milestone tracking where required. Performance & Benefits Management Lead benefits tracking (financial and non-financial), ensuring clear baselines and realisation plans. Monitor KPIs across portfolios, identifying trends and recommending corrective actions. Ensure accurate and timely reporting of key performance metrics to senior stakeholders. Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Partner with senior leaders, transformation leads and PMs to ensure strategic alignment. Prepare high-quality Board papers and executive-level reporting packs. Communicate complex portfolio information clearly and confidently to both technical and non-technical audiences. Represent the VMO in governance and strategic forums. Continuous Improvement Optimise governance processes, methodologies and tools. Champion best practice in project, programme and portfolio management. Support and develop VMO Analysts, promoting collaboration and excellence. Contribute to agile and hybrid delivery environments and ongoing transformation initiatives. About You You are a confident, resilient and commercially minded governance leader who thrives in complex, fast-paced transformation environments. You are comfortable briefing executives, challenging constructively, and driving continuous improvement. Essential Qualifications Degree-level education or equivalent experience. Professional qualification in Project, Programme or Portfolio Management (e.g., PRINCE2, MSP, MoP, APM PMQ, PMP). Advanced qualification such as APM PPQ, MoP Practitioner, MSP Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma or similar. Essential Experience 5 years managing PMO/VMO teams within large transformation programmes. Demonstrable experience operating within a PMO/VMO/Portfolio Office function. Experience overseeing complex transformation portfolios. Strong experience managing governance processes, reporting cycles and delivery controls. Proven experience tracking and managing risks, issues, dependencies and benefits at portfolio level. Experience interacting at Executive and Board level. Experience working across CRM, data platform or enterprise transformation initiatives. Experience working alongside Project Managers, Business Analysts, Architects, Developers and Product Owners. Essential Skills Strong understanding of portfolio, programme and project management frameworks. Ability to interpret complex delivery data and produce concise, insight-led reports. High competence with tools such as MS Project, Planner Premium, PowerBI, Smartsheet or equivalent. Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills. Strong analytical and problem-solving capability. Confident written communicator with experience producing Board-level reporting. Ability to lead and coordinate UAT cycles across diverse business users. Desirable Experience with ERP, CRM, digital, cloud or data platform transformations. Knowledge of organisational change and business readiness principles. Experience in regulated or multi-stakeholder environments. Financial modelling, forecasting or investment appraisal knowledge. Experience mentoring or leading PMO/VMO Analysts. Why Join Marston Holdings? Play a pivotal role in shaping strategic delivery across the organisation. Work directly with senior leadership and executive stakeholders. Influence governance excellence across a complex transformation portfolio. Join a fast-paced, forward-thinking organisation committed to continuous improvement and measurable value delivery. Flexible working (Hybrid working pattern 2-3 days a week in our Northern Hub located in Rochdale) If you’re ready to lead governance, strengthen delivery assurance and ensure transformation translates into real business value, we would love to hear from you. We are an equal opportunity employer, which means we will consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and their passion for creating better outcomes, and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all empoyees. INDMP