Bristol, Darlington, Manchester, Wolverhampton Job Summary Are you able to build strong relationships that will enable you to influence and challenge at all levels? Do you have experience working in a PMO or portfolio role where things move fast, challenges are complex, and strategic delivery really matters? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to join Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we’d love to hear from you! MHCLG is central to the mission-driven government, from fixing the foundations of an affordable home to handing power back to communities and rebuilding local government. We have an ambitious agenda that has a tangible impact on people across the United Kingdom, which means that working at MHCLG provides an interesting, exciting experience to help support, lead and deliver on one of the Government's core agendas. This is a strategic and high-impact role leading the Portfolio Management Office (PMO) for the Director General (DG), Corporate, whose remit spans Finance, Digital, AI, Commercial, Analysis and People Capability and Change. You will provide senior leadership and delivery discipline across a complex portfolio of cross-cutting priorities, ensuring that the DG and senior team are supported by clear governance, high-quality performance data, and effective planning structures. You will lead a small, high-performing PMO team and task-manage the G7 Head of Office, ensuring coordination between programme delivery, senior engagement, and corporate strategy. A key part of the role will be to bring consistency and coherence to how priorities are planned, monitored, and reported across multiple corporate functions. This role is ideal for someone who is delivery-focused, thrives in complexity, and enjoys building capability and culture in a central enabling function. We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities, we support through our work. Job Description As the Head of PMO and Office your responsibilities will include: PMO Leadership, lead the PMO function for DG Corporate, overseeing planning, delivery assurance, and performance tracking across all major workstreams. Build and maintain governance structures and delivery frameworks to support effective decision-making and strategic alignment. Develop and embed tools and approaches for risk, milestone, and dependency management across the portfolio. Drive a continuous improvement culture in portfolio planning and reporting, promoting high standards and learning from delivery. Portfolio Oversight and Strategic Delivery Provide insight and assurance to the DG on the status and trajectory of programmes and projects across Finance, People, Commercial, Digital, and AI. Support senior leaders in designing delivery plans and aligning resources with strategic priorities and capacity. Ensure the Directorate contributes coherently to cross-Departmental reporting requirements, business planning, and investment cases. Team and Stakeholder Management Lead and develop the PMO (direct line management responsibility for G7 Head of PMO and SEO PMO Manager) and Executive Support team (task-management responsibility for G7 Head of Office, HEO Assistant Private Secretary and EO Diary Manager), ensuring close collaboration and clarity of roles. Maintain strong working relationships with other Executive Team Offices, ensuring the Corporate Directorate is joined up in its support to the wider organisation. Represent the DG Corporate at portfolio boards and cross-cutting forums, advocating for delivery-focused approaches and enabling functions. Please note: You may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training. As the Head of PMO and Office your responsibilities will include: PMO Leadership, lead the PMO function for DG Corporate, overseeing planning, delivery assurance, and performance tracking across all major workstreams. Build and maintain governance structures and delivery frameworks to support effective decision-making and strategic alignment. Develop and embed tools and approaches for risk, milestone, and dependency management across the portfolio. Drive a continuous improvement culture in portfolio planning and reporting, promoting high standards and learning from delivery. Portfolio Oversight and Strategic Delivery Provide insight and assurance to the DG on the status and trajectory of programmes and projects across Finance, People, Commercial, Digital, and AI. Support senior leaders in designing delivery plans and aligning resources with strategic priorities and capacity. Ensure the Directorate contributes coherently to cross-Departmental reporting requirements, business planning, and investment cases. Team and Stakeholder Management Lead and develop the PMO (direct line management responsibility for G7 Head of PMO and SEO PMO Manager) and Executive Support team (task-management responsibility for G7 Head of Office, HEO Assistant Private Secretary and EO Diary Manager), ensuring close collaboration and clarity of roles. Maintain strong working relationships with other Executive Team Offices, ensuring the Corporate Directorate is joined up in its support to the wider organisation. Represent the DG Corporate at portfolio boards and cross-cutting forums, advocating for delivery-focused approaches and enabling functions. Please note: You may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training. Person specification Essential Experience And Skills Substantial experience leading or supporting high-performing PMO or portfolio functions in complex organisational settings. Strong understanding of programme and project delivery disciplines, including planning, governance, risk, benefits, and performance management. Ability to design and embed delivery frameworks that enable visibility, accountability, and action across a diverse portfolio. Skilled at engaging and influencing senior stakeholders with confidence and credibility, including Directors and Executive Teams. Experience managing multidisciplinary teams, with a collaborative and developmental leadership style. Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, able to distil complex delivery issues and drive evidence-based decisions. Desirable Experience Experience in corporate centre roles or working across enabling functions such as finance, commercial, digital, or people. Familiarity with working across central government or large-scale public sector environments. Alongside your salary of £64,679, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £18,737 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. Learning and development tailored to your role An environment with flexible working options A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Selection process details Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. As part of our pre-employment checking process, we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process. CV and Cover Letter Declaration We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. Please Remove References To Your name/title educational institutions age gender email address postal address phone number nationality/immigration status You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors. At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing: Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements: Behaviour: Leadership, Changing and Improving, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 - minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview. In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description Behaviours: Yes - Leadership, Changing and Improving, Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service Please contact the vacancy manager if you have any questions about the role. We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs. Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. Grade 6 salary The salary for this role is £64,679 (National). For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions. Benefits Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018 : Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. For further information about the benefits available to MHCLG employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. Location Wolverhampton Darlington* Bristol Manchester There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process. Sift and Interview dates Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 29/09 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. Reserve List In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. Security Clearance Requirements SC (Security Check) : Important note Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the Security Check – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Security Check (SC). Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules Candidate Pack Information Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. Internal Fraud Database The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented. For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job Contact Name : Richard Baker Email : richard.baker@communities.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk