We are looking for a proactive and hands-on PMO Manager to support a major organisation during an exciting period of growth and transformation.
This role demands a proven ability to support complex programmes or portfolios of work and will potentially require UK travel to client locations as and when required.
The successful candidate will act as a practical PMO partner to programme teams, applying hands-on PMO discipline across the programme lifecycle, with a strong emphasis on pre-award activity and supporting programme design and development at pace. The role will apply key PMO principles and governance to frontier R&D programmes including, but not limited to, the following:
* Strengthen R&D programme lifecycles by supporting pre-award design, mobilisation, and transition into post-award delivery, ensuring programmes are prepared appropriately for each stage and built with consistency, comparability and flow across the portfolio in mind
* Apply PMO judgement to help programmes be ready for the decisions being asked; liaise with programme teams to clarify assumptions, risks, dependencies, sequencing, and uncertainties surfaced early and explicitly
* Support programme teams to present clear, proportionate, and decision-focused information for approvals, mobilisation, and major changes
* Apply core PMO disciplines (e.g. risk, dependency, change, and issue management) in a judgement-led and proportionate way, rather than through rigid process or templates
* Support continuous improvement initiatives by surfacing issues and identifying optimisation opportunities to the programme lifecycle. Drive the implementation of solutions to address these.
Required capabilities and experience:
* Proven, hands-on experience in a PMO or programme management role supporting complex programmes or portfolios
* Comfortable working in environments with uncertainty, evolving requirements, and novel programme models
* Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, able to provide constructive challenge to programme teams and senior stakeholders
* Demonstrated experience applying PMO discipline across programme lifecycles, particularly in pre-award shaping, approval, mobilisation, or early delivery stages
* Strong understanding of core PMO disciplines, including risk, dependency, and change management, and how to apply them proportionately
* Ability to apply judgement and pragmatism rather than relying on rigid processes or templates
* Ability to work collaboratively across functions, understanding operational constraints such as capacity, sequencing, and dependencies
* Experience working across multiple programmes or a portfolio, rather than a single large programme
* A demonstrable background in improving programme readiness, lifecycle transitions, or mobilisation
* Familiarity with proportionate governance or assurance approaches
* Experience working in R&D, innovation-led, or non-standard delivery environments
* Exposure to learning, continuous improvement, or process design within a PMO context
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