Job Title: Head of Project Management Office (PMO)Salary: Up To £60,000 per annumLocation: Remote – with travel nationallyContract: Full-time, permanent
About Us
We are an ambitious education provider committed to delivering high-quality education and training to diverse communities. With a team of 500 employees and a strong growth strategy, we are entering an exciting phase of expansion, including large-scale projects such as mobilising new hub sites.
The Role
As the Head of PMO, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and driving the success of our strategic projects and growth initiatives. Reporting to the Executive Director of Legal & Procurement, you will establish and lead a best-in-class PMO function to ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and to budget, supporting the organisation’s ambitious goals. This role will directly contribute to performance improvements across the organisation and delivery against strategic objectives, working alongside senior stakeholders and leadership teams. The role oversees multiple activities at any given time and will have people management responsibilities in the future.
Key Responsibilities
PMO Leadership:
Develop, implement, and manage the PMO framework, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives.
Proactive engagement with Directors, leadership teams and other senior stakeholders to identify opportunities for business improvement.
Provide strong leadership in a matrix environment to promote best practices in managing inter-related projects and programmes to ensure successful delivery.
Project Delivery:
Oversee the portfolio of strategic projects, ensuring robust governance, resource planning, and risk management.
Align proposed project work with business objectives, focussing work in priority areas, ensuring the right work is prioritised and delivered in the right order.
Ensures all projects are clearly defined with an appropriate level of governance in order that end results meet business requirements that can be measured against a clearly articulated scope, agreed deliverables, project budgets and quantifiable business benefit.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Work closely with senior leadership, divisional heads, and external partners to ensure successful project outcomes.
Support improved collaboration and working practices, engaging leadership teams and business leads across the divisions of SCL to provide support and governance for project planning and delivery.
Performance Reporting:
Establish and maintain reporting mechanisms to provide clear visibility on project performance, risks, and progress.
Publishes regular programme/ project status reports for stakeholder review.
Serves as a subject matter expert for project management and project delivery in routinely briefing key stakeholders on different aspects of assigned initiatives.
Best Practices:
Develop and promote project management standards, tools, and methodologies across the organisation.
Serves as a subject matter expert for project management and project delivery in routinely briefing key stakeholders on different aspects of assigned initiatives.
Team Management:
Recruit, lead and mentor a small team of project management professionals, creating a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
What We’re Looking For
To succeed in this role, you will have:
Experience:
Coordination of PMO programme/ project delivery across a portfolio of change. Responsible for establishing and leading delivery of organisation-wide and cross-functional projects, business change and transformation, of varying size, scale and complexity.
Providing expert knowledge and support, monitoring progress and reporting on the portfolio status.
Proven track record of leading a PMO or managing large-scale projects within a growing organisation, ideally within the education or training sector.
Prioritise and manage assigned projects, support business change and transformation across UK, divisional and functional teams. This will include leading a variety of different types of projects and providing project assurance and governance on the delivery portfolio.
Demonstrate a combination of technical, commercial and project expertise that delivers business value and benefits, supporting the strategic objectives of stakeholder teams across the divisions of SCL.
Involvement in and experience of managing business and strategic initiatives.
Able to integrate different delivery methods into the project lifecycle, e.g. information systems and digital development as part of business change and transformation.
Able to juggle different programme/ project priorities and deliver high quality outcomes under pressure.
Capable of providing timely, accurate and relevant programme/ project and portfolio reporting as agreed.
Knowledge:
Strong understanding of project management methodologies (e.g., PRINCE2, Agile), governance, and reporting frameworks.
Leadership:
Demonstrable ability to lead, inspire, and develop teams, with a focus on collaboration and performance.
Communication Skills:
Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels.
Analytical Skills:
Strong problem-solving capabilities, with a focus on delivering practical solutions in complex environments.
Qualifications:
Relevant professional qualification (e.g., PRINCE2, PMP, MSP) and/or a degree in a related field.
Excellent IT/ PC skills
