Department Manager, PMO (Non-tech)

Responsibilities:

Driving Strategic Alignment & Governance

1. Partner with executives to review, prioritize, and approve all new initiatives, ensuring the entire project portfolio directly supports the organization's strategic vision and financial plan.
2. Establish and run the formal governance structure (Steering Committees, tollgate reviews), managing the processes that decide which projects start, continue, or stop.
3. Oversee company-wide resource demand for projects (people and budget), identifying and resolving critical conflicts to maximize delivery capacity and prevent over-commitment.

Standardizing Delivery & Quality

1. Define and roll out a consistent, effective project and program management methodology (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) used across all departments.
2. Select, implement, and maintain the central PMO tools and reporting dashboards, ensuring all teams use standard documents (charters, risk logs) for consistency.
3. Conduct regular project audits and stage-gate reviews to ensure initiatives comply with established quality standards and are using reliable data.
4. Develop the standard process for consistently identifying, assessing, and escalating high-level risks and issues across the portfolio.

Support, Reporting & Enablement

1. Own the collection and analysis of portfolio data. Produce clear, actionable executive-level reports and dashboards that track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like schedule, budget, and expected business benefit realization.
2. Oversee consolidated portfolio budget tracking, ensuring project spending remains within defined targets and benefits are tracked for realization.

Key skills:

1. Bachelors degree in Business Administration, Finance, or a related field. A Master's degree is a plus.
2. 5+ years of progressive experience in Project, Program, or Portfolio Management.
3. 2+ years of dedicated experience managing a PMO function or leading a team of Project/Program Managers.
4. Demonstrated success in establishing or significantly maturing PMO processes, governance, and reporting systems within an organization.
5. Proven experience working directly with C-level and Executive leadership on strategy formulation and portfolio reviews.
6. Expert knowledge of various project delivery frameworks (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid) and the ability to tailor them to organizational needs.
7. Strong capability in budget management, variance analysis, financial forecasting, and tracking return on investment (ROI) or benefit realization.
8. High proficiency in generating and analyzing data using tools like Excel and creating executive-level reports and dashboards using platforms like Power BI or Tableau.
9. Ability to translate the organizations high-level strategic goals into a tangible, prioritized project roadmap.
10. Analytical mindset focused on root-cause analysis and proactive risk mitigation at the portfolio level.