Job Description

JOB TITLE: Head of Project Management Office (PMO)

REPORTS TO TITLE: Deputy Managing Director

BUSINESS FUNCTION/ SUB-FUNCTION: Managing Director's Office

LOCATION: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds

ROLE PURPOSE

The Head of PMO provides leadership for portfolio, programme, and project delivery across GBS. The role is responsible for evolving the PMO into a strategic capability that enables impact-driven change.

Working in partnership with functional leaders, the Head of PMO will strengthen delivery discipline while maintaining an outcome-focused approach that empowers teams to execute effectively. The role also provides independent assurance and facilitates cross-programme coordination to improve delivery confidence and benefits realisation.

They will shape the PMO operating model, establish clear portfolio governance, and provide trusted delivery insight to executive leadership. They will ensure that transformation initiatives are aligned to strategy and resourced appropriately, to maximise organisational capacity and impact.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The role will lead the Project Management Office, Continuous Improvement, Change Control and Business Process Design functions at GBS.

• Define and evolve GBS's PMO strategy, roadmap, and operating model
• Establish consistent delivery frameworks and governance architecture
• Develop PMO team capabilities, professional standards, and career pathways
• Lead the adoption of delivery tooling that strengthens portfolio visibility and reporting capability
• Own the organisation-wide change portfolio, including pipeline visibility, demand intake, and prioritisation
• Facilitate executive decision-making on investment trade-offs and sequencing of initiatives
• Coordinate cross-programme dependencies and resolve portfolio conflicts
• Provide oversight of portfolio financial performance, investment tracking, and forecast accuracy
• Lead portfolio capacity and resource planning to ensure deliverability
• Provide independent delivery assurance through structured health checks, gateway reviews, and recovery interventions
• Deliver high-quality executive reporting covering progress, risks, capacity, benefits, and delivery confidence
• Ensure programme and portfolio risk management aligns with enterprise risk frameworks
• Maintain transparent escalation pathways for complex or at-risk initiatives
• Establish and embed benefits realisation frameworks across transformation initiatives
• Ensure business cases are robust, outcome-focused, and aligned with strategic priorities
• Monitor benefits delivery and support corrective action where value is at risk
• Refine and operate effective change demand intake and triage processes
• Coordinate portfolio governance forums and reporting cycles
• Oversee change control processes to maintain portfolio integrity without constraining delivery agility
• Support process improvement and transformation initiatives by embedding clear ownership, governance, and measurement
• Promote cross-functional collaboration to improve delivery effectiveness and reduce organisational friction
• Embed lessons learned, continuous improvement practices, and knowledge sharing
• Act as a trusted advisor to the executive team on delivery feasibility, risk, and portfolio performance
• Build strong relationships with programme sponsors, senior leaders, and operational teams
• Collaborate with Risk, Finance, HR, and Internal Audit functions to ensure aligned governance and assurance

ESSENTIAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Senior leadership experience within enterprise PMO, portfolio management, or transformation
• Proven track record establishing or maturing PMO capability and operating models
• Strong expertise in portfolio governance, prioritisation, and executive decision support
• Experience managing complex, multi-programme transformation portfolios
• Demonstrable success embedding benefits realisation and value tracking
• Experience implementing delivery frameworks across hybrid (predictive and agile) environments
• Strong stakeholder influence and ability to challenge constructively at executive level
• Experience leading multidisciplinary PMO or transformation teams
• Strong analytical, data-driven decision-making capability
• Knowledge of recognised methodologies (PRINCE2, MSP, Agile, Scrum, or equivalent)
• Experience operating in regulated or complex stakeholder environments
• Experience implementing PMO tooling or portfolio data platforms
• Financial governance or investment portfolio management exposure

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE

• Experience operating in regulated or complex stakeholder environments
• Experience implementing PMO tooling or portfolio data platforms
• Financial governance or investment portfolio management exposure

WHAT WE OFFER:

• Salary range of £70-80,000 dependent on experience
• 25 days annual leave, plus 8 public holiday
• 1-day extra leave per year of service, up to a maximum of 5 days
• Workplace pension scheme
• Tuition reimbursement for career development courses
• Flexible Benefits: Cycle to Work, Workplace Nursery, Tech scheme and much more
• Perks@Work discounts platform, wellbeing centre and much more
• Reward and recognition programme
• £500 award employee referral scheme
• Discretionary annual performance bonus

"I joined GBS in 2025 at a pivotal time in its journey towards excellence. Working to create the best learning environment for our students is a very exciting and rewarding exercise. Everyone in the organisation works together to make a huge difference to those who have not had access to higher education before.". -(Professor Peter Flew, Vice Provost).

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned.

About Us

GEDU Global Education is a dynamic and innovative group of education providers.

Across our institutions, programmes are designed to have a direct impact on the lives of our students, apprentices and trainees; to equip them with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary for success in their chosen field.