Lead PMO / PMO Lead / Head of PMO / Portfolio PMO Lead / Portfolio or Programme Governance Manager

Role Summary 
We’re looking for an exceptional Lead PMO to work directly with UK government clients, 
bringing more than just project management expertise. At the heart of this role lies a strong 
foundation in portfolio, programme and project governance, paired with excellent 
organisational skills, commercial awareness, and the ability to provide clear insight and 
assurance across complex public-sector delivery environments. 
You’ll play a key role in establishing and maintaining effective governance across 
government programmes and portfolios, ensuring that client delivery teams, senior civil 
servants and leadership have the information they need to make informed decisions. You’ll 
bring structure to complex environments, connecting government strategy, planning, financial 
management, risk, dependencies and delivery performance while operating within public
sector governance and assurance frameworks. 
Equally important are your communication and influencing skills. You’ll work closely with 
government clients and across multiple delivery teams and stakeholder groups, providing 
constructive challenge while building trusted relationships and encouraging a culture of 
transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. Your ability to understand the 
government context, see the bigger picture, identify emerging issues, and turn complex 
information into clear and actionable insight will be key to your success. 
Key Responsibilities: 
• Lead the PMO function across complex programmes and portfolios, 
establishing effective governance, controls, processes and reporting. 
• Provide clear and accurate portfolio-level visibility of delivery progress, 
milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, financial performance and 
resource requirements. 
• Develop and maintain integrated plans, roadmaps and delivery schedules, 
ensuring alignment across projects, programmes and wider business 
objectives. 
• Establish and maintain appropriate governance forums, preparing 
agendas, papers, dashboards and decision materials for senior 
stakeholders and leadership teams. 
• Proactively identify, assess and manage portfolio-level risks, issues, 
assumptions and dependencies, ensuring appropriate escalation and 
resolution. 
• Provide constructive challenge to project and programme teams, ensuring 
delivery remains aligned to agreed scope, timelines, budgets and 
expected outcomes. 
• Establish consistent approaches to project and programme reporting, 
ensuring information is accurate, timely, meaningful and decision-focused. 
• Support financial governance, including budgeting, forecasting, tracking 
expenditure, resource planning and identification of financial risks and 
variances. 
• Support resource and capacity planning across programmes, identifying 
potential constraints and helping leadership make informed prioritisation 
decisions. 
• Manage and maintain portfolio RAID logs, actions, decisions, 
dependencies and key governance artefacts. 
• Monitor delivery performance against agreed KPIs, milestones and 
outcomes, identifying trends and providing insight into areas requiring 
intervention. 
• Support programme and project mobilisation, ensuring appropriate 
governance, plans, controls, ways of working and reporting are 
established from the outset. 
• Facilitate effective communication across delivery teams, stakeholders, 
suppliers and senior leadership, ensuring key information flows effectively 
throughout the organisation. 
• Continuously improve PMO processes, tools and ways of working, 
introducing proportionate approaches that improve delivery confidence, 
transparency and efficiency. 
• Support procurement, supplier management and commercial governance 
where required, ensuring appropriate controls and processes are followed. 
• Provide portfolio-level assurance and prepare senior stakeholders for key 
decisions, governance reviews, stage gates and assurance activities. 
• Stay attuned to evolving business requirements, adapting PMO 
approaches and stepping in where needed to strengthen delivery and 
organisational capability. 
Skills and Experience: 
• Essential: Substantial, demonstrable experience working directly within 
UK central government or a UK government department, with a strong 
understanding of public-sector governance, assurance, accountability and 
decision-making. 
• Extensive experience working within a PMO, programme management or 
portfolio management environment, ideally across complex transformation 
or technology programmes. 
• Proven experience establishing, leading or improving PMO functions 
across multiple projects or programmes. 
• Strong understanding of project, programme and portfolio governance, 
including governance frameworks, stage gates, assurance and decision
making processes. 
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain integrated plans, roadmaps, 
dashboards and management information across complex delivery 
environments. 
• Strong experience managing and reporting on risks, issues, assumptions, 
dependencies and actions at programme and portfolio level. 
• Confident working with senior stakeholders, providing clear insight, 
constructive challenge and recommendations to support effective 
decision-making. 
• Demonstrable experience engaging with and/or influencing C-suite, Board, 
Director, Deputy Director and CDIO-level stakeholders. 
• Strong financial management skills, including budgeting, forecasting, cost 
tracking, resource planning and variance analysis. 
• Experience supporting resource and capacity management across 
multiple projects or programmes. 
• Skilled in analysing complex information and translating it into concise, 
meaningful reporting for different audiences. 
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing 
priorities, maintain attention to detail and operate effectively in fast-moving 
environments. 
• Strong understanding of project and programme delivery methodologies, 
including Agile, Waterfall and hybrid approaches. 
• Demonstrated ability to introduce and scale new PMO processes, tools 
and ways of working that improve governance, transparency and delivery 
performance. 
• Experience working with project and portfolio management tools and 
reporting platforms. 
• Skilled in facilitating governance meetings, workshops and planning 
sessions, ensuring clear outcomes, decisions and actions. 
• Strong commercial awareness, with an understanding of procurement, 
supplier management and contractual considerations. 
• Strong sense of organisational context and an adaptable approach to 
governance that is proportionate to the needs and maturity of the delivery 
environment. 
• Excellent interpersonal, written and presentation skills — able to distil 
complex information and influence a variety of audiences. 
• Brings relevant domain knowledge to add context and depth to 
programme and portfolio management, accelerating delivery and insight. 
Nice to have: 
• Highly desirable: Experience supporting or leading financial 
transformation projects, including the improvement of financial 
governance, controls, processes, planning and reporting. 
• Experience operating within large-scale transformation, technology or 
digital programmes. 
• Experience establishing a PMO from inception or transforming an existing 
PMO function. 
• APM, PRINCE2, MSP, MoP, P3O or equivalent professional qualification. 
• Experience working within Agile delivery environments and supporting 
Agile governance and reporting. 
• Experience with portfolio management, benefits management and 
strategic planning. 
Qualifications & Certifications: 
• A degree or equivalent qualification related to the area you work in – 
Desirable 
• Relevant project, programme or PMO qualification such as APM, 
PRINCE2, MSP, MoP or equivalent – Desirable 
• You must be SC clearable. Due to the nature of this position, you must 
have been resident in the UK for a minimum of 5 years and have the right 
to work in the UK.