Sr. Manager - PMO

Julphar; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading pharmaceutical company in the UAE is seeking a PMO Manager to oversee Capex and Non-Capex projects. The ideal candidate will have at least 8 years of project management experience in the pharmaceutical sector, with strong expertise in project governance and compliance. Responsibilities include managing project portfolios, stakeholder engagement, and ensuring adherence to quality standards. Strong communication and analytical skills are essential for success in this role.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of experience in project management within pharmaceutical or biotech industry.
• Proven track record in leading Capex projects.
• Demonstrated experience in setting up or operating within a PMO.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the full project portfolio for Ras Al Khaimah.
• Establish and maintain PMO governance frameworks.
• Monitor project performance and manage stakeholder engagement.

Skills

Project management methodologies (PMI, PRINCE2)

Pharmaceutical engineering knowledge

Risk management

Excellent communication

Analytical skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering

Master’s degree in project management or related

Professional certifications (PMP, PRINCE2)

Job description

At Julphar, we are on a journey of culture transformation & our mission is to provide a better quality of life for the entire family by delivering best in class solutions and real value with compassion and professionalism.

Our core values: Respect, Collaboration, innovation, Integrity and Compassion - Combined with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities - are key drivers in our aim to make a positive impact on the lives of the patients we serve, enable Talents, create a healthy work environment, and accomplish our goals through world-class research and with the compassion and commitment of our employees.

Job Description:

The PMO Manager is responsible for leading, planning, and controlling the full portfolio of Capex and Non-Capex projects for the Ras Al Khaimah Technical Operations. The role will ensure effective governance, TIP (Tactical Implementation Plan) management cross functionally, project delivery excellence, compliance with pharmaceutical standards, cross-functional alignment, and strategic prioritization.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the full project portfolio (Capex and Non-Capex) for the Ras Al Khaimah value streams, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and according to scope and GMP – Safety - Engineering requirements.
• Establish and maintain PMO governance frameworks, including project lifecycle templates, KPIs, reporting cadence, and risk management systems, project timelines, provide executive level dashboards and reports.
• Coordinate feasibility assessments, cost estimates, ROI, business cases, and capex justification in alignment with Finance and cross functional departments.
• Monitor project performance through dashboards, milestone tracking, and regular project reviews, elevate risks and deviations proactively.
• Ensure compliance with pharmaceutical regulatory standards and company anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards (GMP, EHS, validation, QA, Procurement) across all projects from design to execution and ENG-06-004 Sop cGxP project lifecycle in Julphar, and will be the point of contact in GxP inspection if required.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication between Engineering, Production, Quality, Supply Chain, R&D, RA/MA, Finance BP.
• Stakeholder Engagement, act as a liaison between technical teams and senior leadership.
• Prepare and present project portfolio updates to CTO and participate in strategic discussions related to the future Corporate PMO setup.
• Develop and mentor the project management team, ensuring capability building and readiness for a centralized PMO transformation.
• Build a process for project prioritization to ensure workload for cross functional department are well managed, and the project distributed are feasible from workload perspective.
• Manage resource allocation and their percentage of affectation of each project and highlight resource overutilized, also, propose solutions in order not to deviate.

Core Competency

Technical Competencies

• Strong knowledge of project management methodologies (PMI, PRINCE2, or equivalent).
• Solid understanding of pharmaceutical engineering, GMP, validation, and quality compliance.
• Expertise in Capex planning, budgeting, cost control, breakdown structures, and procurement processes.
• Experience managing construction, utilities, equipment installation, automation, or greenfield projects.
• Proficiency in risk management, change control, and stakeholder management.

Leadership & Behavioural Competencies

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and negotiation capabilities.
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.
• Strategic thinking and long-term planning mindset.
• Team leadership, coaching, and conflict-resolution abilities.
• High adaptability in evolving organizational structures (e.g., transition to Corporate PMO).
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural collaboration skills.

Qualification / Functional Knowledge

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Chemical, or related).
• Preferred: Master’s degree in project management, Engineering Management, or Business Administration.
• Professional certifications such as PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, or Lean Six Sigma are highly desirable.

Experience

• 8–12+ years of experience in project management within pharmaceutical and/or biotech industry
• Proven track record leading Capex projects and exposure to non-capex / operational improvement initiatives.
• Experience with greenfield or brownfield facility expansions is a strong advantage.
• Demonstrated experience setting up or operating within a PMO structure.
• Exposure to multi-site stakeholder management and cross-border project coordination.

We value people from different backgrounds. Could this be your story? Apply today or visit www.Julphar.net to read more about us and the journey of Julphar.