Enterprise PMO Lead — 15-Month Maternity Cover

SmartSearch; Ilkley; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

SmartSearch, a leading IT and PMO-focused tech company, is seeking an Enterprise PMO Lead on a 15-month maternity cover contract in a hybrid Ilkley-based setting. You will drive governance, strategic planning, portfolio reporting and benefits realisation across a transformational change portfolio, reporting to the Head of Portfolio.

The role requires strong experience in PMO, strategic planning, and senior stakeholder engagement, with expertise in Monday.com and Agile/SAFe approaches.

Qualifications

• Experience leading or operating within a PMO, Portfolio Office or Change Office environment.
• Experience establishing governance, reporting and assurance frameworks across strategic change portfolios.
• Proven experience facilitating strategic planning, prioritisation and QBR processes.
• Strong portfolio reporting, benefits management and investment governance expertise.
• Experience producing executive and Board-level reporting and managing tools such as Monday.com.
• Strong analytical, facilitation and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and challenge senior leaders.
• Experience in a SaaS, technology or high-growth business.
• Knowledge of Agile, SAFe, Lean Portfolio Management or DSDM approaches.
• Experience implementing PMO, reporting or portfolio management tooling.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate the enterprise annual strategic planning process and Quarterly Business Reviews.
• Partner with Executive and Senior Leadership teams to align strategic priorities, define the delivery initiatives and measurable outcomes.
• Monitor progress against strategic goals, cross-functional dependencies and track agreed decisions and actions.
• Continuously improve planning, review and prioritisation processes to strengthen accountability and benefits realisation.
• Own the enterprise portfolio reporting framework, executive dashboards and the single source of truth for portfolio performance.
• Own and continuously improve the portfolio management and reporting capability in Monday.com, including data quality, adoption, workflows and automation.
• Produce concise reporting for the Head of Portfolio, ELT, Board and governance forums, covering delivery, risks, dependencies, investment and benefits.
• Analyse trends and performance indicators to provide forward-looking insight and recommendations.
• Maintain and improve the enterprise change governance framework, reporting standards and controls.
• Lead the development with a ‘fit for purpose’ mindset the PMO methodologies, standards, templates, controls and the PMO maturity roadmap.
• Coordinate governance forums, investment reviews and stage-gate processes.
• Provide constructive challenge and high-quality information to support effective investment and governance decisions.
• Actively support projects and project managers with PMO support and analysis needs.
• Promote a culture of agility with an outcome focus, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Proactive and self-starting.
• Able to facilitate strategic discussion and workshops with senior leaders.

Skills

PMO leadership

Stakeholder management

Strategic planning

Data analysis

Facilitation

Agile methods

Tools

Monday.com

Job description

SmartSearch, a leading IT and PMO-focused tech company, is seeking an Enterprise PMO Lead on a 15-month maternity cover contract in a hybrid Ilkley-based setting. You will drive governance, strategic planning, portfolio reporting and benefits realisation across a transformational change portfolio, reporting to the Head of Portfolio.

The role requires strong experience in PMO, strategic planning, and senior stakeholder engagement, with expertise in Monday.com and Agile/SAFe approaches.