Head of PMO (Ref: 198310)

Forsyth Barnes Consultancy; Maidstone; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible benefits package

Job summary

Forsyth Barnes Consultancy is recruiting a Head of PMO to lead and mature the Professional Services Portfolio Management Office. The role focuses on strengthening governance, improving delivery visibility and establishing standards across the organisation.

You will own the PMO and collaborate with senior leadership and delivery teams to enhance governance, reporting and decision-making. A strategic yet delivery-focused leader is required to drive PMO maturity and beneficial process improvements.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading a PMO or portfolio management function.
• Strong governance and delivery visibility experience.
• Experience operating in a SaaS/software environment.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop and mature the PMO and portfolio management function.
• Establish consistent portfolio governance, reporting and project control standards.
• Improve data quality and consistency for projects, finances, resources and delivery.
• Provide senior leadership with insight into portfolio health, risks and delivery confidence.
• Oversee governance, assurance and review processes.
• Challenge forecasts, capacity and delivery performance.
• Strengthen management of RAID, dependencies and milestones.
• Support prioritisation, benefits tracking and evidence-based decisions.
• Develop and deliver a roadmap for PMO maturity.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting, tooling and information flows.
• Lead and develop PMO capability across the organisation.

Skills

PMO leadership

Portfolio governance

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

People leadership

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Jira

Confluence

MS Project

PPM/PSA platforms

Job description

About Us

We are supporting a growing technology and SaaS organisation with the appointment of a Head of PMO to lead and develop its Professional Services Portfolio Management Office.

Job Description

This is a key leadership position focused on strengthening portfolio governance, improving delivery visibility and developing the PMO into a more strategic function across the organisation.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape how the PMO operates, establish consistent standards and improve the quality of information used to make portfolio and delivery decisions.

As Head of PMO, you will take ownership of the PMO function and lead its continued development and maturity.

You will work closely with senior leadership and delivery teams to establish robust governance, improve portfolio reporting and provide greater visibility of delivery performance, risks, resources and financials.

We are looking for someone who can operate strategically while remaining close enough to delivery to understand the practical challenges facing project and programme teams.

A key part of the role will be bringing greater consistency and structure to the portfolio while identifying opportunities to improve processes, tooling, automation and decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, develop and mature the PMO and portfolio management function.
• Establish consistent portfolio governance, reporting and project control standards.
• Improve the quality, accuracy and consistency of project, financial, resource and delivery data.
• Provide senior leadership with clear insight into portfolio health, risks, dependencies and delivery confidence.
• Oversee portfolio governance, assurance and review processes.
• Challenge project and programme forecasts, capacity constraints and delivery performance.
• Strengthen management of RAID, dependencies, milestones and change activity.
• Support portfolio prioritisation, benefits tracking and evidence‑based decision making.
• Develop and deliver a roadmap for continued PMO maturity and improvement.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting, automation, tooling and information flows.
• Lead and develop PMO capability across the organisation.

Requirements

• Proven experience running, owning, scaling or maturing a PMO or Portfolio Management function.
• Strong experience managing complex project and programme portfolios.
• Previous experience within a SaaS or software environment.
• Ideally, experience operating within a Professional Services or consultancy environment.
• Strong understanding of portfolio governance, assurance and project controls.
• Experience across portfolio financials, forecasting, resource/capacity planning, risks and dependencies.
• Confident working with senior stakeholders and influencing decisions.
• Strong people leadership and capability development skills.
• Able to balance strategic thinking with hands‑on operational delivery.
• Experience improving PMO processes, reporting and ways of working.
• Experience with tools such as Power BI, Excel, Jira, Confluence, MS Project or PPM/PSA platforms would be beneficial.

Benefits

Flexible benefits package.

Other

• Location: Leeds, Liverpool or Belfast.
• Working pattern: Hybrid, with approximately 2 days per week on-site.
• Salary: £50,000–£65,000 DOE.
• This is a permanent opportunity