PMO Lead

Octavius Infrastructure; Rugby; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading civil engineering organisation is seeking a PMO Lead to enhance governance across their Highways projects in the UK. In this role, you will manage end-to-end governance, ensuring compliance with frameworks such as National Highways' Project Control Framework. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in infrastructure project environments, strong knowledge of programme controls, and relevant project management qualifications. The position offers a chance to join a team dedicated to delivering effective and sustainable transport solutions.

Qualifications

• Experience in complex infrastructure or highways project environments.
• Knowledge of programme controls, risk, change management, and performance reporting.
• Familiarity with highways governance frameworks such as PCF and OIL standards.

Responsibilities

• Ensure end-to-end governance and assurance across the project lifecycle.
• Produce monthly and quarterly reports for client and internal boards.
• Oversee document control and information management.

Skills

Governance and assurance mindset

Analytical and structured

Interpersonal skills

Education

Degree in Project Management, Engineering, or Construction Management

Professional certification in project management / PMO / governance

Tools

Primavera P6

MS Project

SharePoint

CEMAR

Job description

We are recruiting for a PMO Lead (Project Management Office) to join us here at Octavius.

We are a leading civil engineering organisation delivering safe, sustainable, and efficient transport solutions across the UK.

At Octavius, we bring people together — and in this role you'll be right at the heart of ensuring our Highways projects are governed brilliantly, reported clearly, and set up for successful delivery and handover.

If you're considering a move or broadening your experience, we'd love to hear from you. You don't need a formal CV — you can share your relevant experience and explain what's drawn you to this opportunity.

You'll be working on…. (what your role and responsibility is)

As our PMO Lead, you'll provide end-to-end governance, assurance, and performance reporting across the project lifecycle, ensuring compliance with National Highways' Project Control Framework (PCF), OIL standards, and corporate governance requirements.

You'll act as the single source of truth for programme, risk, change, and performance data — enabling strong, evidence-based decision-making at Project Director and senior leadership level.

Key areas you'll lead and influence include:

• Maintaining an integrated programme and reporting suite, covering time, cost, quality, risk, and change.
• Producing monthly and quarterly governance reports and dashboards for client and internal boards, identifying trends, risks, and actions required.
• Owning and embedding robust risk, issue, and change control frameworks so risks are identified early and change is governed before approval
• Overseeing document control and information management, ensuring ISO-compliant, audit-ready records for assurance and client acceptance
• Leading the project handover process, embedding handover milestones into the programme and driving alignment with PCF Stage 7 and contractual closeout governance.
• Governing materials approvals and technical query (TQ) management: tracking progress, driving timely closure, and escalating risks where needed.
• Acting as governance lead for Lean and continuous improvement, supporting lessons learned, efficiency KPIs and alignment to the corporate Lean strategy.

You'll work with… (because relationships are important)

You'll be part of a team of highly motivated, dedicated professionals delivering projects across a variety of frameworks — including work aligned to National Highways governance standards.

Day to day, you'll collaborate closely with the Project Director, Planner/Project Controls, Engineering Manager, Construction Manager, Commercial Manager, Quality Manager, Document Control, Lean Champion, and wider key stakeholders to ensure joined-up delivery and strong governance assurance.

About you…. (what you are skilled at)

You're someone who brings a governance and assurance mindset, with a sharp eye for detail and data integrity. You're naturally analytical and structured — able to turn complex programme information into clear, actionable insight for senior stakeholders.

You're also confident working across multidisciplinary environments, influencing without direct authority, and building trusted relationships that help delivery teams stay aligned, informed, and in control.

You'll bring… (your wealth of experience & qualifications)

We're looking for experience operating within complex infrastructure or highways project environments with formal governance frameworks, coordinating programme controls and assurance across teams and senior stakeholders.

You'll ideally bring:

• Strong knowledge of programme controls, risk, change management, and performance reporting (essential).
• Working knowledge of handover requirements, materials approvals, and technical query management (essential).
• Familiarity with highways governance frameworks such as PCF and OIL standards (desirable, not essential).
• Awareness of programme/reporting tools such as Primavera P6, MS Project, SharePoint, and CEMAR.
• A degree (or equivalent experience) in Project Management, Engineering, Construction Management, or a related discipline.
• A professional certification in project management / PMO / governance (e.g. APM, PRINCE2, PMI) (or equivalent experience).

If you don't have a CV, don't worry as you'll have the opportunity to upload your relevant experience in the place of a CV. We'd love to hear about your experience and why you feel you'd be great in this role.

Inclusion and diversity are important to us, we are an equal opportunities employer and value difference. We want and will continue to build an inclusive environment where our people thrive. We firmly believe constantly striving to build a truly diverse workforce is what makes us a strong business and will enable us to continue to solve important problems and deliver unrivalled value to both our customers and clients. If you need any specialist support throughout your application, we will work with you where we can to support your journey with us.