PMO Manager

Hiscox Inc.; York; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance company based in York is seeking an experienced PMO Manager to enhance governance and strategic portfolio alignment. The role involves managing multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring project success through best practices in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies. Ideal candidates will have over five years of experience in PMO roles, strong stakeholder engagement skills, and proficiency in PMO tools. The company supports a diverse and inclusive culture, promoting a hybrid working model.

Benefits

Hybrid work model

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Qualifications

• More than 5 years as a PMO Manager or Senior PMO Analyst in large-scale programmes.
• Experience with both Waterfall and Agile methodologies.
• Strong understanding of programme governance and project management best practices.
• Proven experience of software delivery lifecycle.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Align portfolio initiatives with overall strategy and value objectives.
• Ensure effective governance, controls, and transparent reporting.
• Act as a liaison between programme leadership and senior stakeholders.
• Support resource planning, capacity management, and budget oversight.
• Drive continuous improvement in PMO processes and tools.

Skills

Programme governance

Portfolio management

Stakeholder engagement

Agile methodologies

Waterfall methodologies

MS Project

JIRA

Confluence

Power BI

Excel

Education

Relevant certifications (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, SAFe)

Tools

MS Project

Excel

PowerPoint

Power BI

Job description

Overview

Job Type: Permanent

Build a brilliant future with Hiscox

Hiscox UK is a leading brand in the insurance market, recognised as setting the standards others try to emulate. We consistently deliver strong growth and exceptional returns, recruiting only the very best and empowering them to deliver. We are known for insuring the homes of the rich and famous through to the most innovative technology companies. Our customers are diverse and unique and are only united by our ability to provide specialist insurance tailored to their needs.

The role

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic PMO Manager to join the UK Change Portfolio Management Office at Hiscox. This role is key to delivering operational excellence within the PMO by ensuring robust governance, planning, and reporting across multiple programmes of work. Working closely with the Portfolio Office Lead and Head of Transformation, you will drive the alignment of portfolio initiatives with strategic business objectives and optimise value realisation. You will own critical processes such as initiative prioritisation and benefit tracking, while fostering best-in-class PMO practices that support leadership and enable successful portfolio outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Portfolio Alignment & Value Delivery

Align portfolio initiatives with overall strategy and value objectives to maximise impact. Evaluate and prioritise projects based on strategic fit, potential value delivery, and capacity. Own and manage the front-door submission and prioritisation process, acting as a gatekeeper for new portfolio initiatives. Track, measure, and optimise portfolio value realisation, working in close partnership with Finance FP&A teams. Provide insightful analysis and recommendations to support strategic planning cycles and investment decisions.

• PMO Governance

Collaborate closely with the Portfolio Office Lead and Head of Transformation to ensure effective management of the portfolio. Ensure consistent governance, controls, and transparent reporting across all programmes. Develop and maintain portfolio artefacts such as plans, RAID logs, dashboards, and KPIs. Ensure adherence to delivery frameworks, methodologies (e.g., Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid), and quality standards.

• Stakeholder Management

Act as a key liaison between programme leadership, delivery teams, and senior stakeholders. Prepare and present high-quality reports and updates for steering committees and executive boards.

• Resource, Financial and Risk Management

Support resource planning, capacity management, and budget oversight to optimise utilisation and forecast accuracy. Work with Finance FP&A teams to monitor financial performance, ensuring accurate forecasting, tracking, and reporting of programme budgets. Proactively identify, assess, and manage risks and issues at the portfolio level, ensuring mitigation plans and escalations are handled effectively.

• Continuous Improvement

Drive continuous improvement in PMO processes, tools, and templates. Champion a culture of delivery excellence and knowledge sharing.

Requirements

Must haves

• More than 5 years as a PMO Manager or Senior PMO Analyst in large-scale, complex programmes, ideally within the insurance or financial services sector but not a necessity.
• Strong understanding of programme governance, portfolio management, project management best practice and delivery methodologies.
• Experience with both Waterfall and Agile methodologies.
• Proven experience and understanding of software delivery lifecycle.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and influencing skills. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of working with people at all levels within and external to the business.
• Experience managing multi-disciplinary teams and working in matrix environments. Have had exposure to distributed teams and relationship building with stakeholders.
• Proficiency in PMO tools such as MS Project (or other project tools), JIRA, Confluence, Power BI, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Be creative, proactive, logical and innovative and will not just accept the status quo.
• Be highly results driven, with the energy and determination to succeed in a very fast paced environment where the pace of response and leadership is critical to success.
• Proficiency in MS Project, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and similar tools.

Nice to have

• Experience of working in the insurance industry.
• Management of medium to large sized programmes.
• System integration implementation.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2, MSP, SAFe).

Diversity and flexible working at Hiscox

We care about our people. We hire the best people for the job and we're committed to diversity and creating a truly inclusive culture, which we believe drives success. We also know that working life doesn't always have to be in the office, and as long as it's safe to do so, we will be operating a hybrid way of working to encourage a healthy work life balance, with 2 to 3 days in the office per week. Work with amazing people and be part of a unique culture.