Group PMO Manager

Role Summary

The Group PMO Manager leads the establishment and ongoing management of a centralized Project Management Office that spans multiple clusters and business units within a complex organization. This pivotal governance role ensures comprehensive visibility into the entire portfolio of projects, initiatives, and mergers & acquisitions across all clusters. The position reports directly to the CEO and is responsible for creating a single, reliable source of portfolio data to support executive decision making and board reporting.

This role emphasizes strategic oversight and governance rather than direct operational project management. Primary focus areas include portfolio health monitoring, variance analysis, risk escalation, and guarantee of data transparency and integrity for all projects under PMO supervision.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an integrated tracker consolidating every active project, program, M&A activity, and strategic initiative across five clusters.
• Implement standardized classifications, status definitions, and reporting formats for consistent portfolio governance across divisions.
• Create tailored PMO document templates specific to domains such as construction, M&A, technology, healthcare, and real estate to drive unified portfolio views.
• Ensure all projects conform to governance standards and maintain high levels of data integrity appropriate for market and board disclosures.
• Conduct monthly tracking of project metrics including budget adherence, schedule adherence, cost variance, completion rates, and overall health index.
• Detect and escalate financial or scheduling variances exceeding predefined thresholds (cost overruns above 5%, delays over 10 days) to senior leadership.
• Maintain a consolidated risk register, monitor the highest impact risks, and oversee mitigation plans.
• Deliver detailed variance and trend analysis monthly, supplemented by root cause explanations.
• Generate executive dashboards each month for review by the CEO and board, along with comprehensive quarterly reports highlighting project status, financial impacts, and strategic considerations.
• Ensure all reported data is verifiable, fully supported, and defensible for stakeholder scrutiny.
• Facilitate cross-functional coordination with cluster leaders, project managers, and finance teams on a monthly cycle.
• Lead monthly PMO forums to review portfolio status and address obstacles.
• Manage development and upkeep of PMO tools, including spreadsheets, dashboards, and report templates.
• Train cluster personnel on PMO procedures, data requirements, and submission schedules.
• Serve as the primary PMO contact for queries from the CEO, board members, and external parties.
• Assure absolute data accuracy by verifying all figures against source documents; never fabricate or guess metrics.
• Maintain an audit trail and version control for all PMO documentation.
• Identify and correct data discrepancies proactively, escalating unclear information rather than assuming values.
• Support external audit activities and regulatory compliance reviews with complete documentation and evidence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in project management, business administration, engineering, finance, or a related discipline.
• At least 10 years’ experience managing PMOs handling multi-geography, multi-cluster, or multi-billion-dollar portfolios.
• Proven expertise in portfolio governance, reporting, and executive communications in publicly listed companies.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and scenario analysis; strong PowerPoint capabilities.
• Track record of designing and scaling PMO standards, frameworks, and templates across varied business sectors.
• Strong financial literacy encompassing budgeting, forecasting, cost management, and variance analytics.
• Exceptional attention to detail with a strong commitment to data accuracy and governance compliance.
• Experience in leading cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Professional fluency in English; Arabic language proficiency is a plus.