Director of PMO

Specsavers is here to change lives through better sight and hearing by delivering outstanding value, being loved by every customer and creating the place where all colleagues are proud to belong. We are proud of how far we’ve come as a business, now we want to see you grow with us.

The Group Retail and Change team champion and drive Retail collaboration, consistency and advancement across all Regions, working closely with multiple stakeholders in all Regions. We provide clear mechanisms, best practice and frameworks for how to manage and successfully deliver Global change initiatives at Specsavers Globally, working closely with People & Organisation and other Group Functions to enable successful collaborations across both Group and Region driven initiatives.

We ensure a solid connection between Global programmes and our Regions, ensuring that Regions can drive local planning and change initiatives with full visibility of Global Programme ambitions and roadmap. We drive consistency in technology requirements across our regions, balancing technology change and business change, maximising re-use and ultimately expediting delivery and lowering cost.

Blended Experience Programme (BEP)

There are three key priorities in the Specsavers Long Term Framework 2030: Future ready people, Market Growth and Blended Experience Programme (BEP). BEP is the largest, most important and most complex Programme Specsavers has undertaken. The Blended Experience Programme will transform our capabilities to enable seamless, blended experiences (instore and online) empowering our customers to fulfil their needs via services that are convenient, consistent and personalised at scale across our global footprint.

Your purpose

The role of Director of the PMO plays a critical leadership role in driving enterprise-wide transformation initiatives to achieve strategic goals. This position is responsible for establishing and leading a best-in-class Transformation Management Office that enables effective governance, change management and execution of high-impact initiatives across the organisation. The Director partners closely with senior leadership, functional leaders and project teams to ensure alignment, transparency and accountability for transformation outcomes.

The role of Director of PMO is a crucial role in the overall BEP delivery team to ensure that the programme of work agreed is successfully delivered as per the agreed outcomes, timelines and budget. This role will be accountable for supporting the BEP Programme Director and Leadership in all aspects of PMO delivery.

The role requires a blend of strong programme management and large scale complex PMO experience; good knowledge and understanding of transformation management; experience of working in a global, complex and agile transformation environment; and strong analytical skills. In addition, the role requires significant experience of coordinating and managing multiple stakeholders within a complex worldwide landscape in Specsavers.

This role will work with the wider multidisciplinary delivery teams across the world and the broader business change team to drive a consistent approach to leading and delivering programmes. This role will help to demonstrate the benefits of driving programmes through outcomes as well as maintaining ‘delivery focus’.

Your role as Director of PMO

• Strategic Oversight and Alignment: Develop and communicate the vision, mission and strategic objectives to embed a PMO (this requires augmentation of the current PMO service). Ensure alignment between Transition States programmes and teams.
• Governance and Framework Development: Help to embed and improve the governance structures and methodologies to ensure consistent project execution. Create standardised tools, templates, dashboards and reporting mechanisms. Define prioritisation, escalation and performance review processes.
• Portfolio and Programme Management: Monitor project scope, timelines, budgets and interdependencies. Drive cross-functional coordination to ensure successful execution and delivery. Coordinate with rigour and assurance, the creation of the overall Programme plan, ensuring it is tracked and maintained in line with programme progress. This will include operating within a hybrid agile environment where we are tracking epics, stories and sprints.
• Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement: Help to facilitate executive steering committees and decision-making forums. Build trusted relationships with key stakeholders through regular updates, insights and recommendations. Lead with ‘assertive diplomacy’ to address and resolve conflicts, aligning with the Specsavers culture.
• Team Leadership and Capability Building: Continue to support building and leading a high-performing PMO/TMO team including Transition State Heads of PMO, PMO Managers and analysts. Provide coaching, development and performance programme team members. Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Define, track and report on KPIs and success metrics for BEP Transition States and the overall Programme. Mature the BEP executive-level dashboards and progress updates. Implement effective project reporting and control mechanisms to support decision-making considering the BEP PMO reporting cadence and future Transition States. Use insights to optimise execution and enhance business impact. Track and monitor programme performance, risks, budgets and timelines across all projects. Ensure that insights and data provided are accurate and timely.
• Risk and Issue Management: Proactively identify, manage and drive the mitigation of risks across the BEP portfolio. Establish escalation protocols and resolution processes. Ensure compliance with organisational and regulatory standards.
• Budget and Resource Management: Work with the Programme Director and Finance to develop and manage the BEP budget, ensuring accurate tracking and reporting of all project expenditures. Develop and report on the TMOs operating budget. Partner with each of the Transition States, HR, Finance and other stakeholders to ensure resources are allocated efficiently.

What You’ll Bring

• Extensive Experience in Large-Scale Transformation: 15+ years of experience in transformation, TMO or related leadership roles. Demonstrable success in managing complex, cross-functional transformation programmes in global and matrixed organisation with a significant technology component. Expertise in setting up or scaling a PMO/TMO in a fast-paced, matrix-managed, global organisation.
• Retail Knowledge: Familiarity with the retail industry and an understanding of the challenges faced.
• Customer and Colleague Focus: A mindset centred on both customers and store colleagues to ensure that changes enhance the overall customer experience.
• Methodologies: Strong knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Lean and hybrid delivery models and experience implementing and managing these frameworks in large organisations.
• Tooling: Proficiency in modern project management tools (e.g. Jira, Confluence) and preferably portfolio management software (e.g. Planview). Implement tools and techniques to manage interdependencies and maximise milestone delivery efficiency. Proficient with modern reporting platforms (e.g. Power BI) and collaboration suites (e.g. Miro, MS Teams).
• Leadership and People Management: Strong leadership and people management skills, with a proven ability to build and inspire cross-functional PMO/TMO teams. Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Clarity and Direction: Ability to bring clarity and direction within a complex environment, working collaboratively with stakeholders and driving milestones and outputs.
• Exceptional Communication and Influence Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels. Ability to communicate complex concepts clearly and persuasively to C-level executives, boards and the wider BEP teams.
• Stakeholder Management: Demonstrable ability to manage relationships across a complex, global stakeholder landscape. Foster strong relationships with stakeholders, providing regular updates on project progress, risks and outcomes.
• Collaboration: Strong collaborative style, with the ability to engage and foster cross-functional, cross-program and multi-territory relationships.
• Budget Management: Experience in budget management, financial tracking and cost-benefit analysis for transformation projects.
• Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions.
• Risk Management: Adept at managing risks, resolving conflicts and navigating complex project challenges.
• Cultural Change Management: Experience in delivering and influencing organisational culture change to embed new practices/techniques. Experience working across global teams, with an understanding of cultural nuances that impact collaboration, communication and change adoption.
• Prioritisation and Efficiency: Ability to prioritise and manage multiple competing demands calmly and efficiently.
• Self-Motivation: Highly motivated self-starter, able to manage workload effectively and prioritise tasks. Invest time to ensure personal development is integrated into personal objectives/goals and that the personal development plan is both challenging and reviewed regularly.
• Strong Analytical and Problem-Solving Abilities: Comfortable analysing data, identifying trends and turning insights into actionable strategies that deliver measurable business impact.
• Resilience and Adaptability: Proven ability to thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments; adaptable to shifting priorities and able to lead teams through ambiguity.

Why Join Us?

At Specsavers, you will be part of a supportive and dynamic team, working in a fast-paced environment where your contributions make a real difference. If you are looking for a senior role that will leave a legacy for an established global brand driven by purpose, then apply now and we look forward to connecting with you.