PPM & PMO Director in London

Our team members are at the heart of everything we do. At Cencora, we are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures, and every person here is essential to us being able to deliver on that purpose. If you want to make a difference at the center of health, come join our innovative company and help us improve the lives of people and animals everywhere. Apply today!

Job Details: This role is in support of Cencora's third party logistics service in Europe operating through our Alloga business.

Position Summary and Key Responsibilities:

• Permanent above-market role establishing and leading the portfolio, resource and program governance function for Cencora 3PL across all critical programs and strategic initiatives.
• The role is responsible for portfolio intake, prioritisation and sequencing across transformation, tactical and growth initiatives; resource visibility and conflict management across business, IT and SME capacity; governance standards, reporting frameworks and SteerCo-level materials; and full transparency on priorities, resource demand, program status, financials and portfolio health across all initiatives of critical scale.
• The Director builds and leads a central project management capability — attracting, developing and aligning project managers across the organisation to a consistent, standardised delivery methodology.
• This includes defining and embedding repeatable standard operating procedures, communication routines and quality standards that ensure delivery predictability across a complex, multi-country portfolio.
• The role holder is expected to be hands-on where needed — stepping into direct project leadership on priority initiatives, not solely operating at portfolio oversight level.
• The role owns the selection, implementation and embedding of PPM tooling required to make portfolio visibility and resource governance operational rather than manual.
• The Director will actively seek alignment with existing Cencora Group standards, tooling and methodology — ensuring that the 3PL approach is complementary to, and where possible consistent with, group-wide practices rather than a standalone solution.
• The Director operates as a senior business partner to C-suite and SVP-level stakeholders — representing portfolio status, priorities and recommendations in leadership forums with the authority and credibility to drive decisions, not just report them.

Experience:

• Proven track record building and leading PMO or PPM functions at scale in complex, multi-country environments.
• Demonstrated hands-on project management experience — the role requires direct delivery leadership on priority initiatives, not only portfolio-level oversight.
• Experience managing a portfolio of concurrent programs across business and IT, including resource conflict resolution and prioritisation governance.
• Demonstrated capability in building and leading a central PM community — including methodology standardisation, onboarding and coaching of project managers across markets and functions.
• Hands-on experience selecting, implementing and embedding PPM tooling (e.g. Smartsheet, Planview, ServiceNow PPM, Microsoft Project Online or equivalent).
• Strong command of program financials, capex/opex tracking, forecasting and benefit realisation frameworks.
• Experience in pharma, healthcare, logistics or comparable regulated, multi-market industries strongly preferred.

Capabilities:

• Ability to operate as a senior business partner to C-suite and SVP-level stakeholders — not a back-office reporting function.
• Ability to lead and deliver projects directly as well as through others — combining hands-on PM rigour with portfolio-level governance.
• Ability to identify process and tooling gaps and implement improvements that increase delivery predictability and reduce manual overhead.
• Ability to define and monitor lifecycle reporting across program phases: milestones, risks, issues, dependencies and performance indicators.
• Ability to operate effectively in dynamic, high-pressure, multi-priority environments without sacrificing output quality or governance standards.
• Strong written and verbal communication — able to produce SteerCo and ELT-ready materials to consulting-level standards.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, engineering, operations or a related field required; Master's degree preferred.
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred; Agile (SAFe, CSM) or Lean / Six Sigma advantageous.
• 8+ years of experience in program management, PMO leadership or portfolio governance in complex organisations.

Languages:

• Fluent English required; additional European language(s) advantageous given cross-regional scope.

What Cencora offers: Benefit offerings outside the US may vary by country and will be aligned to local market practice. The eligibility and effective date may differ for some benefits and for team members covered under collective bargaining agreements.

Cencora is committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or membership in any other class protected by federal, state or local law.

The company’s continued success depends on the full and effective utilization of qualified individuals. Therefore, harassment is prohibited and all matters related to recruiting, training, compensation, benefits, promotions and transfers comply with equal opportunity principles and are non-discriminatory.

Cencora is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the employment process which are consistent with legal requirements.