Senior PMO Manager

Purpose of the role

The Senior PMO Manager (SPMOM) will establish and run a Group PMO that provides consistent governance, transparency, and delivery discipline across all Group‑led projects and transformation initiatives, whilst providing consistency in approach and PMO methodology for all Divisional/Regional/Functional or School specific projects. The SPMOM will also act as the single source of truth for programme status, risks, interdependencies, and delivery confidence at Group and Board level. Reports to Group Head of Transformation, Change and PMO.

ISP Principles

• Begin with our children and students. Our children and students are at the heart of what we do. Simply, their success is our success. Wellbeing and safety are both essential for learners and learning. Therefore, we are consistent in identifying potential safeguarding and Health & Safety issues and acting and following up on all concerns appropriately.
• Treat everyone with care and respect. We look after one another, embrace similarities and differences and promote the well‑being of self and others.
• Operate effectively. We focus relentlessly on the things that are most important and will make the most difference. We apply school policies and procedures and embody the shared ideas of our community.
• Are financially responsible. We make financial choices carefully based on the needs of the children, students and our schools.
• Learn continuously. Getting better is what drives us. We positively engage with personal and professional development and school improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish new PMO set‑up and define optimal operating model.
• Design, implement and continuously improve the Group PMO operating model, including standards, templates, tools, and ways of working.
• Define and enforce programme and project governance, stage gates, reporting cadence, and decision forums.
• Ensure clear ownership, accountability, and escalation routes across Group, Divisional and Regional projects and initiatives.
• Maintain a Group‑wide portfolio view of all strategic and transformation projects and initiatives.
• Track delivery against milestones, benefits, risks, dependencies and resourcing.
• Identify and proactively manage cross‑programme dependencies and delivery conflicts.
• Allocate resources effectively across Projects, ensuring projects are suitably staffed and managed.
• Support prioritisation and sequencing of initiatives in line with strategic capacity and value.
• Produce clear, concise and credible reporting for ExCo, SteerCo and Board‑level forums.
• Translate complex delivery data into decision‑ready insights, not activity updates.
• Provide early warning on delivery confidence, slippage, or emerging risks.
• Own the Group transformation risk and issue framework, ensuring risks are identified, quantified and actively managed.
• Drive a disciplined approach to issue escalation and resolution, ensuring timely decision‑making.
• Maintain and manage critical path and dependency maps across programmes.
• Establish and embed benefits realisation frameworks across transformation initiatives.
• Track delivery of financial, operational and strategic benefits post‑implementation.
• Act as a trusted partner and constructive challenger to programme sponsors and workstream leads.
• Influence senior stakeholders to maintain focus on outcomes, pace and delivery discipline.
• Select, implement and optimise PMO tools and dashboards (e.g. Monday.com, Smartsheet, Planview or equivalent).
• Ensure data quality, consistency and integrity across all reporting.
• Build PMO capability across the organisation through guidance, coaching and standards.
• Build and lead a small Group PMO team, providing clear direction for new team members.
• Set clear expectations, standards and performance measures for PMO resources.

Skills, Qualifications and Experience

• Proven experience setting up or leading a Group‑level PMO in a complex, multi‑stakeholder organisation.
• Strong understanding of portfolio, programme and transformation governance.
• Experience supporting executive‑level decision‑making with clear, credible reporting.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to challenge senior leaders constructively.
• Strong analytical capability, able to move from data to insight quickly.
• Pragmatic, outcomes‑focused approach – avoids bureaucracy for its own sake.

ISP Commitment to Safeguarding Principles

ISP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All post holders are subject to appropriate vetting procedures, including an online due diligence search, references and satisfactory Criminal Background Checks or equivalent covering the previous 10 years’ employment history.

ISP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

ISP is committed to strengthening our inclusive culture by identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining high‑performing teammates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender expression, age, disability status, neurodivergence, socio‑economic background or other demographic characteristics. Candidates who share our vision and principles and are interested in contributing to the success of ISP through this role are strongly encouraged to apply.