PMO & Programme Integration Lead - Water Sector in Newcastle upon Tyne

The Programme Management and Commercial Management (PMCM) team is seeking a PMO & Programme Integration Lead to play a pivotal role in shaping, governing and integrating programme management, project controls, and performance reporting across large‐scale capital programmes—particularly within the water sector. You will provide strategic leadership, embed programme-wide standards, optimise delivery processes, and ensure that decisions are driven by accurate insight, strong governance, and integrated financial and schedule data.

Responsibilities

• Strategic PMO Leadership & Programme Integration: Establish, lead and continuously improve the programme management framework, ensuring consistent processes across cost, schedule, scope, risk and reporting. Integrate data and insights across P6, Power BI, Oracle, IPS and other systems to create a single source of truth for programme performance. Provide strategic advisory to enable clients to deliver large capital programmes by championing best practice within the PMO and shaping governance models for successful delivery. Facilitate alignment between project teams, programme functions, commercial teams, executive stakeholders and the PMO. Work closely and collaborate effectively with the client PMO and delivery teams to strengthen end‐to‐end programme cohesion, delivery visibility and unified delivery governance.
• Programme Controls, Reporting & Performance Insight: Provide oversight and governance of programme performance reporting, ensuring clear visibility of KPIs, milestones, schedule health, risk insights and cost forecasts. Translate client requirements into effective integrated reporting packs and dashboards (Power BI, executive dashboards, integrated programme performance reports) that support decision-making across the portfolio. Establish and maintain robust governance and control frameworks to ensure the accuracy, completeness and quality of schedule, financial and risk data across the portfolio. Analyse trends, identify inefficiencies, and recommend interventions to improve programme performance.
• Financial, Commercial & Resource Governance: Provide oversight of contract obligations, commercial governance and strategic negotiation, ensuring risks and commitments are effectively controlled. Establish strong integration between commercial, planning, PMO, reporting and resource management functions, ensuring robust resource forecasting, allocation and utilisation. Drive a governance approach that ensures programmes are consistently, sufficiently and appropriately resourced, and that financial decisions are fully informed by commercial, schedule and resource impacts.
• Risk Management & Informed Decision‐Making: Develop integration‐focused frameworks that embed proactive management of risks, opportunities and dependencies. Lead workshops and scenario assessments to guide strategic decisions and advise leadership on emerging programme pressures and areas needing intervention.
• Leadership, Coaching & Organisational Development: Lead and mentor multidisciplinary teams, fostering a culture of performance, inclusion, coaching and continuous improvement. Build capability across PMO, planning, controls and reporting functions. Support transformational change initiatives, helping clients and internal teams adopt new processes, systems and behaviours.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management: Build trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders, regulators, partners and internal teams. Facilitate workshops, governance meetings and leadership forums to maintain alignment and momentum. Act as the integration point between project delivery teams, programme leadership and strategic decision‐makers.

Qualifications

• Extensive programme management and commercial acumen: Proven experience in programme management or PMO Leadership within large, complex capital programmes.
• Financial governance expertise: Strong commercial acumen with experience in budget management, resource forecasting, and programme‐level financial governance.
• Leadership excellence: Demonstrates a track record of successfully leading and managing teams to achieve strategic outcomes and drive organisational success.
• Sector‐specific experience: Significant experience in the water, energy, or strong transferable experience that supports diverse perspectives.
• Technical proficiency in PMO/project controls tools: Experience with programme management systems such as Primavera P6, Power BI, Oracle and Microsoft Suite.
• Professional accreditation: Relevant professional qualification or chartered status (e.g., PM, PMO, programme management) is highly desirable.
• Significant practical experience: Minimum 10–15 years' experience (depending on seniority), or an equivalent blend of education and experience to successfully perform the essential duties of the job.

Benefits

• Our People Culture: We're proud of our friendly and collaborative environment.
• Great benefits including a competitive salary, pension plan, holidays, private medical insurance, group income protection & life assurance, discounted gym membership and lots more.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• Great projects across our sector in both the UK & Ireland.
• Industry leading training and development as well as paid professional subscriptions.