PMO Senior Project Manager (Mat Cover) in City of London

The Senior Project Manager is responsible for the end to end delivery of complex business and technology change initiatives, ensuring successful outcomes across cross functional teams in a fast paced environment. The role combines strong delivery focus, financial management, and stakeholder engagement to ensure projects land on time, within budget, and to a high standard of quality. They will work closely with senior stakeholders, including C-Suite, providing clear updates, managing risks, and ensuring that all change activity aligns to business strategy and governance standards. This role will oversee multiple concurrent projects, balancing competing priorities, resources, and timelines, while maintaining strong stakeholder alignment.

Key accountabilities:

• Project Delivery
  • Lead and manage complex, multidisciplinary business and technology projects, including digital transformation implementations, ensuring delivery on time, within scope, and within budget.
  • Shape, scope, and mobilise new initiatives, guiding teams through business case development, planning, financials, and mobilisation into full change programmes.
  • Develop comprehensive project plans, defining scope, objectives, and deliverables.
  • Create timelines, budgets, and resource allocation strategies.
  • Define key project milestones and complete overall reviews, conduct release readiness reviews, Business Go/No-Go reviews and capture key lessons learned.
  • Oversee concurrent projects, balancing competing priorities, resources, timelines, and stakeholder expectations.
  • Work closely with key internal teams and stakeholders to ensure successful project delivery and transition to BAU.
• Stakeholder Communication
  • Identify, engage, and manage key stakeholders across the project lifecycle, ensuring strong communication and alignment.
  • Provide clear, accurate, and timely updates, escalating risks and issues that may impact delivery or benefits realisation.
  • Confidently communicate at all levels, including SLT and Board, providing well-structured summaries and presentations.
• Governance, Reporting & Best Practice
  • Develop, design, and maintain project plans, financial controls, documentation, and reporting artefacts in line with PMO governance.
  • Ensure adherence to best practice delivery standards and contribute to continual improvement of PMO frameworks and tools.
  • Support the evaluation, initiation, and shaping of new project ideas into viable, well defined delivery programmes.
  • Apply appropriate delivery methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, hybrid), ensuring effective governance, RAID management, and reporting.
  • Ensure compliance with policy, audit and legal requirements such as Health & Safety, GDPR, and follow company policies.
• Risk, Issue and Dependency Management
  • Identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.
  • Monitor and address issues as they arise to keep the project on track.
  • Manage cross-team dependencies, coordinate internal and external resources, and address blockers.
  • Quickly identify and address project-related issues and obstacles.
  • Use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to find effective solutions.
  • Ensure continuous quality control and issue management throughout project execution.
• Leadership & Team Development
  • Lead cross-functional project teams, fostering high performance and collaboration.
  • Provide guidance and mentoring to junior PMO team members, supporting capability development.
  • Role model positive, collaborative and agile ways of working with all areas of the business with clear thinking and strong communication, being able to lead working groups to facilitate resolution of issues and blockers to delivery.

Role-specific experience and skills:

• Proven experience managing complex, cross functional business and technology change projects or digital transformation programmes, across multiple business units, markets or geographies.
• 5+ years of experience in project management, preferably in a senior role.
• Strong leadership capabilities with a track record of guiding cross-functional programmes and large stakeholder groups.
• Advanced project planning, budgeting, and financial oversight skills.
• High proficiency in project management tools and methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid).
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills, including experience with senior leaders and clients.
• Excellent organisational skills, including multitasking and time-management.
• Solid understanding of risk management and quality assurance practices.
• Hands-on experience with project management methodologies and tools across both waterfall and agile with the ability to apply or blend approaches based on context.
• Ability to anticipate delivery risks and portfolio level conflicts using practical experience and sound judgement.
• Experience using Smartsheets or similar Project Management tooling.
• Professional certifications such as PMP / PRINCE2 / AGILE are advantageous.

General experience and personal qualities:

• Demonstrates a proactive, hands-on approach with a willingness to 'roll up sleeves', when needed.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to apply solid commercial judgment.
• Results / target oriented.
• Exceptional time management skills.
• Be self-motivated, driven by a high level of initiative.
• Be a strong team player, communicate effectively and confidence in managing escalations.
• Self-aware, open-minded with a high degree of personal and professional integrity.
• Committed to delivering exceptional customer service.
• Continuously strives for improvement; to look for best practice and evolve ways of working to ensure best possible results.
• Approachable and supportive, promoting an 'open door' culture.

Why Travelex?

To remain the world’s leading foreign exchange specialist, we are focused on making our customers’ lives simpler, more engaging and hassle free while they travel or move money abroad. We promise to give them the freedom and peace of mind to explore the world, their way – enabling them to travel confidently because they know they have us to lean on. Customer centricity and digital are at the heart of our business strategy. Our commitment to innovation has never been greater, with the development of a number of digital-first, greenfield products and services. And with Travelex's resources, deep industry experience and leading brand we are inventing the future of FX, cross-border e-commerce and international payments. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.