Level 3 PMO

About the role

PMO (12 month FTC) London or Darlington, with hybrid working arrangements. At Railpen, we’re committed to helping secure our members’ future through responsible investment and effective change. As a senior PMO (Level 3) practitioner within Change & Transformation (C&T), you’ll provide leadership, oversight and constructive challenge across governance, planning, reporting, assurance and portfolio controls. Working across complex projects, programmes and portfolios, you’ll use data and insight to support informed decisions, improve delivery confidence and ensure change investments are governed effectively. You may also line-manage and coach PMO colleagues, helping to strengthen professional capability, standards and ways of working across the function. To learn more about Railpen including our values, culture and purpose, visit our careers page here.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading PMO activities across complex projects, major programmes and portfolios, ensuring effective governance, planning, reporting and control.
• Providing independent assurance and portfolio-level oversight of delivery performance, milestones, benefits, risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies and actions.
• Developing and maintaining integrated portfolio plans, delivery roadmaps and dependency-management processes to support strategic decision-making.
• Producing executive reporting, dashboards and portfolio insights, analysing delivery performance, governance effectiveness, resource utilisation and delivery confidence to provide clear recommendations.
• Facilitating governance boards, steering committees and portfolio forums, ensuring decisions are well informed, documented, communicated and tracked.
• Conducting assurance reviews, governance health checks and delivery assessments to identify weaknesses and improve delivery outcomes and governance maturity.
• Horizon scanning across the change portfolio to identify emerging risks, dependencies and delivery pressures, enabling early intervention where required.
• Supporting prioritisation, capacity planning, investment decisions and financial governance in partnership with Portfolio Managers, Project Managers, Business Analysts and senior stakeholders.
• Driving the adoption and continuous improvement of PMO standards, frameworks, tools, reporting, governance and AI-enabled practices across the portfolio.
• Where appropriate, line-managing, coaching and supporting PMO colleagues to strengthen capability, share good practice and build a collaborative professional community.

What we’re looking for

You’ll be an experienced PMO professional with a strong track record of leading governance, assurance, planning and portfolio controls across complex change. You’ll combine strategic thinking with strong operational delivery, using data and insight to bring structure to complexity, challenge constructively and provide clear recommendations to senior stakeholders. You’ll be pragmatic and outcome-focused, able to balance robust governance with a proportionate approach. You’ll also bring the leadership and coaching skills needed to develop PMO colleagues and continuously improve professional standards and capability.

Essential

• Proven experience leading PMO activities across complex programmes, portfolios or large-scale change environments.
• Strong knowledge of portfolio governance, independent assurance, integrated planning, reporting, risk management and delivery controls.
• Experience designing, implementing and continuously improving PMO frameworks, standards, methodologies and governance processes.
• Ability to analyse complex portfolio data, identify trends, risks, dependencies and delivery pressures, and provide clear recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Experience producing executive reporting, dashboards and portfolio insights that support informed decision-making.
• Experience facilitating governance boards, steering committees, portfolio reviews and assurance activities.
• Experience managing integrated plans, delivery roadmaps, milestones and cross-portfolio dependencies.
• Ability to balance strategic objectives, delivery capability, resource availability and governance requirements.
• Strong stakeholder-management, communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and influence without direct authority.
• Experience line-managing, coaching or developing PMO professionals to improve capability and performance.
• Ability to balance robust governance and professional standards with a pragmatic, proportionate and outcome-focused approach.

Desirable

• Experience working within financial services, pensions, investment management or another regulated environment.
• Knowledge of portfolio, programme and project management systems or enterprise governance tools.
• Experience supporting portfolio prioritisation, investment decisions, financial governance, capacity planning or resource management.
• Experience developing or embedding AI-enabled reporting, governance or portfolio management practices.
• A relevant PMO, portfolio, programme or project management qualification or professional accreditation.

Why is this role exciting now?

This is an opportunity to influence how change is governed and managed across Railpen’s C&T portfolio. You’ll work closely with senior leaders, strengthen delivery confidence and use portfolio insight to support important decisions and early intervention. Your impact will extend beyond individual projects and programmes, helping to improve PMO maturity, develop colleagues and shape more consistent, proportionate and effective delivery practices across the function.

What you’ll get in return

• A competitive salary (depending on experience) plus generous annual bonus plan
• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• We provide membership of the Railways Pension Scheme, a Defined Benefit arrangement under which you get a pension for life and a lump sum when you retire, based on your length of service and pay
• 4x Life Assurance cover
• We support hybrid and flexible working along with very generous family leave including 12 months full pay maternity leave and 6 months full pay paternity leave
• Take a look at the full range of benefits available to support you

Inclusion at Railpen

At Railpen, diversity, equity and inclusion are core to who we are. We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported and able to thrive. Our mission to secure a better future for our members is strengthened by the different perspectives and experiences our people bring. We are transparent about our gender pay gap and are actively committed to addressing it through fair and inclusive recruitment, progression and reward practices. We respect and support individuals’ pronouns and encourage colleagues to share them if they feel comfortable to do so. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, neurodiversity, or any other protected characteristic. If you need adjustments during the recruitment process, just let us know. At Railpen we know that it’s the talent of our people that makes us good at what we do and enables us to continue to achieve our mission to pay members’ pensions securely, affordably and sustainably. The unique nature of Railpen offers our people a wide variety of interesting opportunities for innovation, thought leadership and personal development. We encourage people to challenge, explore unconventional ideas and give each other the space to learn from our mistakes. We take time to listen to each other’s ideas and understand what we each do, and what we need from each other to help us be at our best. Railpen is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse environment, we value diversity and welcome people from all backgrounds and walks of life.

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