The Opportunity
Save the Children International has an exciting opportunity for you to join our team as the PMO Manager (Next Generation Transformation) in Centre -London, UK or any existing Save the Children International Regional or Country office worldwide.
ROLE PURPOSE:
Save the Children is evolving its organisational structure in order to stay true to its mission, vision and values, whilst being able to withstand external pressures – be those geo-political demands; increasing stakeholder expectations; challenging funding environments; reduced access to funding; or declining trust in large INGOs. This is driven through our ambitious transformation agenda.
Our focus is on championing the rights and interests of children worldwide, putting the most vulnerable children first and to do this we need to ensure we effectively connect with the children and families we support as well as the communities and partners we work.
Over the past 6 years, Save the Children has undertaken significant transformation to ensure alignment in our delivery and efficiency in our processes which was critical following Save the Children International being established. As we move towards finalising delivery of this critical set of initiatives, we now need to look to the future and focus on how we continue to ensure focus on our Ambition 2030 and in particular unlock the potential of the enablers digital, data and localisation for children. This next period of change will be managed via the Next Generation Transformation Portfolio. The Portfolio is focused on ensuring three key enablers digital, data and localisation will grow the effectiveness of engagement with supporters, delivery of programmes for children and driving efficiencies in our operations.
The PMO Manager (Next Generation Transformation or ‘Next Gen’) is a key member of the Portfolio Management Office team. This team is responsible for defining and maintaining the standards for portfolio management within the organisation, across 60 Country and Regional offices and 30 Member organisations.
The Next Gen PMO Manager will be the PMO business partner for a sub-set of the projects and initiatives that comprise Next Gen and is responsible for:
Portfolio Management
- Oversight and quality assurance of projects’ delivery status, risks and issues and plans, ensuring effective management of interdependencies, and escalation and intervention to senior leadership as required.
- Overseeing the connection between initiatives and ensuring we are effectively managing the Next Gen programme as a whole.
- Overseeing portfolio level planning and management of controls at a portfolio level– including ownership of the integrated plan and associated dependencies
- Actively engaging individual projects to understand priorities and progress and stepping in to address issues as needed which could involve hands on interventions and support where this was required.
- Tracking the benefits, metrics and ensuring effective ongoing monitoring.
- Manage all elements of programme level reporting and will need to ensure effective engagement with the key governance groups, engaging with individual initiative teams to ensure governance meetings are effectively prepared and managed.
- Coaching Project Managers and Project Leads in the application Transformation Delivery Lifecycle and PMO controls to their projects, including stage gate preparation.
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
Essential:
- Knowledge of project, programme, and portfolio management practices, standards, and methodologies.
- A minimum of five years of PMO experience in a senior analyst/manager role
- End responsibility for managing a complex portfolio of transformation initiatives or at a minimum experience of leading a global transformation initiative as a Project Lead or equivalent
- Demonstrated experience working with global stakeholders across different levels of the organisation from a broad range of contexts
- Experience of working on IT and Business focused projects
- Experience of industry project management standards and holding project management teams accountable to those standards
- Demonstrable experience of acting as a ‘business partner’ to functional areas e.g. Supply Chain, Finance etc.
- Experience of working in a fast-paced environment with high levels of change and quick turnaround times, whilst delivering to the highest standards
- Ability to resolve complex project issues, with a balance of pragmatism and rigour
- Experience setting up and working with project governance structures
- Experience delivering interventions to support the resolution of issues
- Experience engaging with complex stakeholder groups and leading engagements with key governance bodies
- Demonstrable coaching skills to help build the capabilities of others in the area of Project and Change Management
- Confident user of standard Microsoft applications, including MS Project, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint.
- Commitment to Save the Children values
Desirable:
- Non-profit sector knowledge/experience.
- A second language. Preferably French, Spanish, Portuguese or Arabic.
We can offer circa £55,100 per annum (If based in UK) with an option of flexible working hours. If the role is based outside of the UK, National T&C (including pay) will apply.
This role can be based in any existing Save the Children International Regional or Country office location on approval, provided the successful candidate has proof of eligibility to work from the preferred location.
Where we Work -Where We Work | Save the Children International
The Organisation
We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.
We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:
- No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
- All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
- Violence against children is no longer tolerated
We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.
Application Information:
Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your salary expectations.
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.
Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.