PMO Manager | Contract (Outside IR35) | Cambridgeshire, Hybrid
Day rate: TBC
Duration: 6 months
Location: Cambridgeshire, hybrid with 2 days per week on site
Reporting to: Head of Portfolio Office
The Opportunity: We are partnering with a landmark science and innovation destination in the Cambridge area. The organisation is going through a major phase of growth and development, as an established site becomes a place that opens up to the public, businesses and the wider community. The programme covers new buildings and public spaces, commercial leasing, estates and facilities, technology and operational readiness. All of this is being delivered at pace towards a fixed public opening.
To bring structure and visibility to this work, the organisation is building a new portfolio office. This contract role sits at its heart. You’ll run governance, reporting and portfolio controls across many concurrent projects, and turn complex delivery information into clear decisions for senior leaders.
What you’ll be doing:
- Running a proportionate governance framework, including stage gates, delegated authorities, escalation thresholds, decision logs and a clear audit trail.
- Coordinating portfolio governance forums: agendas, decision papers, action tracking and follow-through.
- Owning RAID and dependency controls, with named owners, response plans and escalation dates.
- Producing concise dashboards and governance reports on delivery confidence, trends, exceptions and the decisions required.
- Building and maintaining an integrated portfolio plan, tracking against baselines and coordinating recovery where needed.
- Operating change control across scope, schedule, cost and benefits.
- Working closely with sponsors and delivery leads across development, estates and facilities, leasing, technology, finance, HR and marketing.
- Coaching delivery teams, improving PMO templates and tools, and guiding a PMO Analyst.
What we’re looking for:
- Ideally a background in real estate, property development or construction. Experience of large development programmes, estates portfolios or mixed-use schemes will be a real advantage.
- A track record of running a PMO or programme controls function across several concurrent initiatives.
- Hands-on experience setting up and running planning, governance, reporting, risk and change-control processes.
- Confidence to challenge with evidence and to take difficult messages to senior stakeholders constructively.
- A working knowledge of budget monitoring, forecasting, resource planning and benefits tracking.
- Strong reporting and tooling skills (e.g. Power BI, Smartsheet, SharePoint, MS Project).
- PRINCE2, MSP or P3O (or equivalent) preferred.
Why this role?
This is a chance to shape a portfolio function from the ground up on one of the region’s most ambitious development programmes. It’s a visible, hands-on role with real influence over how a high-profile project is delivered.
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