ROLE: PMO Lead
LOCATION: Dublin (Hybrid – 3 days on site)
CONTRACT: 12 month contract
ABOUT THE ROLE:
Barden is delighted to partner with a global organisation as they establish a Programme Management Office (PMO) function across their operations network. This is a newly created role, built from the ground up, with the mandate to bring order, visibility, and consistency to a portfolio of strategic, business-critical projects spanning multiple sites and functions.
You’ll be the central point of coordination for how projects are tracked, reported, and prioritised; designing the governance, tools, and reporting cadences from scratch, and working directly with senior operations leadership to give them a clear, decision-ready view of performance and risk. It’s a highly visible role with genuine influence, ideal for someone who wants to shape a function rather than inherit one.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and stand up the PMO operating model, including governance, reporting cadence, and escalation pathways.
- Select and implement the tools (Smartsheet, Power BI, or similar) to track and report portfolio performance.
- Build a single source of truth for project status, milestones, risks, and dependencies across the network.
- Turn complex project data into clear, decision-ready reporting for senior leadership.
- Run structured prioritisation reviews and demand planning to keep the portfolio aligned to strategic need.
- Champion AI-enabled tools for status reporting and portfolio health analysis.
ABOUT THE PERSON:
Required Skills and Competencies:
- Significant experience (7+ years) in programme or portfolio management, ideally within pharma, biotech, or complex manufacturing.
- A proven track record of building or significantly maturing a PMO function from scratch.
- Strong portfolio reporting and analytics skills, translating complex data into clear insight.
- Comfortable working cross-functionally across multiple sites, functions, and seniority levels.
- Confident engaging and influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority.
- A self-starter who thrives building structure in an ambiguous, fast-moving environment.