About the job

Job summary

Ofgem, the UK's independent energy regulator, safeguards electricity and gas consumers by promoting affordability, reliable supply, and sustainability. It oversees market development and competition while implementing government programmes and maintaining independence within UK and EU legal frameworks. 

As part of our commitment to innovation and excellence, Ofgem is seeking a PMO Manager responsible for project management duties within the portfolio, including planning, resourcing, and governance. This role entails championing PMO tools, supporting various activities, and playing a key part in the Financial Resilience & Controls Directorate's efforts to aid vulnerable consumers and promote decarbonisation. 

The successful candidate will play a vital role in stakeholder management, offering advice on tools and techniques to enhance stakeholder relationships and providing assurance on the effectiveness of these arrangements. They will also establish rigorous processes for managing risks and issues, ensuring appropriate governance, and implementing change management protocols to adjust project scopes as necessary. 

The PMO Manager will be responsible for setting up and operating project controls, monitoring project progress, and facilitating the sharing of methods and resources across projects. They will oversee the realisation of project benefits, ensuring outcomes are successful and learning experiences are implemented across the organisation. Additionally, this role includes providing guidance and support to the project team, developing best practice project management tools, templates, and benchmarks against industry standards, and overseeing business and administrative support functions. 

A successful candidate must demonstrate significant experience in developing comprehensive delivery plans, encompassing clear and transparent work objectives, milestones, and success metrics. They should be a skilled collaborator and possess strong communication abilities, essential for effective teamwork and project articulation. Furthermore, the role demands excellent stakeholder management, negotiation, and influencing skills, particularly at senior levels, highlighting the importance of strategic engagement and consensus-building. 

Candidates should also have a versatile background in project management, with hands-on experience in a variety of methodologies such as agile and waterfall. This diversity in approach ensures adaptability and the ability to tailor project management strategies to suit different project needs and outcomes. 

If you are ready to apply your specialised knowledge towards making a profound difference in how energy is delivered and managed, we look forward to your application. Apply now to make a meaningful impact with our dynamic team. 

Job description

Purpose 

The role of the PMO Manager is to contribute to the definition and maintenance of  the standards for managing change within Ofgem. This includes the review, establishment and sharing of best practice as well as the development and application of project procedures, tools and techniques in order to standardise methodologies and realise efficiencies.  

• Accountability for fulfilling a range of project management responsibilities for the Portfolio including planning, resourcing, ePMO Portfolio Management Framework, governance, reporting, risk and assurance management and all change aspects - reporting into the PMO Principal Team Lead. 
• Champion & validate use of PMO tools and broader change process across Ofgem. 
• Support other interrelated activities, deliverables and outputs as required. 
• Ofgem’s Delivery and Schemes Directorate is at the heart of Ofgem’s enduring priority to deliver Environmental and Social Schemes for government to support vulnerable consumers and advance decarbonisation. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Delivery and leadership – Lead the PMO in supporting projects in the delivery of business case development, benefits realisation and outcomes. Champion the use of best practice project management standards and processes. 
• Business case – Support the Project Manager in the development of business case with input from specialists as necessary. 
• Budget – Develop and agree budgets for projects and/or programmes and forecast actual costs against them.  
• Resources – Support the PMO team and Project Managers in the identification, recruitment, development, deployment and reassignment of resources throughout the project lifecycle. 
• Stakeholder management – Advise the project team on appropriate tools and techniques for managing stakeholder relationships. Provide assurance to the project manager on the effectiveness of stakeholder management arrangements. 
• Risks and issues – Establish and uphold the project processes and standards for managing risks and issues. Provide assurance to the project manager on the effectiveness of Risk and Issue management arrangements. 
• Governance and assurance – Ensure appropriate governance is in place and arrange external reviews e.g. Gateway Reviews at appropriate points in the project lifecycle.  
• Monitor the effectiveness of controls and ensure that recommendations from external reviews are acted upon. 
• Change management – Establish and implement protocols to change the scope of projects and/or programmes and update configuration documents as required.  
• Project performance and controls – Establish and operate project controls on behalf of the project manager, reporting on project progress and status to appropriate bodies. Identify common capabilities and opportunities for linking up, reusing and sharing of methods and resources between projects and programmes.  
• Benefits realisation – Ensure successful outcomes during and after project by identifying intended benefits and reporting on these once established. 
• Ensure learning from experience is disseminated across the organisation.  
• Guidance and support – Identify, develop and share best practice project management processes, tools and templates and benchmarks against industry standard.  
• Provides direction and guidance to the project team. 
• Oversight of business support and administration support.  

Additional Responsibilities 

• Actively engage with the wider profession to ensure sharing of best practice and promote continuous improvement. 
• Respond to ad-hoc requests as directed. 

Key Outputs and Deliverables 

• Ensure all change activity is appropriately governed, including the production of reports, coordinating any associated governance meetings, and providing oversight and monitoring of key milestones, and delivery assurance against Ofgem’s Change Framework/Standards. 
• Ensure all Cabinet Office Controls and ePMO change standards are implemented and embedded across the Directorate. 
• Ensure appropriate governance and assurance controls are in place and arrange or conduct independent reviews, e.g. stage gate reviews, at appropriate points in the project lifecycle. Monitor the effectiveness of controls and ensure that recommendations from reviews are acted upon. 
• Identify common capabilities and opportunities for linking up, re-using and sharing of methods and resources between projects and programmes.  
• Conduct lessons learnt reviews for all large change delivery, producing a report of recommendations. Ensure learning is disseminated widely, and that agreed actions are taken forward into future projects. 
• Manage relationships with the ePMO and Digital PMO noting portfolio delivery dependencies or wider Ofgem interdependencies where required. 
• Support in-year prioritisation and plan progress reviews, including the alignment of flexible Change Delivery resources. 
• Proactively challenge and evolve thinking within the Directorate and beyond, encouraging the organisation to be more efficient, more effective and more ambitious, supporting continuous improvement and ongoing business process change.  
• Deliver strategic projects or key workstreams as required. 
• Engage with colleagues across Ofgem to develop shared understanding of problems and collaborate on effective solutions. 

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Experience in project management or a qualification, for example one or more of the following (LEAD): 

• PRINCE2 Practitioner 
• Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner 
• Agile Project Management Practitioner 
• Management of Risk Practitioner 
• P3O Practitioner 
• Managing Successful Programmes Advanced Practitioner 
• APM Project Management Qualification 
• APM Chartered Project Professional 
• Project Leadership Programme 
• APMG International Project Planning and Control Foundation  
• APMG International Project Planning and Control Practitioner 
• Leading and Managing Project Workstreams  

• Proven experience in working in a PMO function/portfolio management (LEAD). 
• Experience in developing delivery plans, including clear and transparent work objectives, milestones, and success metrics. 
• Skilled collaborator and strong communicator 
• Excellent stakeholder management, negotiation and influencing skills at senior levels. 
• Experience of a range of project management techniques, including agile and waterfall. 

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of shaping and delivering projects or workstreams. 
• Experience of managing IT/digital projects or working within a digital portfolio. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,498, OFGEM contributes £8,774 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.  

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the essential and desirable skills and capabilities. 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.