Reports To: Vice President, 8020 Profitable Growth
Direct Reports: Project Managers
Function: Enterprise Project Management Office (PMO)

Location: Remote based in US, preferably in ET and CT time zones
Travel: As required to support strategic initiatives, leadership reviews, project governance sessions, and business implementation activities.

Role Summary

The Senior Director, PMO is responsible for leading the organization's Project Management Office and establishing a best-in-class project execution capability that enables the successful delivery of the company's most critical strategic priorities.

This leader oversees the PMO team, project portfolio governance, project management standards, resource prioritization, execution methodologies, and reporting processes. The role serves as the central point of coordination for enterprise initiatives, ensuring projects are aligned with business strategy, appropriately prioritized, effectively resourced, and executed with discipline and accountability.

The Senior Director, PMO will build and lead a high-performing team of project managers while acting as a trusted advisor to executive leadership. This role ensures strategic initiatives move from concept to execution through clear governance, robust project management practices, transparent reporting, and proactive risk management.

Success in this position requires exceptional leadership, executive influence, strong business and financial acumen, organizational effectiveness expertise, and the ability to operate comfortably in highly ambiguous environments while creating clarity and alignment across multiple stakeholders.

This role is accountable not only for project delivery but also for building the systems, routines, capabilities, and talent required to make disciplined execution a competitive advantage for the organization.

Key Outcomes

Strategic Priorities Are Successfully Delivered

• Strategic initiatives are translated into executable project portfolios with clear ownership, timelines, milestones, and success metrics.
• Enterprise projects consistently achieve business objectives and expected outcomes.
• Leaders have visibility into project performance, risks, dependencies, and resource needs.

PMO Becomes a Strategic Capability

• Project management standards, governance processes, and execution tools are adopted across the organization.
• The PMO is viewed as a trusted business partner that accelerates execution and improves decision-making.
• Project management becomes a scalable, repeatable capability across businesses and functions.

Resources Are Focused on the Highest-Value Work

• Project prioritization is linked directly to strategic objectives and value creation.
• Leaders make informed trade-off decisions regarding resources, timing, capital, and organizational capacity.
• Non-value-added work is reduced while focus on strategic priorities increases.

High-Performing Project Management Team

• Project Managers are developed into highly capable business leaders who can influence, execute, and deliver results.
• Consistent project management methodologies and leadership expectations are established.
• Team members demonstrate accountability, business acumen, and execution excellence.

Governance and Accountability Drive Results

• Executive governance processes provide clear escalation paths and timely decision-making.
• Risks and barriers are surfaced early and resolved proactively.
• Project performance is measured through meaningful business outcomes, not merely activity completion.

Core Responsibilities

Lead the Enterprise PMO Function

• Develop and execute the vision, strategy, and operating model for the PMO.
• Establish enterprise-wide project management standards, methodologies, governance models, and execution practices.
• Create scalable project management processes that improve consistency, effectiveness, and execution speed.
• Ensure projects are aligned with organizational priorities and strategic objectives.
• Continuously improve project management capabilities, tools, reporting, and governance processes.
• Build an organization-wide culture of disciplined execution and accountability.

Manage Project Portfolio and Strategic Prioritization

• Maintain oversight of the organization's portfolio of strategic initiatives and major projects.
• Partner with executive leadership to evaluate, prioritize, sequence, and resource projects.
• Ensure project investments are aligned with strategic goals and expected business outcomes.
• Facilitate portfolio reviews that assess progress, risks, dependencies, resource requirements, and value realization.
• Lead discussions regarding project prioritization and organizational capacity.
• Drive visibility and transparency regarding enterprise project performance.

Lead and Develop Project Managers

• Hire, develop, coach, and mentor a high-performing team of Project Managers and PMO professionals.
• Establish clear standards for project leadership, stakeholder management, communication, and execution.
• Conduct talent reviews, succession planning, and capability development for PMO team members.
• Create development plans that strengthen business acumen, leadership effectiveness, influence skills, and execution capability.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure project managers serve as trusted advisors to business leaders.

Executive Governance and Leadership Alignment

• Establish governance structures that ensure strategic initiatives receive appropriate oversight and support.
• Lead executive steering committees, portfolio reviews, and project governance forums.
• Provide concise, fact-based recommendations to senior leadership regarding risks, resources, project health, and decision points.
• Facilitate resolution of issues that span functions, businesses, or leadership teams.
• Ensure appropriate escalation and decision-making mechanisms are in place.
• Create executive-level reporting that enables informed and timely decisions.

Drive Strategic Initiative Execution

• Partner with business leaders to convert strategic objectives into executable programs and projects.
• Ensure initiatives have clear objectives, milestones, success measures, governance structures, and ownership.
• Monitor project performance and intervene proactively when execution risks emerge.
• Remove barriers that impede project progress.
• Drive accountability for commitments, milestones, and outcomes.
• Support cross-functional alignment across business units, functions, and leadership teams.

Resource Planning and Organizational Capacity Management

• Evaluate organizational capacity and resource requirements across projects.
• Facilitate resource allocation discussions among senior leaders.
• Identify capability gaps that may impact project delivery.
• Recommend staffing, prioritization, or sequencing adjustments when resource constraints exist.
• Balance short-term project delivery demands with long-term capability development needs.

Risk Management and Change Leadership

• Establish enterprise standards for project risk identification, mitigation, and escalation.
• Ensure critical project risks and dependencies are proactively managed.
• Lead recovery efforts for projects that require intervention.
• Partner with business leaders to drive change management and organizational adoption.
• Ensure project objectives are sustainable and embedded into business operations.

PMO Performance & Metrics

• Develop KPIs and dashboards that measure project portfolio health, PMO effectiveness, and business impact.
• Track project outcomes against strategic objectives.
• Calculate and communicate value realization, resource utilization, execution effectiveness, and portfolio performance.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes and improve project execution.
• Continuously evolve PMO capabilities to support changing business needs.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Finance, Operations, Organizational Leadership, or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience leading large-scale projects, programs, portfolios, or strategic initiatives.
• 5+ years of experience leading project managers, PMO teams, or transformation organizations.
• Experience building or leading a Project Management Office.
• Demonstrated success managing enterprise-level strategic initiatives.
• Proven ability to influence senior executives and cross-functional leadership teams.
• Strong financial, operational, and business acumen.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and executive communication skills.
• Experience managing complex organizational change efforts.
• Advanced knowledge of project management methodologies and governance frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP certification.
• MBA or Master's degree.
• Experience within industrial manufacturing, engineered products, or global operating environments.
• Experience supporting growth strategies, operating model transformations, M&A integrations, organizational redesigns, or enterprise transformation efforts.
• Experience developing PMO capabilities in a matrixed global organization.