Head of PMO

Must have:

• Confident leader with a strong coaching, mentoring, appreciation, and feedback ethos who can build/maintain high performing teams, communities and manage internal and external relationships.
• Clear communicator who can inspire others through a multitude of mediums, be passionate, provide context, create a story and then deliver on it through teams.
• Experience of managing the daily flow of project delivery and testing across multiple teams – including complex problem solving, resource planning, adapting quickly to change, raising risk and mitigations, working with conviction, and working to tight deadlines.
• Resilient, calm, and methodical in high pressure situations and able to multi-task, prioritise and make decisions.
• A ‘secure base’ for the team in any challenging situations, providing strength, encouragement, interest, challenge, insight, support, and direction; good at cutting through complexity; figuring out the processes necessary to get things done with people on board.
• Excellent working knowledge of project management techniques and methodologies throughout the SDLC, mobile application delivery would be a distinctive advantage.
• Able to multitask, prioritise work in sometimes pressurised situations.
• Ability to go beyond the basic requirements of a specification to put yourself in the users’ shoes.
• Extensive experience in managing and mentoring teams of Project Managers in a fast-paced environment.

• Significant hands-on experience as Head of PMO/Programme Manager or similar role, preferably with demonstrated success in setting up a PMO.

• Experience with project management tools such as Jira (and Confluence), Smartsheets etc.
• Significant experience in client facing situations.
• Proficient in creating management reports for senior stakeholders, highlighting risks and mitigations.

• Strong experience in project, programme and portfolio management, resource, and risk management.
• Deep understanding of project management and Agile principles and methodologies
• Expert in Project/Programme management principles, method, techniques, and tools.
• Strong drive for results and a high level of resilience especially in an environment of change.

Desirable:

• Business and industry acumen: mkodo’s offerings and products and mkodo’s customers.
• Domain or product knowledge of apps, middleware and digital products in the global lottery, betting, and gaming space.
• Experience in working with third party offshore/nearshore providers, as a supplement to UK based FTE, would be advantageous.
• Advance Jira usage & set up, with cross company collaboration/integration would be a big plus.
• Working as part of a group of global companies, collaborating in an aligned strategic direction, would also be helpful.

Reporting to the Director of Technology & Engineering, the Head of PMO will lead the mkodo Project management team, being a part of the Technology & Engineering Leadership Team, and a member of the wider mkodo Senior Leadership Team.

An enthusiastic & diligent role model, the Head of PMO provides strong leadership and a vision to drive teams to a higher level of project management quality. Within this role the Head of PMO will provide strong leadership: supporting and challenging the Project Management team to be their best selves, whilst developing talent through career progression.

This is an important role for mkodo, as the Head of PMO is responsible for the project management methodology, including project, programme and portfolio delivery & reporting, and has overall responsibility for the successful execution of client-facing, revenue-generating projects. Strong Experience in managing complex projects & programmes are required, as they will be the escalation point for their team at times where intervention is needed..

Working closely with the QA and Engineering teams, with a strong, collaborative relationship to the PBL Corporate PMO, to deliver efficient project management strategies and project plans that, when executed, ensure a high standard of consistent & effective project execution.

Main responsibilities are:

• Working with Director of Technology & Engineering, you will be empowered to create and maintain an inspirational strategy to execute via the PMO team. You will ensure the team are delivering projects on-time & on-budget. Driving projects forwards, the PMO team will harness a culture of highly engaged teams (focusing on project management & execution, but not excluding the influence you have with other disciplines).
• As part of that strategy, ensure there is a clear plan for all the core elements of the Project team here at mkodo –
• Planning projects/portfolio
• Tracking & Reporting, at both the individual project level and across the business (projects being directly delivered by the team & also those not – under a common framework)
• Executing projects, with Project Managers from this team.
• Be accountable for the full project management lifecycle to ensure the output is of the highest quality before sign-off to clients.

• Lead and direct a team of Project Management Specialists, providing coaching and support to drive the capabilities of the PMO team through clear, collaborative goals, assessing these regularly. Fostering a culture of accountability and ownership, whilst supporting with appropriate training and continuous development, to support growth and succession planning of individuals.
• Ensure delivery of projects & plans are within agreed budget, on time and to agreed scope, Outlining and delivering upon critical path for each phase of the project.
• Drive Project Managers to understand client needs early in the lifecycle (including high level pre-sales) and maintain engagement throughout (in whatever way is appropriate for each client or product).
• Partner with the other ‘Heads of’ in Technology & Engineering; developing a cross-functional team relationship that sets the bar for your direct reports. As part of this, ensure that you have full visibility of the conversations with the Commercial teams, Engineering teams and Product Owners about roadmaps, the resource plans for the teams and regularly check that workload and capacity are matched.
• Deliver cost effective solutions to business requirements including continual review of any contracts & services that underpin the PMO team.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement:
  • Using retrospective data, project metrics (baseline dates vs actual dates, baseline sizing’s vs actual sizing’s etc.), regular operational catch ups across the business.
  • Gather actionable data, track trends, and analyse data to demonstrate continuous improvement to process, approaches, and tooling across teams.
  • Sharing best practice across the PMO team and aligning on a consistent optimal way of working.
• Proactively identify risks and issues on programmes and projects – advising the team on development of risk management (via Project RAID) and issue management plans.
• Maintain and develop the PMO function as part of continuous improvement of project management methodology processes.
• Be directly accountable for the resourcing levels within the PMO, as well as organisational design, aligned to the business & client needs: Responsible for hiring and onboarding new people into the team.
• Support the pre-sales team in commercial aspects of project planning & delivery.
• Actively participate, in conjunction with the PBL corporate PMO, in the development of best practice, policies, and procedures within the PMO.
• Ensure consistent use of project tools and systems across the project landscape, seeking out new tooling as appropriate, to ensure the focus is on the art of project management, not labour-intensive low value tasks.
• Ensure lessons learned and retrospectives on projects are collected, shared, actioned in future projects. Identify, raise, and support resolution of reoccurring project issues.
• Conduct regular project audits, to ensure consistency & high quality across PMO.

• Strongly manage risks and interdependencies across the mkodo project portfolio.

• Provide a strong governance framework for all programmes and projects to ensure discipline of control throughout project delivery, ensuring project reporting is accurate and timely.
• Ensure all benefits (financial and non-financial) are captured as part of the project initiation process and develop a system to track all delivered benefits.
• Foster deep & meaningful relationships with senior client project & PMO leaders, to ensure on-going collaboration & issue resolution has high & effective focus.
• Collate project performance data into a consolidated portfolio review to key stakeholders at regular intervals.
• Escalate any deviations and blockers for resolution as appropriate.
• Take a pro-active leadership and governance role with other teams responsible for the delivery of change and transformation.
• Ensure that all projects have effective sponsorship and governance (Steering Groups etc.) – provide coaching where required.
• Actively manage complex projects & programmes.

Information Security responsibilities

• Support mkodo ongoing maintenance of its ISO27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS).
• Adhere to all relevant mkodo ISO27001 ISMS policies, procedures, and requirements at all times.
• Complete any reasonable tasks relating to the mkodo ISO27001 ISMS.

As a member of the Information Security Forum (ISF), the Head of PMO is responsible for the following:

• Reviewing the Risk Register at each ISF Meeting.
• Reviewing the Risk Treatment plans and ensuring that the levels of residual risk are acceptable.
• Reviewing and progressing strategic security issues.
• Establishing relationships with other security advisers.
• Assessing the impact of new statutory or regulatory requirements.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of the ISMS (e.g. from the results of Internal Audit reports and Security Incident Reports) in line with the ISMS Effectiveness Review Policy.
• Recommending and / or authorising changes to the ISMS.
• Conducting ISMS management review meetings on at least an annual basis; and
• Seeking ongoing improvement in line with the ISMS Corrective and Preventative Action and Continual Improvement Policy.
• Adhere to all relevant mkodo ISO27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS) policies, procedures and requirements at all times.
• Complete any reasonable tasks relating to the mkodo ISO27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS).

mkodo is a great place to work, with excellent benefits comprising: 

• Hybrid/Flexible Working.
• Quarterly team events.
• Birthday Holiday.
• Christmas Day-Off.
• Generous Holiday Allowance.
• Tech Loan Scheme.
• Performance bonus & profit share scheme.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Travel Loan scheme.
• Supplies of fresh fruits, cereals, biscuits, nibbles, etc. in the offices.
• Relevant training and training budget.
• Digital Nomad Policy.
• Generous refer a friend scheme.

mkodo builds world class apps and digital products in the global lottery, betting and gaming space.

We have an open, supportive, dynamic culture where talented people are trusted to contribute to the team and company by carrying out their roles in a professional, collaborative, and skilled manner. We value the expertise of our team members and offer opportunities for personal development and career progression within the company.