Director, HR PMO

Position Summary

The Program Manager – HR Portfolio & PMO will establish and lead the HR Project/Program Management Office (PMO) to drive disciplined execution across the HR portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Establish and lead the HR PMO to manage the end-to-end HR project portfolio, including governance, standards, templates, operating cadence, and executive-level reporting.
• Build and maintain portfolio dashboards and health reporting (scope, schedule, budget, risks/issues, dependencies, benefits) to provide transparency and enable timely decisions.
• Implement a consistent approach to financial oversight, including budget tracking, forecast management, spend visibility (internal/external), and variance reporting across the HR portfolio.
• Define and operationalize benefits realization practices (KPIs, baselines, target outcomes, measurement cadence, and post-implementation tracking) to ensure initiatives deliver intended value.
• Establish and maintain portfolio-level RAID (risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies) management, including escalation paths and decision logs.
• Drive an HR portfolio intake and prioritization process, including demand capture, business case readiness, scoring/criteria, and recommendation packages for leadership.
• Lead strategic planning and prioritization cycles (e.g., quarterly/bi-annual), ensuring alignment to HR strategy, business outcomes, and capacity constraints.
• Own resource management and capacity planning across the HR portfolio, coordinating with HR leaders, functional owners, and key partners to optimize allocation and sequencing.
• Facilitate cross-functional portfolio governance forums (steering committees, operating reviews, prioritization councils) and ensure action follow-through.
• Drive portfolio dependency management and integrated planning to avoid conflicts, identify bottlenecks, and enable coordinated delivery across workstreams.
• Provide structure and support for change control, ensuring impacts to scope, schedule, cost, and value are understood, documented, and approved.
• Partner with HR leaders and stakeholders to ensure readiness, adoption, and handoff plans are in place (communications, training, support, stabilization).
• Directly lead one or two strategic HR initiatives (from the HR roadmap) through delivery—building the plan, coordinating stakeholders, managing vendors as needed, and ensuring outcomes are achieved.
• Capture lessons learned and continuously improve PMO processes, templates, reporting, and governance effectiveness.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, HR, finance, operations, project/program management, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of program/project management experience delivering cross-functional initiatives (portfolio/program experience strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated experience building or operating a PMO, including governance, reporting, and project/portfolio standards.
• Proven ability to manage portfolio financials (budgeting, forecasting, variance tracking) and translate execution into business insights.
• Experience establishing and managing benefits realization frameworks and KPI measurement for large initiatives.
• Strong executive communication skills, including ability to produce concise leadership-ready materials and facilitate decision-making forums.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate stakeholders across business and technical teams, influencing without authority and driving accountability.
• Proficiency with common project and reporting tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Excel/Power BI).
• Candidate must be comfortable traveling 20–25% of the time based on project needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional certification such as PMP, PgMP, PMI-ACP, or equivalent.
• Experience in HR transformation and/or HR technology programs.
• Experience managing vendors and third-party implementations.
• Experience with portfolio/program management and executive-level reporting.
• Experience in manufacturing industries or complex multi-site environments.