We have an exciting opportunity to be a founding member of the GBS Project Management Office (Enterprise PMO) which will be created and mobilised in Q4 2023. The GBS Project Management Office manages internal business projects across the AZ enterprise to achieve critical goals, on-time, on-budget, and in adherence with standard methodology and tools. Our vision is to create and deliver a global Enterprise PMO service that will deliver real business benefit through responding to the ongoing internal business demand for high-quality project management skillsets and capabilities across the company, whilst also retaining and iterating the knowledge we gain. We will set the highest quality standard and work together to achieve critical goals on-time, on-budget, and in adherence with standard methodology and tools delivering value across the organization.

We have an opportunity to Lead our first Delivery Team in our Lisbon site. Leading a team of initially 12 Project Managers, with strong potential to scale, you will take a customer service approach and be the face of our Project Management Service in Lisbon, delivering a 5 star service to your AstraZeneca colleagues. You will be responsible for managing the team, the approach, ensuring the quality and the project intake and output. You will also engage and communicate with stakeholders effectively. An important part in building this Service and a key stakeholder to you will be our enduring Operations Team who you will work very closely with. They will create and maintain the Enterprise PMO standard methodology and tools you and your team will leverage, working with you to manage project intake globally and providing change management and communications for the PMO.

Reporting to the Enterprise PMO Programme Director, you will need to establish rapport quickly, build a strong network at pace, and be able to act as a liaison between Enterprise PMO and the AZ leadership team. The ideal candidate will be proactive, have experience managing a large team of project managers, understand the importance of high-quality delivery, and build and motivate a global team.

• You will define and drive the Delivery Team strategic roadmap and vision; define qualitative and quantitative delivery goals, such as customer satisfaction and breadth of enterprise coverage, and provide ongoing reporting on progress.
• You will be accountable for the adherence to Enterprise PMO methodology and standard approach to project management within the Delivery Team. You will be accountable for high-quality delivery of the service through direct management of the Project Managers.
• You will be responsible for managing the Delivery and Site Team annual budget, resourcing, and creating financial forecasts. You will manage the localized on-site office-aligned Delivery Team through ensuring optimal team-building and workspace design. You will ensure a collaborative and an “open door” team culture.
• You will support escalation and mitigation of high-visibility risks and issues as needed for a portfolio of projects. You will drive, support, and prioritize broad awareness of the service, benefits, and value across the AZ enterprise through frequent and comprehensive internal communication efforts.
• You will build and manage relationships with key executive stakeholders, and ensure timely and complete communication on status, risks, and issues. You will provide coaching and support performance and professional growth for the Project Managers.
• You will partner with the Operations Director to properly resource and assign projects.
• You will partner with Procurement leadership to properly engage and manage third party suppliers to support the service with additional capacity or specialized skills.
• You will partner with the Programme Director to define ways of working and team operating model/management structure to drive optimized productivity.
• You will partner with the Operations Director to align on and evolve the Enterprise PMO project management methodology, such as standard tools, templates, and processes

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting/Finance, Business, or Healthcare-related major
• 10+ years experience in programme/project management for large, complex projects within a distributed workforce
• Demonstration of strong, communication and relationship building skills with experience in collaborating and sharing knowledge between teams
• Experience considering risks, evaluating alternatives, and encouraging input from others to effectively make decisions and plan mitigation tactics
• Experience in relationship management, across both relationship development, maintenance, and ability to understand internal political influence
• Experience in effectively leading a department of senior leaders of 10+ people
• Proven track record in delivering fast-paced, high-risk projects
• Experience of managing and controlling a department budget
• Significant experience and skill presenting in front of C-suite/executive level clients through written and verbal channels

Desirable Skills and Experience:

• Project Management Certification
• Management Consulting experience
• Pharmaceutical or equivalent global & complex organization experience; experience of working within a quality and compliance environment and application of policies, procedures and guidelines