Planning & Steering Lead

If you thrive on providing clear direction in complex environments - and take ownership long before anyone asks you to - then the role of Planning & Steering Lead is tailor-made for you. Here, you will be the driving force ensuring structure, progress, and coordination in one of the Nordic region’s largest digital transformation programs called “Project Athene”.

You will step into a programme currently comprising 16 active projects, delivered by colleagues working across 13 Project Managers. The Project Managers act as the primary point of contact for their project teams, while also collaborating closely with cross-programme functions such as Architects, the Release Manager, and Testing teams. In this setup, steering is not about managing people- It is about guiding project plans, ensuring alignment, and keeping the overall programme moving forward with clarity and momentum.

As a central part of a PMO function that is still being shaped, you will have the opportunity to influence its framework and set the standard for how we plan, steer, and execute. This is the role for those who don’t just want to follow a methodology—but define how to do things better.

In this role, you will take active ownership of the integrated program overview and ensure that all projects are working toward the same objectives. You will maintain the program plan, drive planning cycles, challenge timelines and milestones, and ensure dependencies are identified and managed early.

You will build and mature processes for dependency, risk, and issue management, proactively collecting, challenging, and consolidating information so that leadership has a clear and actionable basis for decision-making. In addition, you will develop program health metrics and reporting quality, enabling us to continuously improve progress tracking and early identification of variances.

As the go-to for planning and steering-related advice within the PMO, you will ensure governance, standards, and tools are easy to use and deliver real steering value across projects.

When you proactively drive the program’s direction, pace, and transparency, you make a real impact when you:

• Take the lead in establishing an integrated and up-to-date program plan that guides all projects.
• Drive planning cycles with clarity and momentum, ensuring milestones, timelines, and resources stay aligned.
• Spot critical dependencies early and make them visible to projects and leadership.
• Act to mitigate risks and ensure dependencies are resolved before they affect deliverables.
• Create and maintain a consolidated view of risks to provide leadership with a clear basis for decisions.
• Follow risks and issues through to resolution, escalating proactively with actionable recommendations when needed.
• Detect deviations from plans early and present analyses with concrete solutions.
• Deliver precise, decision-ready reporting to leadership and SteerCo.
• Ensure PMO standards are applied effectively, generating tangible steering value.
• Act as a proactive point of contact that strengthens project structure, progress, and collaboration.

We offer the opportunity to be the one creating alignment and momentum in a major digital transformation. As part of this, you will play a key role in addressing one of the programme’s biggest current challenges: implementing governance and structured ways of working into a programme that has so far operated without formal processes. This means helping teams adopt new practices, demonstrating how clear plans and governance create transparency, and showing how these structures ultimately enable them to succeed.

You will report directly to the Head of the Athene PMO and work closely with the wider PMO team, including leads across reporting, scope, and stream coordination. In addition, you will collaborate directly with the 13 Project Managers and engage with cross‑programme functions such as Architecture, Release Management, and Testing to ensure programme‑wide cohesion.

You will join an ambitious IT environment where decisions are made quickly, and where structure and quality have a direct impact on business development. Here, you will have the space to make an impact, set standards, and design processes that elevate the entire organization.

We are looking for a proactive and highly motivated professional who thrives in fast-paced, complex environments. You enjoy creating structure, driving alignment, and ensuring progress across programs, and you can influence and guide stakeholders and teams without direct authority.

• Experience in programme, portfolio, or PMO work, or strong initiative with some project/PMO experience.
• Highly organised and detail oriented.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and presentation skills.
• Familiarity with planning tools (e.g., MS Project, Microsoft Planner) and PMO frameworks.
• Knowledge of risk, dependency, and issue management practices.
• Professional certifications such as Prince2, PMI, or PMO-specific qualifications are a plus.

You are a proactive problem solver who can drive actions, influence outcomes, and create measurable impact. With strong communication skills and the ability to navigate complexity, you will play a key role in ensuring the success of one of the Nordic region’s largest digital transformation programs.

By joining our Athene PMO team, you’ll work closely with Group IT and be part of STARK Group’s digital transformation journey. You’ll collaborate closely with key stakeholders and contribute to group-wide, business-critical initiatives.

Group IT plays a central role in modernising STARK Group’s IT landscape - replacing legacy solutions with a more modular, flexible setup that supports both current and future business needs. Together, we challenge existing ways of working and help shape better digital solutions for the business and our customers.

We are happy to answer any questions regarding the position and your options in STARK Group. Please contact Head of Athene PMO, Esther Phipps on [email protected] for any specific questions about the role.

STARK Group is a growing private equity-owned company with a strong legacy. Established in Denmark in 1896, STARK Group has evolved into a leading European retailer and distributor of heavy building materials, with net sales of approximately EUR 9 billion. With a dedicated team of more than 20,000 employees and over 1,150 branches and distribution centres across the Nordics, Greenland, Germany, Austria, and the UK, we serve professional craftsmen with heavy building materials from the Austrian Alps to Tromsø near the Arctic Circle—and everywhere in between.

STARK Group is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 across the entire business, is a signatory to the UN Global Compact, and operates within fully 2030-validated science-based targets to keep global warming below 1.5°C.