PMO Analyst

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 23,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

About the Role

Howden is a fast-paced dynamic organisation with ambitious growth targets. Howden Specialty is a rapidly growing international insurance broking business placing over £7billion of premium supporting seventy thousand clients in 110 countries. We are transforming our business to a tech and AI enabled cutting edge digital leader. An experienced PMO is required to support the CTO and Specialty Transformation Committee (STC) governance including: supporting stakeholders to triage and produce inputs as part of the STC intake process,  prepare monthly STC packs, track and monitor actions and support ongoing SDLC and delivery governance adherence of a portfolio of projects. 

We are looking for a PMO Analyst working within a central PMO team supporting this area of work.  The PMO will be focused on providing structure and organisation, but also ensuring the PMs are provided with the support and guidance they need to deliver into this area of the business.

The PMO analyst will also role out standardisation of reporting and process from the central Portfolio team, working closely together to ensure quality and consistency is matched across the wider Howden Group.

The role will also have a part to play in managing some of the key stakeholders to the project, including Specialty CTO, COO & STC (portfolio), Product Owners / stakeholders (intake) & delivery managers / PM's (projects), ensuring that the programme delivers to the standards required by the group.

The role is a permanent position.

Key Accountabilities

Project Governance

• Ensure smoothly facilitated and relevant governance processes and documentation are embedded to the correct level of control, whilst maintaining the momentum of the programme.
• Develop, maintain and facilitate easy-to-digest and accurate reporting, both from the Project Managers (PMs) into the PMO and out to relevant boards and stakeholders.
• Provide clear standards and processes for the escalation of RAID items, providing central management and ensuring a consolidated view for the programme governance boards.
• Ensure standards are in line with group standards or controls (where relevant) by working with the central PMO function.
• Co-ordinate and support some of the key governance meetings for the programme, ensuring they run smoothly, facilitating appropriate and relevant decision making for the programme.
• Develop Trusted Adviser relationships with the PMs in order to ensure risks and issues are well understood and support can be offered to mitigate these.
• Ensure the provision of accurate, tailored reporting and regular communications with key stakeholders to ensure they are kept up to date with the developments of the programme.

Project Support

• Work with the team to provide excellent support for the project managers, ensuring that the support is tailored for those PMs.
• Detail the range of services offered to the PMs, ensuring standardisation where possible, but with a flexibility of thinking to tailor to different cultures, experiences and needs.
• Develop Trusted Adviser relationships with key individuals in Howden Speciality in order to ensure risks and issues are well understood and support can be offered to mitigate these.

Management of and communication to Key Stakeholders

• Develop strong presentations and reports for a variety of audiences across the business, demonstrating strong storytelling and an ability to consolidate multiple inputs into a concise and easy to digest format.
• Assist the programme leadership team with the management of key internal stakeholders, especially those interested in the controls and governance of the programme.
• Ensure the provision of accurate, tailored reporting and regular communications with these stakeholders to ensure they are kept up to date with the developments of the programme.
• Become a pivotal part of the central programme team and facilitate communications, issue management etc. across the team.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Experience working in a PMO in an ever-changing global programme and supporting a global team of project experts.
• Experience delivering and facilitating the adoption of new standards and controls into organisations.
• First rate communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to deliver information concisely and, often, visually.
• Demonstrable executive level stakeholder management.
• Excellent PowerPoint skills.
• Change management experience would be desirable.
• Commutable to London for attendance of key meetings.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define.

What you might not expect is a job where everyone has a voice, where volunteering in the community is part of the day job, and where everyone is encouraged to play a part towards our sustainability goals. We want people who want to make a difference - not just in the workplace, but in the industry and in the wider community.

Our culture: People First

Our core values dictate how we live and work. We are a group with independence and people at its heart and we are a home for talent with a unique culture: the biggest small company in the world

The focus on being a People First business has always been at the very heart of the Group; Our vision was to create an independent business with a unique culture and one that would survive and thrive as a business controlled by the people working for it. And finding the most talented and entrepreneurial people to join the Group has been and will continue to be key.

Diversity & Inclusion

At Howden Group Holdings we consider our people our chief competitive advantage and as such we treat colleagues, candidates, clients, and business partners with equality, fairness and respect, regardless of their age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or family circumstances.

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs.  Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.