Position Overview:

 

The Head of PMO for LATAM is responsible for overseeing and leading the Project Management Office (PMO) across the Latin America region. This includes establishing project management standards, ensuring successful project delivery, and leading key governance processes, such as portfolio review, scorecard, and strategic planning. The successful candidate will be accountable for guaranteeing alignment with COG/Global standards and requirements related to LATAM Capital & Expenses Investments. This position will also serve as a key support to the regional CIO, coordinating monthly IT reports that encompass OKRs and the status of objectives to inform the IT Global Senior Management.

 

The Head of PMO will collaborate closely with local COOs, IT Managers, CTO, Operations regional heads, LOBs regional heads, and other leaders to ensure alignment with the organization’s strategic goals, establishing a set of reports to maintain effective communication about LATAM’s Investment portfolio.

 

In addition, the Head of PMO will lead a team of Project Managers and Portfolio Controllers while working with financial teams to foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and data accuracy.

 

Key Responsibilities:

 

Strategic Leadership: Develop and implement the PMO's vision, strategy, and operational goals aligned with the organization's overall objectives, while ensuring compliance with internal and external guidelines. Governance and Standards: Establish and enforce project management methodologies, standards, and best practices to ensure consistency and quality across projects. Lead Governance Team: Oversee the LATAM Governance team to ensure timely, accurate, and complete governance submissions, tracking new work planned or changes to existing work as necessary. Project Portfolio Management: Support and analyze business cases for new projects, ensuring they align with strategic business needs and organizational objectives. Evaluate, prioritize, and select projects that align with organizational strategy and resource capacity, monitoring progress and performance against established metrics to ensure timely and budget-compliant delivery. Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including senior management and project sponsors. Communicate project progress, challenges, and results effectively at various levels. Risk Management: Establish a framework for identifying, assessing, and managing risks across the project portfolio. Integrate risk management practices into project planning and execution. Resource Management: Collaborate with Tech and Project Managers to update resource allocations for all resources within a technology group, aligning capital and expense projects with the department’s approved budget. Understand project budgets and costs, including cost drivers such as resourcing, software, and timelines. Clarity Process Adherence: Assist Technology and project teams with Clarity activities, including idea creation for annual planning, maintaining projects and tasks, and onboarding/deactivation of resources in a timely manner. Financial Analysis: Analyze monthly financial results, identifying variances from the plan or errors to provide updates to CIOs and tech leads. Prepare accurate monthly, quarterly, and annual project portfolio reports. Implement governance frameworks to oversee project execution and compliance. Reporting and Metrics: Develop and implement reporting mechanisms to track project performance and PMO effectiveness. Provide regular updates to executive leadership about the overall status of the project portfolio. Learning and Development: Lead learning and development initiatives for project managers and team members, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous improvement. Change Management: Oversee change management processes to ensure smooth transitions and stakeholder buy-in for new initiatives and projects. Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities for process improvements and efficiencies within the PMO. Conduct post-project evaluations to capture lessons learned and apply insights to future projects. Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and promote a collaborative and innovative work environment within the PMO team. Assess team performance, provide feedback, and facilitate professional development. Communication Management: Manage communications for both business-as-usual (BAU) and project-related activities to ensure informed stakeholders. Develop and implement communication strategies that enhance transparency and engagement across the organization.

 

Required Qualifications:

 

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent preferred. Proficient in English (verbal and written). Proven ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed organization across all levels. Minimum of 10 years’ experience in a PMO or similar function, with expertise in portfolio management, governance, and reporting. At least 5 years in a leadership role, successfully mentoring project management professionals. Experience in insurance preferred. Possess strong analytical skills and the ability to interpret financial results. Ability to thrive in deadline-oriented environments, managing multiple tasks effectively.

 

Desirable Qualifications:

 

Lean Six Sigma certification or equivalent preferred. Experience in Agile Development, particularly as a Scrum Master or similar. Familiarity with shared service and/or BPO environments. Proficient in PMO tools such as Clarity, Coupa, Apptio, and SharePoint.