Director of Project Management Office (PMO)

Foundant + smartsimple

About The Position

This role is responsible for leading and managing the Project Management Office (PMO) and its team. The Director will oversee portfolio governance, ensure delivery health, manage tooling standards, drive process excellence, and facilitate stakeholder communication. The position requires a strong leader with a proven track record in project management, PMO development, and team management within a SaaS or technology implementation environment. The role emphasizes accountability, transparency, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making to ensure consistent client experiences and successful project delivery.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in project management
5+ years in a people leadership or PMO management role
Demonstrated track record owning a project manager team and a complex, multi-project portfolio in a SaaS, professional services, or technology implementation environment
Experience building or maturing a PMO function — establishing standards, governance frameworks, and tooling practices that scale
Experience in previous Agile transformation
Proven ability to manage escalations, navigate client-facing complexity, and coach project managers through high-stakes delivery situations
Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Project Management, or related field
PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification
Must be legally eligible to work in Canada, USA, or EU

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree
Rocketlane experience or equivalent PSA/project delivery platform
Strong command of project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid) and delivery tooling
Excellent leadership, coaching, and people development skills
Data-driven decision-making: comfortable reading portfolio dashboards, burn-rate reports, and capacity plans
Clear, structured communicator
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills; experience working with Sales, Implementation, and Customer Success counterparts

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the Project Management team, including performance management, goal setting, and career development.
Build and maintain a high-performing PMO culture grounded in accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
Partner with the Sr. Director to recruit, onboard, and ramp up new project managers.
Scale the partnership business and oversight of partner implementation projects, ensuring consistent client experiences.
Maintain full visibility into the active SOW and enhancement portfolio of project work, tracking milestone adherence, budget performance, and project health status.
Own escalation management for Amber and Red projects, serving as the first point of escalation above the Project Managers.
Drive portfolio health reporting cadences, including weekly check-ins, quarterly scorecard reviews, and executive-facing portfolio updates.
Enforce delivery standards and Project Manager accountability against the project manager Delivery Goal Framework.
Own Rocketlane and Salesforce as the source of truth for project delivery data, ensuring accuracy of project fields, resource allocations, and timesheet records.
Drive adoption of tooling standards across the project manager team; develop and maintain the Internal Reference Guide and associated process documentation.
Use Rocketlane’s Capacity Planning, Resource Management, and Timeline tools to maintain portfolio-level visibility and inform resourcing decisions.
Partner with the Director of Implementation and Sr. Director on cross-functional capacity planning.
Design, implement, and iterate on project management processes and methodologies to improve efficiency and delivery consistency.
Lead continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen delivery quality across the portfolio.
Champion Change Request discipline, ensuring all scope changes have an approved CR before work begins.
Collaborate cross-functionally with Implementation, Digital Transformation, Sales, and Customer Success for seamless handoffs and aligned client expectations.
Prepare and present regular portfolio status updates to the Sr. Director and leadership.
Act as a senior voice on project delivery in cross-functional conversations.
Partner with HR, the Sr. Director, and People leaders on goal-setting cycles, performance review cadences, and team development initiatives.