Director, Project Portfolio Management - PMO

AstraZeneca • Gaithersburg, MD

4d • Onsite

About The Position

Are you ready to steer a high-impact infrastructure capital project portfolio that enables our science, strengthens our manufacturing, and ultimately helps deliver medicines to patients faster and more safely? Do you thrive at the intersection of strategy, execution, and cross-functional leadership, turning complex portfolios into transparent, data-driven decisions?
As Director, Project Portfolio Management, you will lead the site Operations PMO and shape how capital and infrastructure investments are prioritized and delivered across both GMP and non-GMP environments. Your leadership will connect project outcomes to business goals, balancing quality, safety, speed, and sustainability. You will bring discipline and clarity to a dynamic environment, establishing governance, elevating standards, and empowering teams to perform at their best.
This is a role for a bold, practical leader who can set direction, coach teams, and make tough choices with confidence. You will champion a culture of continuous improvement, using digital tools and transparent metrics to reduce risk, improve predictability, and unlock capacity for our long-term site strategy.

Requirements

• Proven ability to provide strategic leadership and direction to a PMO, overseeing capital and infrastructure projects across GMP and non-GMP portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience developing, implementing, and maintaining PMO governance frameworks, project management standards, and reporting tools.
• Track record of leading teams of Project Managers and Project Engineers, setting performance expectations, managing workload, and supporting professional development.
• Experience overseeing portfolio prioritization, resource planning, and execution to align projects with business objectives and capital investment strategy.
• Partnership with Finance to manage multi-year capital budgets, forecasts, and expenditure tracking, aligned with long-term site investment planning.
• Experience establishing and maintaining portfolio-level dashboards, KPIs, and reports to provide transparency to senior leadership and drive data-informed decision-making.
• Strong capability in driving risk management, change control, and issue resolution across a project portfolio, with timely mitigation and escalation.
• Collaboration with Engineering, Quality, SHE, and Procurement to ensure projects meet technical, safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Ensuring readiness for audits and inspections through robust documentation, quality control, and adherence to governance.
• Championing innovation and continuous improvement across the PMO by leveraging digital tools, benchmarking, and lessons learned.
• Fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and operational excellence across project delivery functions.
• Oversight of GMP project portfolios supporting manufacturing, QC, and analytical spaces, including maintaining a state of control with Quality and Validation teams, and technical governance for GMP utilities, controlled environments, and validated systems.
• Oversight of non-GMP project portfolios including research, vivarium, and office environments; partnering with Workplace Services and Lab Ops to enable long-term site strategy and capacity growth; implementing sustainability and energy efficiency standards within project delivery to support Ambition Zero Carbon objectives.

Nice To Haves

• Experience scaling PMO capabilities in fast-moving, complex site environments.
• Proven ability to embed Lean principles into project delivery to elevate quality and safety as well as speed.
• Proficiency with digital portfolio management toolsets and analytics, enabling real-time visibility and predictive insights.
• Track record delivering capital projects across both GMP manufacturing and R&D facilities, balancing diverse stakeholder needs.
• Familiarity with vivarium standards and laboratory planning best practices.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and data storytelling skills to influence senior leaders and secure alignment.
• Professional certifications such as PMP, or equivalent, and experience with stage-gate governance models.

Responsibilities

• PMO Leadership and Strategy: Provide strategic leadership and direction to the Site Operations PMO, overseeing all capital and infrastructure projects across GMP and non-GMP portfolios to deliver against site and enterprise objectives.
• Governance and Standards: Develop, implement, and maintain PMO governance frameworks, project management standards, and reporting tools that drive consistency, quality, and compliance across the portfolio.
• People Leadership: Lead a team of Project Managers and Project Engineers, set clear performance expectations, manage workload, and support professional development to build a high-performing PMO.
• Portfolio Prioritization and Resource Planning: Oversee portfolio prioritization, resource planning, and execution to ensure projects align with business objectives and capital investment strategy, maximizing value and minimizing disruption.
• Financial Stewardship: Partner with Finance to manage multi-year capital budgets, forecasts, and expenditure tracking, ensuring accurate visibility and alignment with long-term site investment planning.
• Performance Transparency: Establish and maintain portfolio-level dashboards, KPIs, and reports that provide clear, timely transparency to senior leadership and enable data-informed decision-making.
• Risk, Change, and Issue Management: Drive rigorous risk management, change control, and issue resolution across the portfolio, ensuring timely mitigation and escalation to protect schedule, cost, and quality.
• Cross-Functional Compliance: Collaborate with Engineering, Quality, SHE, and Procurement to ensure projects meet technical, safety, and regulatory requirements from design through handover.
• Audit and Inspection Readiness: Ensure readiness for audits and inspections through robust documentation, quality control, and adherence to governance.
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement: Champion innovation and continuous improvement across the PMO by leveraging digital tools, benchmarking, and lessons learned to enhance predictability and performance.
• Culture and Ways of Working: Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, and operational excellence across all functions involved in project delivery, modeling behaviors that elevate quality and safety alongside speed.
• GMP Portfolio Oversight: Oversee the GMP project portfolio supporting manufacturing, QC, and analytical spaces, ensuring full regulatory compliance and audit readiness; collaborate with Quality and Validation to maintain a state of control; ensure technical governance for GMP utilities, controlled environments, and validated systems.
• Non-GMP Portfolio Oversight: Oversee the non-GMP project portfolio including research, vivarium, and office environments; partner with Workplace Services and Lab Ops to enable long-term site strategy and capacity growth; implement sustainability and energy efficiency standards within project delivery to support Ambition Zero Carbon objectives.

Benefits

• Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed