Contract: Initial 6-Month Contract
Rate: Up to £600 per day (Outside IR35)
Location: Remote, with occasional travel to the Manchester office
We are supporting a leading global organisation seeking an experienced Project Manager to help establish and embed a structured portfolio and project management framework across a large business function. This is not a traditional delivery-focused Project Manager role. Instead, you will play a key role in improving project visibility, governance, reporting, and planning processes by implementing standardised project management practices and portfolio reporting capabilities.
Key Responsibilities
- Establish and implement standardised project management processes across a broad portfolio of initiatives.
- Work with stakeholders to capture, structure, and maintain project plans within Smartsheet.
- Create and maintain portfolio-level reporting, dashboards, and project tracking mechanisms.
- Develop clear governance, reporting, and risk-management standards.
- Support the consolidation of multiple projects into a single portfolio view.
- Enable improved visibility of milestones, dependencies, risks, and delivery timelines.
- Coach and support project owners in adopting project management best practices.
- Drive reporting automation and reduce reliance on manual reporting processes.
- Identify portfolio risks, overlaps, gaps, and resource challenges.
- Provide regular updates and insights to senior stakeholders.
Required Experience
- Proven experience as a Project Manager, PMO Lead, Portfolio Manager, or similar.
- Strong hands-on experience using Smartsheet for project planning, tracking, reporting, and dashboard creation.
- Experience implementing project governance, portfolio reporting, or PMO frameworks.
- Ability to work with multiple stakeholders across complex organisations.
- Strong risk, issue, and dependency management experience.
- Experience working within pharmaceutical, life sciences, research & development, manufacturing, or other regulated environments.
About Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry unleashes potential in people, teams, and organizations. We work with our clients to design optimal organization structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward and motivate their workforce while developing professionals as they navigate and advance their careers. To learn more, please visit Korn Ferry at www.Kornferry.com
