Senior Associate – Project Management Office

Role summary

The Senior Associate – PMO is responsible for acting as the central control point for governance, assurance, and portfolio oversight across Modon Communities’ strategic programs. This position helps ensure initiatives stay aligned with business goals, follow the organization’s Trimodal Execution Framework, and deliver clear operational and financial value.

Key responsibilities

• Evaluate business cases, project proposals, and transformation requests to confirm their validity and relevance.
• Rank and prioritize initiatives using a standard scoring model that considers strategic importance, expected return on investment, and resource availability.
• Direct each initiative into the correct execution route: Pace 1 for Kaizen Sprints, Pace 2 for Tactical A3, or Pace 3 for DMAIC.
• Apply the Trimodal Execution Framework consistently across business units and support functions.
• Track project status, timeline adherence, scope discipline, and compliance with governance requirements.
• Escalate major concerns such as significant risks, budget excesses, and scope modifications.
• Oversee enterprise-wide strategic, operational, and capital initiatives across the portfolio.
• Coordinate dependencies between projects and ensure alignment among stakeholders.
• Monitor milestones and ensure project owners are accountable for delivery commitments.
• Review CAPEX and OPEX budgets, track burn rates, and prepare variance analyses.
• Support workforce and capacity planning across the enterprise.
• Work with Procurement to ensure vendor performance meets PMO standards.
• Build and maintain portfolio dashboards using business intelligence tools.
• Provide forward-looking insights on risks, delays, and financial concerns.
• Prepare accurate executive-level reports and portfolio updates.
• Measure project benefits and long-term ROI.
• Conduct post-implementation reviews for major initiatives.
• Train stakeholders on PMO methods and governance expectations.
• Maintain lessons learned and institutional knowledge repositories.

Qualifications

Applicants should hold a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Quality Management, Data Science, Computer Science, Business Analytics, or a closely related discipline. A master’s degree such as an MBA, MSc in Project Management, or Engineering Management is preferred.

Professional certifications are required, including PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, Lean Six Sigma, or an equivalent credential. An Agile certification such as CSM or PMI-ACP is also expected. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt is the minimum requirement, while Black Belt is preferred.

The role calls for 5 to 8 years of experience in PMO, enterprise portfolio management, or strategy execution. Background in large-scale portfolio governance is important, and experience in real estate development, community management, asset management, or infrastructure is an advantage. Candidates should also have handled cross-functional initiatives involving Finance, HR, Procurement, IT, Legal, and operational teams, along with vendor, contract, and change management responsibilities.

Strong technical ability is needed in Primavera P6, MS Project, Planview, Smartsheet, or comparable portfolio tools. The position also requires solid Power BI, data modeling, analytics, and dashboard development skills, plus familiarity with process-mapping tools such as ARIS or Visio. Experience with financial modeling, benefits realization, ROI tracking, risk management using RAID, and tools like Jira and Azure DevOps is valuable in agile delivery settings.

Successful candidates should bring a strong governance and auditing mindset, the ability to work across Agile, Lean, and traditional project approaches, and the confidence to communicate effectively at executive level. Strategic thinking, proactive risk handling, stakeholder influence, negotiation, conflict resolution, and resilience in complex, fast-moving environments are essential.

Additional information

The organization expects the selected professional to help drive measurable outcomes through structured portfolio control, disciplined execution, and continuous improvement practices. The position also includes responsibility for strengthening PMO maturity through training, reporting, and knowledge retention.

Employment type: Full-time

Work location: On-site in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates

Opening: Not specified