PMO Finance & Vendor Spend Governance Lead

Key Responsibilities:

Project & Program Financial Governance

• Own and maintain project and program-level financial baselines, forecasts, and cost-to-complete.
• Ensure alignment with approved ARs/CARs and AOP allocations.
• Support PMs and Portfolio Leads in maintaining multi-year financial forecasts.
• Validate assumptions related to phasing, burn rates, labour mix, and timing shifts.
• Reconcile actual spend against approved budgets, ARs, and POs.
• Perform monthly variance analysis at project and portfolio levels.
• Identify variance drivers and emerging financial risks.
• Ensure reconciliation integrity across Planview, SAP/ERP, and ARIBA.
• Proactively flag budget overruns, funding gaps, and forecast erosion.
• Provide fact-based escalation inputs to Portfolio Leads and PMO leadership.
• Support monthly and quarterly financial close activities.

CapEx / OpEx Controls & Audit Readiness

• Enforce consistent CapEx vs. OpEx classification.
• Validate classification during AR/CAR setup and throughout project execution.
• Identify misclassification risks and coordinate corrections with Finance.
• Ensure project spend aligns with approved budgets, cost centres, and funding approvals.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation for PMO-managed projects.
• Support internal and external audits related to project financials.
• Track, remediate, and close PMO-side audit findings.

Portfolio Financial Reporting & Accountability

• Ensure portfolio financial dashboards and reports reconcile to systems of record.
• Ensure accurate budget, actual, and forecast data is reflected in reports.
• Validate financial inputs provided to PMO Reporting / Analytics teams.
• Review and sign off on PMO financial packs for portfolio reviews, MBRs, QBRs, and AOP tracking discussions.
• Provide narrative commentary on financial drivers, risks, and trends.
• Act as the final PMO checkpoint before financial data is presented to leadership.

Vendor Spend Governance

• Ensure vendor spend is supported by approved contracts and POs.
• Track spend under contract, PO coverage, and burn against plan.
• Identify off-contract spend and coordinate remediation.
• Validate vendor invoices against POs, contracts, and delivered services.
• Resolve discrepancies with PMs, AP, and vendors.
• Prevent late payments and financial leakage through proactive controls.
• Maintain vendor performance visibility from a financial and delivery-health perspective.
• Identify patterns of overruns, frequent change requests, or cost instability.
• Provide data-backed inputs into quarterly vendor reviews.

Stakeholder Advisory & Influence

• Act as the PMO finance authority for Portfolio Leads and Project Managers.
• Explain financial concepts and constraints clearly to non-finance stakeholders.
• Influence portfolio trade-off decisions through data and judgment.
• Provide early-warning indicators before financial issues surface in governance.

Tools, Data Quality & Process Improvement

• Own PMO financial data quality in Planview and ERP.
• Drive reconciliation discipline and eliminate manual rework.
• Improve templates, controls, and financial hygiene processes.
• Document PMO financial standards and operating procedures.

Required Skills & Experience:

• 8–12+ years of experience in PMO finance, project/portfolio financial governance, or IT financial management.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently and influence cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience supporting large, multi-portfolio IT environments.
• Advanced financial analysis and Excel skills.
• Deep understanding of CapEx / OpEx mechanics, project accounting, and portfolio financial controls.
• Strong working knowledge of SAP, Planview, and ARIBA.
• Comfortable operating as an expert individual contributor with accountability but no direct reports.