Programme Management Office Manager

Can you bring structure, insight and effective governance to a large and complex programme?

Do you thrive on turning strategy into delivery while keeping people focused on outcomes, pace and quality?

If so, we would love to hear from you!

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, because it helps us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We are dedicated to being an inclusive employer, offering equitable opportunities for all individuals. Our goal is to build a diverse workforce, and we hope to attract applications from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Programme Management Office (PMO) Manager to lead a large, complex APHA programme. You will establish proportionate standards, controls and reporting to ensure delivery is well governed, transparent and focused on agreed outcomes.

This leadership role, within our Change Directorate, will provide senior leaders with reliable management information, clear escalation routes and evidence for timely decisions, while keeping the programme aligned with APHA and Defra Group priorities.

Working with the Senior Responsible Owner, Programme Manager and key stakeholders, you will provide PMO advice, insight, assurance and challenge throughout the programme lifecycle, from business case development through delivery and change readiness to benefits realisation.

You will provide leadership and develop the PMO team, providing effective planning, governance, reporting, risk, dependency, benefits, resource, financial and assurance support.

This is a varied role, and you will have the flexibility to turn your hand to different tasks as the situation demands. The key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Programme and team leadership - Lead the PMO function and develop its team, setting clear standards, priorities, ways of working and expectations across the programme
• Programme controls - Establish and improve proportionate controls for plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, change, benefits, resources, finances and reporting, aligned with APHA’s Central Portfolio Management Office
• Governance and assurance - Maintain effective governance, prepare decision-making products and coordinate assurance, including gateway or independent reviews where required
• Planning and reporting - Oversee integrated plans, milestone reporting, dashboards and performance information, giving senior leaders a clear view of progress, risks and decisions required
• Risk, issue and dependency management - Set standards for identifying, managing and escalating risks, issues and dependencies, linking them to decisions and delivery plans
• Business cases and benefits - Support the creation and maintain business cases and approvals, identify and track benefits and outcomes, and provide evidence for prioritisation and investment decisions
• Financial and resource management - Coordinate budgets, forecasts, actuals and resource information with finance, digital delivery and workforce planning colleagues to support effective deployment of people and funding
• Stakeholder engagement - Build strong relationships with stakeholders, delivery partners and corporate functions, providing practical support, challenge and insight that enables delivery
• Continuous improvement - Improve PMO processes, products and reporting, sharing learning and good practice across APHA’s delivery community
• Delivery support - Provide credible, pragmatic support that turns strategy into delivery and maintains focus on outcomes, pace and quality

You must hold at least one of the following qualifications, or have relevant experience.

• PRINCE2 Practitioner
• Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner
• Agile Project Management Practitioner
• Management of Risk Practitioner
• P3O Practitioner
• Managing Successful Programmes Advanced Practitioner
• APM Chartered Project Professional
• Project Leadership Programme
• APM Project Management Qualification
• APMG International Project Planning and Control Foundation
• APMG International Project Planning and Control Practitioner
• Leading and Managing Project Workstream

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.

Application Process

Ability Tests

Before submission of your application, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests and application is 9th November at 23:55. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

Do not leave completing the tests until the last minute in case you experience any access or technical issues. There may not be technical support available after business hours and after 2pm on the closing date of 9th November.

While the tests should work on most operating systems and modern browsers with a good internet connection, we cannot guarantee that every combination will work. At the beginning, the test will check which browser you are using, and alert you if it is likely to be incompatible. The test can’t be taken on mobile phones or tablets.

Online Test Maintenance

You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent – Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.

Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between midday to 1.00pm on 25th October 2026 and 4pm to midnight on 1st November 2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

Please note that online tests associated with this vacancy are not subject to time limits. Click https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reasonable-adjustments-for-online-tests-a-candidate-guide for test guidance.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a:

• CV
• 750-word Personal Statement
• 250-word Behaviour statement on the lead behaviour, Leadership

CV Guidance

Your CV should consist of your career history, including any key achievements and your main responsibilities in each role and be no longer than 2 pages. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your Personal Statement and will not be scored against the essential criteria.

Personal Statement Guidance

When completing your Personal Statement, please read and understand the Person Specification thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Please ensure you evidence the key personal qualities and experiences that align with the criteria. Consider the Person Specification and look to demonstrate how your previous experience may align with the expectations and be applicable to the role. The written evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc.

Behaviour Statement Guidance

You will also be asked to provide 250-word statements demonstrating how you meet the following Behaviour:

• Leadership

The lead behaviour for this campaign is Leadership

This should follow the criteria outlined in Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK framework for the grade of the role.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, there will be an initial sift assessing the Personal Statement. Those who pass the initial sift will be progressed either to a full sift or straight to interview.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviour, Experience and Technical questions.

The Behaviours are as follows:

• Leadership (Lead Behaviour)
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

The Technical skills being assessed are ‘Programme controls and performance reporting’ and will be assessed by a presentation. Details of the presentation will be sent to you prior to the interview.

During the interview, Experience will be assessed by questions.

It is intended that the interview will take place using MS Teams.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

After the interview

Once all the interviews have been conducted, candidates will be notified of the outcome by email. If you are successful at the interview stage, we will be in touch to offer you a role. Offers will be made in merit order.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk using the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that APHA does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Near Miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions within Defra Group which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Merit Lists

Candidates will be posted in merit order.

Salary

New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.

Location

Please be aware that this role(s) will be contractually based in a Defra group workplace/office. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location (excluding Northern Ireland) and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

For most candidates your hours of work will be a blend of working from an APHA workplace (specific to the team location) with working at home.

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisation allocations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies.

Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the Core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.