Principal Project Governance Leader

The Opportunity:

The Principal Project Governance Leader is a critical global leadership role across Avantor, responsible for establishing, governing, and continuously improving the organization’s Project Management Office capability across all regions, business units, and functions.

ROLE OVERVIEW

This role provides enterprise-wide governance across Avantor’s $150M annual capital expenditure (Capex) portfolio, ensuring that the organization is consistently investing in and delivering the most strategically important projects aligned to enterprise priorities.

The role provides leadership across project governance, portfolio management, delivery oversight, project controls, and PMO systems to ensure projects and programs are executed in alignment with Avantor’s global strategic objectives and capital allocation priorities.

Operating across a complex, multi-regional environment, the role ensures a structured, transparent, and standardized approach to Capex investment planning, delivery execution, and performance tracking. It enables senior leadership and global governance bodies to make informed decisions through consolidated portfolio insight, financial transparency, and clear visibility of risks, dependencies, and outcomes.

Critically, this role is accountable not only for governance and delivery oversight, but also for ensuring that projects achieve their intended business outcomes. This includes verifying that, upon closure at Gate 5c, projects have delivered against their original business case KPIs, benefits, and strategic goals.

A central focus of the role is driving global consistency, investment discipline, and value realization, ensuring that PMO standards, methodologies, and governance frameworks are applied uniformly and effectively across all regions.

Remote role with 20% travel

How you will thrive and create an impact

• Global PMO Leadership & Strategy
  • Lead the PMO Governance function globally across Avantor, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy and Capex investment priorities
  • Define and maintain a global PMO operating model supporting oversight of a $150M annual Capex portfolio
  • Establish standards and frameworks to ensure the organization focuses on the highest-priority, highest-value initiatives
  • Drive a culture of accountability, transparency, and outcome-based delivery
  • Provide leadership, coaching, and capability development across global and regional teams

• Global Governance & Portfolio Management
  • Establish and govern a global portfolio management framework overseeing $150M in annual Capex investment
  • Ensure the organization is consistently prioritizing and executing the most important projects in the company
  • Lead global demand management, prioritization, and Capex investment planning processes
  • Support executive governance forums and investment committees in making data-driven decisions
  • Ensure alignment between strategic priorities and capital allocation decisions
  • Oversee global resource and capacity planning across the Capex portfolio
  • Maintain a single, consolidated view of portfolio performance, value delivery, and dependencies

• Project & Program Delivery Oversight (Global Execution)
  • Define and enforce global project lifecycle frameworks, including Gate 5c closure requirements
  • Ensure consistent application of delivery methodologies across all regions
  • Provide assurance oversight for strategic and high-value Capex program
  • Monitor project performance against approved baselines and original business case commitments
  • Ensure projects are delivered not only on time and on budget, but also deliver the intended KPIs, benefits, and strategic outcomes
  • Validate that projects meet their original business case objectives at Gate 5c closure
  • Facilitate cross-regional coordination and manage global dependencies

• Project Controls & Performance Management
  • Implement an integrated project controls framework covering the $150M Capex portfolio
  • Standardize performance measurement across cost, schedule, scope, risk, and benefits
  • Ensure robust tracking of business case KPIs from initiation through to Gate 5c closure
  • Oversee Capex financial tracking, forecasting, and variance analysis
  • Establish benefits realization governance to confirm outcomes are achieved and sustained
  • Deliver executive reporting that clearly links investment, delivery performance, and value realized

• PMO Systems & Tools
  • Define global requirements for PMO and PPM tools to support portfolio prioritization and governance
  • Enable visibility into the most strategically important projects across Avantor
  • Support automated reporting of project performance, business case KPIs, and benefits realization
  • Ensure data integrity and consistency across global systems
  • Integrate project, financial, and operational systems to support end-to-end governance

• Information & Knowledge Management
  • Establish global standards for project documentation, including business case and Gate 5c closure artefacts
  • Maintain centralized repositories for PMO standards and performance insights
  • Ensure audit-ready documentation of Capex investment decisions and outcomes
  • Promote continuous improvement based on lessons learned and post-implementation reviews

• Capability Development & Training
  • Build organizational capability in prioritization, delivery, and benefits realization
  • Develop training frameworks focused on outcome-based project delivery
  • Provide coaching to ensure teams understand and deliver against business case KPIs
  • Drive adoption of global PMO standards and governance practices

What we're looking for

• Degree in Business, Engineering, Project Management, or related field
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in PMO field with experience in chemical, life sciences, pharmaceutical, or similarly regulated business environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading global PMO organizations
• Professional certifications (PMP, PgMP, PRINCE2, MSP, Agile) preferred
• Experience in complex global environments with significant capital investment responsibility
• Extensive experience leading PMO functions in global, multi-regional organizations
• Proven ability to govern enterprise Capex portfolios and priorities strategic investments
• Strong expertise in benefits realization management and business case validation
• Experience ensuring projects meet defined outcomes at closure (e.g., Gate 5c or equivalent)
• Deep knowledge of project controls, governance, and portfolio management
• Ability to influence senior leaders on prioritization and investment decisions

Disclaimer:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of employees assigned to this position. Avantor is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

Why Avantor?

Dare to go further in your career. Join our global team of 14,000+ associates whose passion for discovery and determination to overcome challenges relentlessly advances life-changing science.
 
The work we do changes people's lives for the better. It brings new patient treatments and therapies to market, giving a cancer survivor the chance to walk his daughter down the aisle. It enables medical devices that help a little boy hear his mom's voice for the first time. Outcomes such as these create unlimited opportunities for you to contribute your talents, learn new skills and grow your career at Avantor.
 
We are committed to helping you on this journey through our diverse, equitable and inclusive culture which includes learning experiences to support your career growth and success. At Avantor, dare to go further and see how the impact of your contributions set science in motion to create a better world. Apply today!

Pay Transparency:

The expected pre-tax pay for this position is

Actual pay may differ depending on relevant factors such as prior experience and geographic location.

EEO Statement:

We are an Equal Employment/Affirmative Action employer and VEVRAA Federal Contractor. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state/province, or local law.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at recruiting@avantorsciences.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

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By submitting candidates without having been formally assigned on and contracted for a specific job requisition by Avantor, or by failing to comply with the Avantor recruitment process, you forfeit any fee on the submitted candidates, regardless of your usual terms and conditions. Avantor works with a preferred supplier list and will take the initiative to engage with recruitment agencies based on its needs and will not be accepting any form of solicitation.