PMO Manager

Adoc Talent Management is assisting one of its clients, a leading public research institute in Luxembourg, in the recruitment of a Project Management Office Manager.

Our client conducts fundamental and applied research in the social sciences to inform public policy, support decision‑making, and contribute to societal impact.

In a dynamic, international, and multidisciplinary research environment, our client is looking for a qualified and experienced Project Management Office Manager specialised in research project management to ensure the smooth running and further development of its Project Management Office.

The PMO plays a pivotal role in supporting the excellence of the institute's research. Its mission is to support researchers efficiently throughout the entire lifecycle of their research projects.

This is a strategic and operational role at the heart of research project governance. The Project Management Office Manager will support the transformation of the PMO from an administrative and contractual support function into a central coordination structure connecting researchers, management, and support services such as finance, HR, legal, administration, and institutional planning.

The role combines team leadership, change management, portfolio follow‑up, project coordination, funding intelligence, reporting, and decision support.

Your mission

As Project Management Office Manager, you will lead a small team of Project Management Officers and ensure that the PMO provides high‑quality support to research teams throughout the project lifecycle. You will help structure and professionalise PMO practices, strengthen coordination between research and support functions, and provide senior management with reliable, clear, and decision‑oriented information on project files, risks, priorities, and issues. You will work closely with the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, the Strategic Program & Planning Leader, research directors, Principal Investigators, support services, and the CEO. The position requires a strong ability to combine strategic thinking with hands‑on operational follow‑up; you will need to understand complex project files, support your team, solve problems, manage priorities, and facilitate decisions in a demanding research environment.

Key responsibilities

• Leading the PMO team on a daily basis, including workload distribution and priority definition
• Acting as the primary technical reference and support for team members when addressing internal or external challenges
• Setting individual objectives, monitoring individual performance, supporting skills development, and guiding the career paths of team members
• Building trust and engagement within an experienced and heterogeneous team
• Translating the institute's strategic vision into actionable goals, processes, and service‑quality standards for the PMO team
• Coordinating the follow‑up of research project files and ensuring that key issues are properly addressed
• Maintaining a clear view of the project portfolio, with close attention to the most active or sensitive files
• Working in close coordination with the Strategic Program & Planning Leader and the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
• Ensuring that project files are complete, coherent, and ready for internal decision‑making or signature
• Acting as a key interface between researchers, Principal Investigators, finance, HR, legal, administration, management, external stakeholders, partners, and funding agencies
• Maintaining a proactive watch on European and national funding trends to anticipate strategic opportunities
• Supporting the transformation of PMO practices, processes, tools, and ways of working
• Contributing to the implementation and adoption of internal project management frameworks
• Providing structured reports, dashboards, analyses, and recommendations to senior management
• Escalating risks, bottlenecks, and decision points appropriately
• Facilitating discussions and arbitrations between stakeholders
• Representing the PMO in internal governance bodies and management discussions
• Being a driving force in defining and implementing optimisation initiatives for business processes and research project management

Required profile

We are looking for a mature, structured, and solution‑oriented professional with strong PMO expertise, proven team management experie