Strategy Program Lead Governance & Delivery Assurance

About the Role

SOL Gulf is seeking a Strategy Program Lead – Governance & Delivery Assurance to join their team in Riyadh. This full-time position involves governing and assuring the delivery of a portfolio of strategic initiatives within a Strategy Execution & Value Realization Office for a major Saudi enterprise client. The role requires 5-10 years of experience, ideally from a PMO, strategy execution, or transformation office background.

Role Context and Focus

Each Program Lead will be responsible for the governance and assurance of a specific theme or group of initiatives. This includes managing stage gates, dependencies, risks, issues, health reporting, and the data supporting executive scorecards. One lead will also be responsible for developing and maintaining the standards, methodology, and templates used across the entire office. The ideal candidate will possess a combination of governance discipline and practical, hands-on follow-through, having worked with both business and IT stakeholders in large organizations.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage intake, stage-gate reviews, and readiness checks for initiatives within the assigned theme.
• Ensure each initiative has an agreed plan, budget baseline, milestones, risks, and benefit plan with the PMO and owner.
• Prepare gate decisions and recommendations for the Integration Forum and Steering Committee.
• Map and track dependencies across initiatives and themes, driving resolution through the Integration Forum.
• Coordinate with PMO, enterprise architecture, business owners, and vendors without duplicating roles.
• Prepare weekly health reports and maintain risk, issue, and change registers for the assigned theme.
• Track schedule, budget, and outcome variance from PMO data and raise early warnings.
• Follow escalations to closure within agreed time limits.
• Validate KPI and delivery data from initiative owners and the PMO for executive dashboards.
• Draft insight notes and decision papers for senior stakeholders.
• (For Standards Owner Position) Develop and maintain the governance framework, playbooks, templates, and quality checklists.
• (For Standards Owner Position) Conduct training and drive adoption of standards across the office and client PMO.

Required Competencies and Skills

• Disciplined, detail-oriented, and reliable follow-through.
• Strong influencing skills with stakeholders who do not report directly.
• Clear written communication and concise executive reporting.
• Comfortable working in a hybrid on-site and offshore team environment.
• Demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and responsiveness.

Experience and Background

Candidates should possess 5-10 years of relevant experience. A background in PMO, strategy execution, or a transformation office is preferred. Experience working with business and IT stakeholders in large organizations is essential for this role.

Work Environment

This is a full-time position based in Riyadh. The role involves working within a hybrid on-site and offshore team structure.