Automation Community PMO Lead

Overview

Chanel is a preeminent global luxury house renowned for its couture, ready-to-wear, accessories, fragrance and beauty lines. As a privately held maison with a strong legacy of craftsmanship and creativity, Chanel operates an international network spanning retail, manufacturing and corporate functions and invests in digital and operational transformation to support its maisons and clientele.

Role & Responsibilities

• Lead the PMO function for the Automation Community and Centre of Excellence (CoE), defining governance, standards, roadmap and operating model.
• Manage the automation portfolio: prioritisation, capacity planning, resource allocation and lifecycle oversight from discovery to production.
• Establish KPIs, benefits-realisation frameworks and executive reporting to measure ROI and operational impact of automation initiatives.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders—IT, business process owners, security, compliance and external vendors—to ensure delivery and adoption.
• Develop reusable assets, templates, runbooks and best practices to accelerate scalable automation delivery and reduce technical debt.
• Drive change management, training programs and community-building activities to grow automation capability across the organisation.
• Oversee vendor and licence relationships for RPA and automation tooling, and support procurement and contract governance.
• Ensure automation solutions comply with security, data-protection and internal control requirements and embed risk management in the lifecycle.
• Produce concise, board-ready presentations and dashboards for senior leadership and steering committees.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading a PMO, program management office or CoE in a complex, global organisation.
• Demonstrable track record in automation/RPA delivery and governance, including portfolio and benefits management.
• Formal project/program management certification (PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent) strongly preferred.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills with senior executives and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to translate technical detail into business value and executive-level reporting.

Skills

Experience

Typically 5+ years in program or PMO roles within IT or transformation functions, with at least 2 years directly overseeing automation/RPA initiatives or a CoE and demonstrable experience delivering enterprise-scale automation projects.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration or related discipline; Master’s degree or equivalent and advanced management certifications desirable.

Culture

Chanel combines a deep respect for heritage with a contemporary drive for excellence and innovation. The workplace prizes discretion, craftsmanship and collaborative problem-solving while supporting cross-disciplinary development and digital transformation.