Summary of Role:

Reporting to the Head of Service and Project Portfolio Management.  The role of the Service and Project Portfolio Manager is to support organisational and IT leadership in overseeing, managing and using the entire life cycle of investments and initiatives to achieve the organisation’s goals and objectives.

Working within a new team this role identifies, prioritises and coordinates IT project and program resources engaged with all or many of the initiatives within the project portfolio.

Main Duties:

• Drive and shape a high performing SPPM team (mix of temporary and permanent staff) to execute projects and programmes within the portfolio.
• Acts as the primary resource for the investment council, steering committee and others reporting the status and performance of initiatives within the portfolio
• Provides and escalates data on achieving an optimised mix among project investments, making the best possible use of all resources and delivering the maximum value and benefits from projects and programs within the portfolio
• Ensures adherence to the appropriate governance functions relating to the portfolio.
• Facilitate and coordinate the efforts of senior leadership toward the establishment of the project portfolio definition, its structure, and processes.
• This includes:
  • Demand management and strategic alignment of projects and programs
  • Portfolio categories and criteria
  • Evaluation, selection and prioritization
  • Execution, tracking and measuring the achieved results
  • Conduct reviews quarterly — or at other specified intervals — with senior business and IT executives, stakeholder committees, the steering committee and other relevant bodies. Do so to validate and assess the project portfolio, execute change and reprioritise as necessary to meet business needs.
  • Conducting regular meetings with the senior executive bodies. Inform them of any issues with the performance of individual projects within the portfolio.
• Lead reviews of any significant initiatives, projects or programs that have run into challenges. Provide recommendations as to whether they should be continued, changed significantly, placed on hold or discontinued.
• Provide criteria for prioritization at the appropriate level aligned to the goals of the investment council and steering committee. Become the point of escalation and arbitration if necessary.
• Collaborate with senior business and IT executives to identify opportunities for applying technology developments to address the challenges from increasing digitisation.
• Oversee and coordinate dependencies across the initiatives in the portfolio and resolve or escalate conflicts.
• Ensure and balance the availability of the required skills and competencies across project and program teams within the project portfolio
• Direct the development and maintenance of communications and reporting about the project portfolios, their contents, and the performance of individual initiatives to stakeholder and governance council(s), the steering committee and senior executives.
• Direct the creation and maintenance of the required portfolio documentation and artifacts.
• Support and advise executives on actions required to balance the portfolio of existing assets and services.

Candidate Requirements:

Essential:

• 5 years plus experience in Programme Management and leading a team to deliver a portfolio of programmes and projects
• Exceptional leadership skills, with the ability to develop and communicate the portfolio objectives, inspire and motivate staff to execute on delivery goals, and maintain alignment with business strategy.
• A high degree of political sensitivity, astuteness, and the ability to use the informal power structure of the organisation to overcome obstacles and achieve portfolio success.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain and “sell” the portfolio goals and objectives to the business and to technical leadership.
• Strong business acumen, including industry and domain-specific knowledge of the organisation and its business units.
• Familiarity with industry trends and innovation, and how other organisations are applying them to drive digital business.
• A high level of empathy and the ability to vary styles of interaction to match the needs of a variety of business and technical audiences, as well as temperaments and personalities.
• Influencing and negotiation experience and skills in an environment with high competition for resources.
• Ability to work with 3rd parties to deliver programmes and project outcomes
• Excellent analytical, conceptual strategic planning and execution skills. Familiarity with financial analysis and associated reporting tools.
• Ability to develop portfolios and deliver them against financial and resource constraints.
• Familiarity with the use of reporting tools to monitor portfolio activities and analyse portfolio performance.
• Familiarity with at least one delivery methodology or framework, such as:
  • PMI standards
  • PRINCE2
  • Agile
  • Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
• Extensive experience of managing multiple workloads and complexity
• Understanding of current and emerging technologies and how organizations may apply them to drive digital business.

Knowledge/Skills

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with an ability to adapt to audience
• Ability to instil confidence in the business and demonstrate the business value of IT.
• Effective influencing and negotiation skills in an environment where resources may not be in direct control of this role.
• Understanding of current and emerging technologies and how other enterprises are employing them.
• Strong vendor and commercial management skills
• Solid background in both “traditional” business Finance coupled with IT Financial Management experience
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts and technologies to non-technical staff.
• Primary points of contact will be Finance, Supply Chain, Commercial and Technology Providers
• Resiliency whilst working under pressure

Desirable:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information-technology, engineering, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience
• 15 or more years of experience in IT and business/industry
• Five to seven years of leadership responsibilities.
• Preferably five or more years of experience in large, cross-functional teams influencing senior-level management and key stakeholders effectively across the organisation and within complex contexts.
• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning, organization design and development.  Proven experience or demonstrated capability in leading IT transformational initiatives in complex and dynamic environments.