Portfolio Lead

About the job

We are seeking an experienced Portfolio Lead to join a major transformation environment within a leading financial services organisation.

This is a strategic portfolio leadership role, focused on how a large and complex transformation portfolio is prioritised, governed and managed at an enterprise level.

Importantly, this is not a traditional Project Manager or Program Manager position.

We are looking for someone who has genuine experience managing a portfolio of change - balancing competing investments, priorities, dependencies, risks and resources across multiple initiatives, rather than someone whose experience is primarily focused on delivering individual projects or programs.

You will provide senior-level oversight across the transformation portfolio, working with business, technology and transformation leaders to ensure the portfolio remains aligned to strategic priorities and delivers the expected value.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading the portfolio prioritisation and planning lifecycle, including development and management of a multi-year change pipeline
• Establishing and maintaining a clear view of portfolio investment, priorities, capacity, delivery and expected outcomes
• Embedding and continuously improving portfolio governance frameworks in line with global and local standards
• Maintaining a single enterprise view of change, ensuring risks, issues, dependencies and constraints are visible and actively managed
• Leading Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) and senior executive portfolio forums, bringing together portfolio insights and recommendations for decision-making
• Identifying conflicts between initiatives and driving resolution of cross-portfolio dependencies, competing priorities and resource constraints
• Providing senior stakeholders with clear portfolio-level analysis, insights and recommendations to support investment and prioritisation decisions
• Driving greater consistency, transparency and maturity across the portfolio management and delivery ecosystem
• Working across business and technology to ensure portfolio activity remains aligned to strategic objectives and organisational capacity

You will be an experienced Portfolio Management or Transformation professional with a strong understanding of how complex change portfolios operate.

Ideally, you will have:

• 5+ years' experience across Portfolio Management, enterprise PMO, Transformation Office or senior Program/Portfolio roles
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent programs or initiatives as a portfolio, rather than simply managing an individual program
• Strong experience in portfolio prioritisation, investment planning, governance and executive reporting
• A strong financial services background, ideally within a complex banking, insurance or similarly regulated environment
• The ability to assess competing initiatives through a combination of strategic alignment, value, risk, capacity, dependencies and delivery considerations
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, with the ability to work confidently with portfolio data and investment information
• Experience establishing or embedding portfolio governance and operating models
• Strong understanding of enterprise-wide transformation, digital change and organisational change
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and facilitate decisions across business and technology
• The confidence to operate in a complex environment where priorities, dependencies and requirements can change quickly

This role is likely to suit someone who has been:

Portfolio Lead | Senior Portfolio Manager | Head of PMO | Transformation Office Lead | Enterprise PMO Lead | Senior Transformation Manager

It is less suited to candidates whose background is primarily Project Management or Program Management without significant portfolio-level experience.

If you have experience providing the strategic oversight across a portfolio of transformation activity, rather than simply managing delivery within one program, we'd be keen to hear from you.

Contact Nick Largent for a confidential conversation.