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IT Portfolio Manager
We are seeking a strategic, highly organised and delivery-focused IT Portfolio Manager to oversee governance, planning, execution control and value realisation across a portfolio of technology projects. This individual will ensure alignment with business priorities, effective oversight of delivery teams, forward-looking risk and issue management, and strong commercial discipline.
The role requires exceptional stakeholder management, attention to detail, strong budget and financial control, the ability to anticipate and manage risk, and disciplined horizon scanning to identify potential issues early. It will suit someone with a consultancy or advisory background experienced in complex delivery environments.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio Strategy & Governance
Maintain and refine portfolio governance frameworks to ensure consistent standards across planning, delivery and reporting.
Provide oversight of portfolio performance, dependencies, capacity and prioritisation.
Ensure alignment between business strategy and technology investment.
Delivery Oversight & Project Controls
Maintain a forward-looking view of delivery confidence across all projects, ensuring adherence to scope, schedule, budget and quality.
Challenge Project Managers to validate delivery confidence, ensure dependencies are identified and actively managed, and that risks and issues are escalated.
Ensure structured, proactive horizon management is applied to identify emerging concerns early.
Deliverables & Ways of Working
Monitor project deliverables daily via the Project Manager.
Ensure any concerns regarding deliverable timelines are promptly escalated to the Delivery Manager.
Notify the Portfolio Lead of deliverables at risk, mitigation plans and any request for escalation support.
Identify and communicate any time or cost implications associated with changes to scope or delivery plans.
Change Control
Ensure change requests are initiated where required due to delivery risk, scope changes or other business drivers.
Work with Project Managers and Delivery Managers to understand the cause, time/cost implications and rationale for change.
Coordinate with Account Management for creation, review and processing of change requests and onward approval.
Funding, Stage Gate & Planning
- Oversee stage planning to ensure programme documentation meets standard, including:
- Detailed activity planning
- Critical path identification
- Dependencies
- Resource requirements
- Deliverable definitions and dates
- Review and approve Project Execution Plans (PEPs) at stage boundaries.
- Ensure resource requirements are communicated for inclusion in Statements of Work.
Cost Management & Financial Control
Ensure accurate financial reporting, including forecasts, actuals and benefits realisation.
Review cost reporting completed by the PM to ensure accuracy and alignment to governance requirements.
Share outcomes with Portfolio Leads for challenge and discussion where required.
Resource & Capacity Management
Align project and programme resource requirements with capacity and strategic priorities.
Highlight resource constraints and recommend prioritised solutions.
Stakeholder Management & Communication
Build strong relationships across Business, PMO, Technology, Delivery and Vendor partners.
Facilitate effective decision-making through timely analysis and transparent reporting.
Proactively communicate status, risks, dependencies and mitigation plans.
Quality Assurance & Standards
Ensure the Delivery Manager validates quality controls, including:
Risk Register
Dependency Registers
Decision Logs
Project Board Packs
Ensure effective Project Brief development led by Business Systems Leads, refined through PM/Delivery/Portfolio collaboration.
Review project plans to ensure completeness, resource-loading, critical path identification, realistic timeline assumptions, contingency and holiday cover.
Continuous Improvement
Drive consistent use of best-practice portfolio and programme delivery methodologies.
Champion process maturity, tooling enhancement, and improved reporting quality.
