Role Title Senior Portfolio Manager
Job family group Change Directorate
Job Change Portfolio Office
Grade G6
Status For internal use
family/ies
Role Purpose The Portfolio Manager reports into the Portfolio Director and is responsible for a significant area of organisational activity within the Change
(250 words Portfolio office.
max)
This is a senior management position accountable for providing portfolio level assurance to the executive management team around the health,
performance, and risk of the delivery pipeline and resourcing. The role will require an important level of senior stakeholder management and cross
functional working. It will have responsibility for contributing to the overall strategy and direction of the organisation. This is a high-profile visible
leadership role with responsibility for managing and co-ordinating large areas of work activity with personal responsibility for delivering key
objectives. Within these managed areas of work activity, role-holders will be decision makers and or where decisions are reserved to more senior
managers, a major player in the decision-making process, and in formulating recommendations and approaches. These roles will also have
significant representational and external facing responsibilities on behalf of the organisation including engaging effectively with key stakeholders
including finance, HR, Commercial and other external stakeholders such as Judicial and Ministerial offices.
Key Accountabilities (600 words max)
This is a key leadership role with responsibility for driving business delivery and change. At this level, there is a greater requirement to shape the organisational
context and to deliver significantly changed or significantly improved performance levels across wider areas of service delivery. There is also a more marked
requirement to identify and manage future challenges, anticipate and predict long-term developments (think strategically) and identify and shape own areas of
delivery to meet business objectives.
• Project pipeline: Works across HMCTS areas to identify and categorise new change initiatives. Applies prioritisation and mitigations to assess for a decision
on entry to the portfolio and provides regular updates on pipeline to Portfolio Board.
• Governance and reporting: Establish clear governance framework and reporting regime aligned to Management of Portfolios best practice. Co-ordinate
reporting from projects and provide analysis of performance at portfolio level for review by governance bodies. Provide secretariat support for senior
governance boards.
• Briefings: Oversee the production of briefings on Portfolio health and progress for stakeholders such as Judiciary, Ministers and the HMCTS senior leadership
team. Own and maintain the library of communication documentation for the Portfolio
• People and leadership: Communicate and build commitment to a shared vision and sense of purpose. Support business areas to take decisions
• Maintain portfolio delivery map and critical path to monitor project progress. Recognise and track interdependencies across change projects. Recommend
how financial and other resources be allocated across change initiatives to optimise the organisation's return on investment. Develop strategies to address
resource gaps.
• Identify future capacity and capability needs of the portfolio and put in place strategies enabling effective decisions to be made on resource allocations of the
flexible resource pool as well as risk mitigations or opportunities aligned to the HMCTS Project pipeline.
• Risk, Assumption, Issues, Dependency (RAID) and opportunity management: Identify and monitor portfolio RAID areas (threats and opportunities), planning
and implementing responses to them and responding to other issues impacting the portfolio.
• Stakeholder management: Map stakeholder interest and influence to determine priorities for engagement and communication. Communicate regularly and
obtain input on issues such as means of communication. Engage in debate to resolve issues and differences between stakeholders and to challenge
assumptions.
• Benefits management: Support the business to develop mechanisms for measuring benefits. Establish ownership and responsibility within the business for
benefit realisation. Review business cases regularly to assess progress towards benefits realisation.
• Quality assurance of PPM standards, processes and documentation and management of the central PPM repository and guidance. Responsibility to ensure
this is applied consistently across the Portfolio
• Collect and provide relevant management information to support the development of the HMCTS change directorate capability, informing resourcing
decisions, key appointments, and development activity.
• Business cases and assurance: Work with project teams to co-ordinate business case production ensuring appropriate specialist input and timing of approval
through governance framework, provide best practice advice and guidance
Knowledge, Skills and Experience (500 words max)
• Experience in managing large-scale, complex projects and programmes and using portfolio management as a tool for organisational change.
• Experience in briefing and reporting at senior leadership level, including the preparation of strategic updates, executive dashboards, and decision
• support materials within a Change Portfolio Office or equivalent environment.
• The ability to systematically identify, analyse and communicate with stakeholders, using appropriate channels, to ensure all those impacted by the change
are engaged, taking account of their levels of influence and particular interests.
• The ability to clearly define roles, responsibilities and accountabilities and establish controls and approval routes appropriate to each stage of the work to
monitor progress and compliance
• Strong leadership skills in managing cross functional teams with the ability ability to engage, motivate and coach others. To act as a role model and inspire
and empower others.
• Ability to respond quickly to immediate needs with demonstrable resilience and ability to remain focused and positive in the face of uncertainty, to scrutinise
and to challenge.
• Experience of successful strategic risk management, planning, problem solving and the ability to manage multiple interdependencies.
Desired
One or more of the following project delivery qualifications:
• APM Practitioner
• Project Leadership Programme
• Management of Portfolios
• PRINCE2 Practitioner
• Managing Successful Programmes
• Management of Risk
• APM Chartered Project Professional
• Leading and managing a programme/large scale project
• Problem Solving and Decision Making (300 words max)
• Uses a range of data to present options and proposals on resourcing and capability.
• Makes recommendations on change initiatives entering onto the change pipeline.
• Resolves strategic issues involving organisational interdependencies.
• Balances risk, strategic impact and short and long-term needs when dealing with organisational issues.
• Identifies emerging risk trends and proposes mitigations.
• Risk and Issue Management:
• Overseeing the implementation and adherence to the Portfolio risk and issue management strategy ensuring that senior governance forums are keep abreast of
the most significant risks and issues facing the portfolio. This must fit into the wider strategy of MOJ’s risk and issue management.
• Reporting and insight:
• Ensuring that the monthly reporting process - is effectual, and the performance pack is continuously improved. Move the reporting forward so that the dynamic
reporting is more widely available and ensure that the measures within the reporting are reflective of the performance management strategy. Also responsible
for producing insight and analytical analysis of the data we are collating. This analysis should recommend interventions and tell senior leaders the real story
behind the reporting data.
• Briefing:
• Oversee the briefing function within the team ensuring that materials produced for ministers and judiciary are comprehensive and fit for purpose.
Management of Resources (250 words max)
• Role will manage a team of Portfolio analysts and promote collaborative working across the Portfolio office.
• Role will have responsibility for central PPM knowledge base resources which includes a range of knowledge articles and centrally held tools.
• The post holder is expected to work closely with strategy, HR and finance to understand and utilise the strategic workforce tracker to put proposals forward for
underspend.
• Using data from horizon scanning, the post holder will inform, and help shape the future profile of the resource pool.
Autonomy (250 words max)
• Role holder will operate within parameters provided by key objectives.
• Operates independently, seeking guidance only where possible solutions would go beyond current policy or levels of authority.
• Post holder will work within delegated levels of decision making and will be expected to effectively represent both the views of the Change Portfolio Office and
HMCTS at meetings.
Key Relationships and Contacts (300 words max)
• The role will interact daily with senior stakeholders in the governance forums, senior programme directors, project managers, other HMCTS contacts, as well as
external stakeholders.
• They will advocate, mediate and motivate on a wide range of business and linked organisational issues.
• The postholder will be expected to shape the organisational context and lead through influence and persuasion.
• They will be expected to Represent and promote HMCTS internally and externally and maintains key external relationships.
• Will be required to represent the Portfolio at key governance and assurance for example with MoJ.
• They influence resourcing decisions and allocations utilising capability data.