Portfolio Specialist

At National Grid, our commitment to a cleaner, greener energy future is powered by the dedication and ingenuity of our people. Join our team as a Portfolio Specialist and be a part of something bigger—where your unique skills and passions can make a real difference. Together, we are superpowered. 

National Grid is hiring a Portfolio Specialist on a permanent basis. The location for this role can be based in Plymouth, Bristol, Warwick or possibly other UK Wide locations - We offer a hybrid working model.

Reporting to the Portfolio Lead, you'll lead on NGED IT&D portfolio financial operations (FinOps) practices and governance to optimise and track budget and expenditure, resource capacity management, Portfolio RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies), regulatory and audit compliance as well as vendor management to enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the NGED IT&D function.

You'll be responsible for leading the NGED IT&D portfolio community by driving a positive culture (primarily through role modelling) across the technology department and wider NGED business, as a person who advocates for a culture of agility, encouraging all to embrace Agile values and practices. You'll be expected to be a subject matter expert in their respective discipline, fostering collaboration, continuous improvement, and adaptability.

• Play a pivotal role to support effective Portfolio Management of the NGED IT&D portfolio using agile methodologies, ensuring delivery alignment with business objectives and strategic goals.
• Provide specialist assurance into the digital transformation initiatives, providing guidance and expertise to Portfolio Leads and other NGED IT&D teams for successful implementation.
• Lead on the implementation and management of financial operations practices by offering specialised assistance to optimise and monitor budget allocation and expenditures, while ensuring financial governance and accountability.
• Own resource allocation within the NGED IT&D portfolio by defining processes for tracking gaps and ensuring optimal utilisation of available resources.
• Assume responsibility for managing NGED IT&D Portfolio Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies. This involves the proactive identification and implementation of controls to support the mitigation of potential challenges to ensure smooth project execution.
• Monitor the NGED IT&D portfolio, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, audits, and standards, by implementing and tracking against key controls ensuring adherence to established policies.
• Support the Portfolio Lead to maintain a high level of accountability and integrity within the portfolio management process.
• Cultivate and sustain robust relationships with vendors and procurement teams. This involves facilitating effective contract negotiations through engagement with procurement, monitoring and tracking the portfolio license calendar, and resolving any issues that may arise.
• Lead on reporting that tracks the NGED IT&D portfolio through delivery, resource and budget progress and performance, offering regular insights to key stakeholders and team leads.
• Develop and embed Agile tooling best practices and instil this discipline within teams for enhanced efficiency, effectiveness and performance analytics.
• Foster a collaborative and self-organising team culture, encouraging team members to take ownership of their work.
• Take ownership of own personal development and career progression.
• Champion the Agile frameworks (Scrum and Kanban) within the team, ensure that Agile principles are practiced by peers and understood by stakeholders.
• Undertake other duties from time to time as required by the Head of Portfolio.
  
  

• Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to define a clear product vision and roadmap.
• Passion for creating outstanding user experiences and a deep understanding of user needs.
• Familiarity with digital technologies, Agile methodologies, and project management tools.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with good interpersonal skills to effectively convey ideas and updates to diverse stakeholders.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams (coaching, training, facilitating and collaborating).
• Exceptional problem-solving and decision-making abilities, with a focus on data-driven solutions.
• Ability to thrive in a rapidly changing environment and adapt to new challenges, shifting priorities, demands and timelines and quickly update stakeholders on impact (potential or actual).
• Ability to communicate technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences, clearly and concisely.
• Strong commercial awareness and prioritisation skills.

A competitive salary between £55,000 - £65,000  dependent on capability

As well as your base salary, you will receive a bonus based on personal and company performance and a competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum company contribution of 12%. You will also have access to a number of flexible benefits such as a share incentive plan, salary sacrifice car and technology schemes, support via employee assistance lines and matched charity giving to name a few.

The closing date for this vacancy is 28h November. However, we encourage candidates to submit their applications as early as possible and not to wait until the published closing date. National Grid's recruitment periods can and may vary. We reserve the right to remove this advert or close it to further applications at any point during the recruitment process. 

DE & I statement 

At National Grid, we work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the difference people can bring into our organisation, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office.
Our goal is to drive, develop and operate our business in a way that results in a more inclusive culture. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, the innovation from diverse teams & perspectives and business need. We are committed to building a workforce so we can represent the communities we serve and have a working environment in which each individual feels valued, respected, fairly treated, and able to reach their full potential.

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