Transformation Office Lead

**At a glance**

This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home and the London/Bracknell Head Office. However, there will also be an expectation to visit other locations as the need arises.

The salary range for this role is set at £ £68,500 - £128,000

**Contract type**

This position is a Permanent role

**About the Role**

The successful delivery of the Partnership strategy is critical to the continued success of the Partnership. At the heart of the Partnership Plan is the Transformation Team, responsible for the creation and successful delivery of a £500m+ annual portfolio plan as part of our multi-year journey. As we move into the next phase of our transformation, we have an opportunity for an experienced Transformation Office Lead to join our team.

The Partnership operating model is built around a “hub and spoke” model, with transformation teams in each of our lines of business (John Lewis, Waitrose, Financial Service, Pan-Partnership) connected to an efficient and effective enterprise hub. The Transformation Office (the enterprise “hub”) is responsible for the planning, governance, performance management and reporting of the Partnership’s £500m+ Change Portfolio, setting standards and owning the underpinning delivery framework and tools. With visibility of change across the Partnership, the Transformation Office will use data and analytics to provide a clear view of the momentum of the portfolio, and insight to recommend interventions, inform decision making, mitigate delivery risks and continuously improve our delivery engine.

You will have a high level of autonomy and it will be critical for you to constructively challenge, agitate, keep momentum, and have a relentless approach to high standards, acting quickly and decisively, and driving an empowered and empowering culture. You will lead a number of specialisms covering Portfolio Management; Portfolio Reporting & Management Information (MI); Governance, Assurance & Risk; and Change Lifecycle Management as well as working closely with the PMO Brand Leads to ensure a close working relationship between the Transformation Office and each line of business within the Partnership.

You will need to have a good personal understanding of the overall portfolio and the key risks, issues and dependencies that could impact our ability to deliver the Partnership’s transformation.

Working closely with the Transformation Director, the Heads of Brand Transformation, the Head of TxO and Change Profession, and other senior leaders across the Partnership, you will be responsible for the steering of the Portfolio, ensuring alignment with, and progress towards, the delivery of financial benefits and strategic outcomes. Key to this will be the provision of accurate and insightful management information on the performance of the Portfolio to the Delivery Working Forum, Executive Team and Partnership Board, and more widely to Partnership Council and Partners in general.

You will provide leadership to your team and to the Transformation squads to lead the creation of the Partnership annual portfolio plan, working with them to review performance and reset plans on a quarterly basis. You will ensure we have a clear and efficient underpinning change delivery framework and portfolio management infrastructure, with flexibility to accommodate different delivery approaches, within our overall governance framework.

You will also be responsible for overseeing the TxO and Change Profession budget and internal resource management team (providing resourcing solutions across Programme and Project Management, Strategic Change Management and PMO.

**Essential **skills you’ll need**
- Experience in managing large, complex transformation portfolios of c£500m annual investment, evidencing strong critical thinking.
- Experience in developing and leading enterprise PMOs, with hands-on experience of the key elements of the enterprise PMO
- Working with board-level stakeholders to build constructive, trusted relationships
- Demonstrating exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, to influence and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels of an organisation
- A results-driven approach to work, with proven personal initiative and an ability to work proactively and with a strong sense of urgency
- Creation and management of enterprise level plans, including sequencing and dependency management
- Leading annual change planning processes and activities
- Leading and managing a team of multi-disciplined change specialists
- Use of portfolio management tools, and a clear sense of what good looks like in their use at scale

**Desirable skills you may have**
- Enterprise level PMO or Portfolio Management qualification(s), e.g. P3O, MoP, AIPMO, MSP
- Excellent understanding of different delivery methods including programmes, projects and product-based delivery and the implications / approaches to managing thi