Head of Portfolio Planning

**Job summary**

**Are you a strategic and analytical thinker with experience managing a variety of projects and portfolios?**

**Have you managed budgets and reported on financial data for projects and programmes?**

This role sits within The Borders and Trade Delivery Group (B&T), who are responsible for the end to end service management and development of 140 separate services from the generation of Trade Statistics, to the administration of Customs and Exercise duties.

This is an exciting time to join B&T and make a lasting impact on how we support and develop the UK economy.

**Job description**

**Job Role**

As the Head of Portfolio Planning and Performance, you’ll be a key part of the senior leadership team with a chance to make a real impact. You’ll be responsible for shaping and overseeing a balanced portfolio of work that underpins delivery of the Borders and Trade IT Strategy.

You’ll play a pivotal role in developing a range of high-profile projects within our Borders and Trade division, who are responsible for the UK’s customs, excise, and import and export control systems. As part of the projects you’ll be budgeting, forecasting and managing financial information. You’ll be analysing data to ensure effective resource and cost plans meet the goals and provide measurable benefits.

This is an interesting and varied role with the opportunity to really express your creativity and have influence when it comes to shaping and setting direction for the team. You’ll be leading a diverse, capable and motivated team of experts within the financial field.

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Set direction for the team, and oversee a service offer recognised as providing value across CDIO B&T.
- Work with the senior leadership team and key stakeholders to build a balanced portfolio of work, driving prioritisation and shaping of the initiatives required to deliver the B&T IT strategy.
- Run a performance and planning regime that respects both traditional and agile delivery and achieves the right balance between oversight and governance.
- Drive high-quality management information to support performance management of these initiatives ensuring outcomes are met and benefits measurable.
- Work with the senior leadership team to track outcomes and benefits and build a compelling story of delivery to attract further investment.
- Establish good practice standards and approaches to underpin high-quality metrics.
- Provide a supportive assurance service, helping initiatives to proactively recognise and address challenges, and feeding portfolio insight.
- Establish visibility and insight on portfolio performance that illuminates the road ahead, giving a relied upon view of whether strategy and outcomes are on track.
- Build and lead a diverse, capable and motivated team of experts, and ensure the service offer of the function is providing value in line with stakeholder needs.
- Deliver continuous improvement across the directorate.

**Person specification**

**Essential Criteria**
- The ability to lead, motivate and develop, a diverse, capable and motivated team of specialists who can drive the high-quality delivery of portfolios and initiatives.
- Finance experience, in particular project and programme planning, costing and reporting.
- The ability to build effective relationships and working practices across other capabilities, including other central and support functions.
- The analytical capability to ‘connect the dots’, joining a comprehensive forward-looking picture of delivery performance and risk profile with other dimensions (e.g., financial, people, architectural, service) for insight.

**Desirable Criteria**
- Experience of working in a complex, large-scale project portfolio environment.

**Benefits**
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pensionwith an average employer contribution of 27%

**Salary**: From £64,693.00 per year

**Benefits**:

- Company pension

Work Location: In person