Head of Planning and Portfolio Management

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 296732**Salary**:

- £58,946- A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%**Job grade**:

- Grade 6**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- Commercial**Type of role**:

- Finance
- Project Delivery**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Birmingham, Darlington, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, WolverhamptonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), we are at the forefront of supporting people, places and communities. We deliver a fairer housing market, level up and revive the fortunes of overlooked parts of the country, and bind the four parts of our United Kingdom closer together. Our work makes a real difference to people’s lives.

Right now, the Central Portfolio Office is seeking an experienced business planning or portfolio management professional to join its senior leadership team to improve how we plan and govern our work across the department through a maturing portfolio management structure. After a period of significant change and growth, your challenge is to embed an integrated cycle of planning, oversight and controls into the department’s annual programme of work, as part of a wider programme of delivery improvement.

You’ll be leading a small, talented team, working alongside the Heads of Reporting, Assurance, Capability and Delivery in the CPO, and more widely with Strategy, Finance, HR, Change, Risk and PMO teams, as well as the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, and the sponsors of our Arms Length Bodies. You will be responsible for a varied portfolio and we expect you to set the direction and shape of work that will take us forward.

You will find a wealth of formal and informal learning opportunities to help develop your skills. You will also be welcomed wholeheartedly by the happy, friendly DLUHC team, with a wide range of networks open to all staff, in an organisation that genuinely cares about your wellbeing, learning and development. We are actively seeking to recruit beyond London, including into our second HQ in Wolverhampton and recently opened Darlington Economic Campus, and have embraced hybrid working so that, wherever you are based, you will have the chance to split your time between home and the office.

**Job description**:
Leading DLUHC’s **annual cycle of business planning**, including but not limited to:

- Developing a three to five year horizon for planning and prioritisation, where agreed outcome strategies and metrics translate into deliverable plans of work for the department, our Arms Length Bodies and key delivery partners;
- Preparing a detailed business plan for each financial year, working in collaboration with finance and HR colleagues to integrate financial and people resources into our annual One DLUHC Plan;
- Introducing an annual cycle of stocktakes to review and refresh the business plan throughout the year, alongside wider plans for the development of pipeline management, assurance and reporting in the CPO.
- Leading a
- **continuous improvement programme** for departmental planning, portfolio management and governance, in line with our Delivery Improvement Plan, for example:
- Establishing a collaborative process to drive portfolio maturity, in conjunction with the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, senior leaders and portfolio management offices;
- Introducing and embedding new tools and processes in conjunction with CPO and wider departmental colleagues;
- Taking the lead in responding to and managing external changes or improvements e.g. those requested by Cabinet Office, HM Treasury etc;
- Developing a capability strategy for planning and portfolio management, working in conjunction with the new Head of Delivery Capability, PC&C (HR) and local PMOs;
- Working closely with the Change team on organisational design to strengthen our policies, procedures and structures in line with our portfolio management hierarchy.
- Leading the department’s
- **processes for governance and control**, including but not limited to:
- Integrating the annual cycle for governance assurance and the framework for portfolio management into day to day improvements and oversight;
- Ensuring that the department has strong, mutually beneficial relationships with all of its Arms Length Bodies, providing a balance of support, engagement and oversight;
- Maintaining the Accounting Officer Systems Statement, ensuring that the department’s overarching governance is fit for purpose and adhered to;
- Working closely with Strategy and the Permanent Secretary’s office to integrate agreed changes to our governance into the longer term structures and processes for the team.
- Taking a
- **joint leadership role** for the CPO with the Heads of Reporting, Assurance, Capability and Delivery Function, incl