Job Specifications
Head of Portfolio – Transformation & Delivery - 12 Month FTC
A leading, customer-centric financial services organisation is strengthening its Transformation capability and is seeking to appoint a Head of Portfolio to lead a strategically critical change agenda.
This role will sit within a central Transformation function and partner closely with senior leaders across Data, Pricing, Underwriting and Growth Markets, acting as both a strategic delivery lead and a trusted business partner. The successful candidate will own a broad portfolio of programmes and initiatives, ensuring they are mobilised effectively, governed robustly and aligned to wider business priorities.
The role
You will be responsible for shaping and leading a complex portfolio of change, spanning areas such as data science enablement, pricing and underwriting transformation, digital and analytics platforms, and growth initiatives across international markets.
This includes supporting expansion into new regions, integrating new suppliers and partners, and enabling new operational models across a matrix organisation.
Acting as the bridge between strategy and execution, you will work with senior leaders to prioritise initiatives, resolve delivery bottlenecks, and ensure that investment is focused on the outcomes that matter most. A core part of the role is building strong governance, coaching delivery leaders, and bringing structure and pace to a fast-moving change environment.
Key responsibilities
Lead and own a portfolio of complex programmes across data, pricing, underwriting and growth markets.
Partner with senior leaders as a strategic advisor, shaping priorities and translating strategy into executable change.
Provide strong governance across the portfolio, ensuring clarity of ownership, dependencies, risks and outcomes.
Identify and resolve delivery constraints, removing blockers and accelerating progress where required.
Coach and support programme and project leaders, raising delivery standards and maturity across the function.
Oversee the mobilisation of new initiatives, ensuring the right structure, resourcing and cadence from day one.
Ensure change activity aligns with regulatory, risk and operational expectations in a regulated environment.
About you
You will be an experienced portfolio or transformation leader with a strong background delivering complex change in regulated, matrixed organisations. You are equally comfortable shaping strategy with senior leaders and driving execution through delivery teams.
You are likely to bring:
A proven track record leading large portfolios of change, including data solutions and data-led transformation programmes such as enterprise data platforms, analytics, data science enablement or insight-driven commercial initiatives.
Experience operating effectively in complex, matrix environments, where success depends on influencing across multiple business leaders rather than relying on direct authority.
Strong C-suite engagement capability, with experience partnering directly with executive teams to shape priorities, resolve trade-offs and drive delivery at pace.
The ability to translate data strategy into executable change, ensuring platforms, tools and insight are embedded in day-to-day decision-making across areas such as pricing, underwriting and growth.
Deep expertise in governance, portfolio management and delivery leadership, with the credibility to bring structure to complex change estates while also diving into critical delivery detail when needed.
A collaborative, pragmatic leadership style, able to coach delivery leaders and challenge senior stakeholders constructively to achieve outcomes.
Why this role
This is a high-impact position in a business undergoing significant transformation. You will play a central role in shaping how strategic change is delivered, helping to build a more joined-up, disciplined and outcome-focused portfolio across some of the organisation’s most critical growth and performance agendas.
About the Company
We Create Exceptional Customer Experiences.
We help organisations, across multiple industry sectors, in the UK and North America to innovate, transform and grow by matching them with specialist talent.
Since launching in 2010, we have developed a customer-focused proposition that has laid the foundations for consistent success. We have established offices in London, Reading and Chicago and won multiple awards for our customer and employee offering.
In the UK, we deliver permanent and interim Recruitment Solutions, Consul...
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