Head of Portfolio Delivery Assurance

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £56,021 to £64,914 with potential progression once in post to £84,644

Closes: 20th May 2024 at 23:59

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a leader to be involved in some of the key Digital initiatives that will transform our staff and student experience and contribute to the delivery of our university strategy.

The Head of Portfolio Delivery Assurance is part of the IT Leadership team and is the leader of the Portfolio, Project and Demand Management, the Scrum Master function, and the Finance function within IT Services. 

IT Services is one of the largest administrative budget centres, employing over 200 people and with an investment of over £90m in digital strategy over a 5-year period. The service brings together professional and non-professional staff from a variety of specialist backgrounds, and has a very wide remit covering infrastructure, student systems, research support, and corporate business administrative systems.

All new initiatives in IT Services are managed within the Portfolio framework and at any one time there can be more than 100 change initiatives in progress, delivering new university services or significant upgrades to live services. 

These initiatives deliver new services to meet objectives in the University’s strategic plans and Digital Strategy. This translates to a substantial financial and staff investment and represents a significant opportunity and risk to our university. 

The Portfolio Delivery Assurance function is crucial in managing this portfolio of change and acting as a central service for IT Services, providing professional expertise and comprehensive advice to colleagues across IT Services, advising the IT Senior Management Team and Portfolio Investment and Delivery Groups on key issues impacting on the progress of these initiatives. This role is also accountable for providing appropriate assurance and rigour around finances and delivery of the portfolio.

Person specification

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent level qualifications), or extensive experience of working in a complex organisation plussubstantial relevant managerial experience.
• Good broad knowledge and significant experience of managing a large and complex service in at least 1 key area of IT services (e.g. data centres, applications development/rollout, infrastructure change).
• Significant experience managing project teams and considerable project management experience with a successful track record in programme and project management.
• Experience of developing and implementing strategies for significant services, in line with high level organisational strategic objectives; including an understanding of working and communicating at a strategic level.
• Significant experience of leading change, with the ability to lead change effectively across a complex service.  

Informal enquiries to Gaynor Collins-Punter, email: g.l.collins-punter@bham.ac.uk

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the above ‘Apply’ button.

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We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.

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