Head of Transformation Portfolio

About us:

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas:

• Educating the next generation of change-makers
• Challenging ideas and driving change through research
• Giving back to society through meaningful service
• Working with our local communities in London
• Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

The Head of Transformation Portfolio role sits within the Transformation Office Directorate. The Transformation Office supports the senior leadership of the university in effective strategy execution, delivering a complex set of transformation initiatives and driving sustainable improvements to our core business.

About the role:

Location: Hybrid – 3 days on campus (typically Mon, Tues + 1)

Contract: Full-time (35 hrs/week), Indefinite

The Head of Transformation Portfolio is responsible for overseeing and managing assigned portfolios to ensure they align with the organisation’s strategic objectives. This includes establishing and guiding the processes for selecting, prioritising, balancing, and, when necessary, terminating portfolio components. The role involves supporting decision-makers in reviewing and optimising the portfolio to maximise value and effectiveness.

A key part of the role is maintaining timely and consistent communication with stakeholders, providing updates on progress, impacts, and any changes related to portfolio management. Additionally, the Head of Transformation Portfolio takes part in programme and project reviews to ensure that delivery is on track in terms of scope, timeline, and budget.

The Head of Transformation Portfolio holds a broad range of responsibilities aimed at ensuring effective portfolio management and alignment with strategic goals. This includes maintaining up-to-date portfolio and roadmap information, assuring that all projects within the portfolio align with King’s overarching objectives, and providing key information to governance groups to support prioritisation decisions. A critical aspect of the role is leading financial reviews, comparing estimates to actuals at various project stages, and overseeing resource planning and capacity management to ensure delivery remains within the organisation’s capabilities.

The role includes line management of the portfolio team, providing coaching and guidance, and fostering strong, supportive relationships across the organisation. Stakeholder engagement is essential, particularly in securing the realisation of project benefits. The Head chairs governance meetings, coordinates portfolio reporting, and ensures effective oversight of dependencies across projects and programmes. They are also responsible for resolving or escalating conflicts, ensuring adherence to project lifecycle governance, and capturing and sharing lessons learned to inform future initiatives.

About you:

Essential criteria

• Education to degree standard and/or equivalent qualifications/experience
• Proven experience of portfolio delivery including providing portfolio assurance and governance
• Proven experience of translating business analysis, requirements definition and business case production into practical implementation
• Portfolio Management qualifications/experience
• Proven experience of project delivery
• Good leadership skills and the ability to influence, motivate and inspire others
• Experience of leading and managing teams
• Ability to adapt to a changing workload, work under pressure and meet tight deadlines

Desirable criteria

• PRINCE2 Foundation or equivalent qualifications/experience
• Agile Scrum Master and/or equivalent qualifications/experience

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