Director, Project Portfolio Governance Lead

Responsibilities Portfolio Governance & Oversight • Lead governance of the bank’s strategic transformation portfolio, providing Executive Management and governance committees with a clear, objective and forward-looking view of portfolio performance. • Establish and maintain the portfolio governance framework covering initiation, prioritisation, funding, mobilisation, execution, stage gates, change control and closure. • Ensure initiatives have clear outcomes, accountable executives, sponsors, governance, credible plans, resources and success measures; provide constructive challenge where these are insufficient. • Ensure governance forums are decision- and action-oriented, with clear escalation, ownership and resolution of material issues. Portfolio Management & Prioritisation • Maintain an integrated view across strategic, regulatory, technology, operational and business change and support senior management in prioritising investment and organisational capacity. • Identify competing priorities, resource contention, interdependencies and concentration risks; recommend sequencing, acceleration, remediation, pause or termination where appropriate. Delivery Standards & Assurance • Define practical, risk-based minimum standards for business cases, mobilisation, integrated planning, RAID, financials, resources, dependencies, scope/change, vendors, benefits, implementation readiness and closure. • Establish a consistent project health methodology and conduct or commission targeted health reviews of strategically important or challenged programmes. • Identify initiatives requiring management intervention and lead or support recovery and stabilisation of critical programmes. Executive Reporting & Management Information • Own executive portfolio reporting covering delivery confidence, milestones, financial performance, risks, dependencies, resources, benefits and decisions required. • Develop forward-looking indicators that expose emerging delivery risk before milestones are missed; ensure reporting provides insight and recommendations rather than aggregated status. Financial, Investment & Benefits Governance • Ensure credible investment forecasts, expenditure controls and benefit assumptions; challenge material variances and forecast accuracy with Finance and programme leadership. • Strengthen accountability for measurable business outcomes and benefits, including post-implementation tracking and transparency where expected outcomes are not realised. Risk, Controls & Regulatory Alignment • Ensure transformation activity operates within the bank’s risk and control frameworks and that material programme risks are appropriately identified, governed and evidenced. • Partner with Risk, Compliance, Finance, Technology, Operations and Internal Audit; support regulatory and audit reviews relating to transformation execution and governance. Resource & Capacity Management • Establish portfolio-level visibility of programme and project resource demand, capacity constraints and critical capability gaps. • Work with business and functional leadership to resolve resource conflicts and ensure priority initiatives are appropriately staffed. Leadership & Capability Development • Lead and develop Programme Management, Project Management and Business Analysis capability, with clear role definitions, competency expectations and career pathways. • Coach senior delivery leaders in executive communication, planning, risk management, stakeholder management and recovery of challenged programmes. • Build a culture of ownership, transparency, constructive challenge, early escalation, delivery discipline and continuous improvement. Requirements • Approximately 15+ years’ experience in banking, financial services, consulting or large-scale transformation environments, including significant senior leadership of complex programmes and portfolios. • Strong understanding of banking technology, operations, transformation and regulated delivery environments. • Experience establishing or leading an enterprise Transformation Office, Strategic Change Office, EPMO or equivalent. • Demonstrated experience with complex multi-year, multi-business and multi-jurisdiction programmes, including financial management, delivery assurance and portfolio governance. • Credibility presenting to Executive Committees and senior governance forums and the ability to challenge senior stakeholders constructively. • Demonstrated experience identifying and recovering challenged programmes and building capability across Programme Managers, Project Managers and Business Analysts. • Formal qualifications such as MSP, PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent are advantageous; demonstrated delivery leadership is more important.