King's College London

About us:

The Portfolio Manager role sits within the Transformation Management Office (TMO) and reports to the Head of Transformation Portfolio.

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, enabling effective delivery of the University’s strategic priorities.

The TMO supports the delivery process including governance, tracking and monitoring, prioritisation, resource allocation, communication and quality controls.

The Portfolio Manager is part of a team working within the Transformation Management Office, supporting the Head of Transformation Portfolio and managing TMO Project Support Officers working across all programmes and projects that are part of the transformation portfolio.

About the role:

The Portfolio Manager is a critical role in establishing the Transforming Student Services Programme (TSSP) as well as being a key role within the maturing portfolio team within the Transformation Office.

The Portfolio Manager will support the Programme Director(s) in establishing the governance and reporting functions for TSSP and Student Futures Phase 3 and will provide a critical connection between these two dependent programmes of work.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a contract until July 2028.The post is offered at Grade 7, with the exact spine point confirmed at offer stage only.

This post could be offered as a secondment opportunity.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Education to degree standard and/or equivalent qualifications/experience
2. Minimum 3 years' experience as a Portfolio or PMO expert or practical experience as a programme manager in a complex, multi-disciplinary environment
3. Strong strategic and analytical skills, with the ability to synthesise and interpret information and communicate effectively to a variety of audiences.
4. An ability to build, sustain and develop relationships at all levels, internally and externally, using persuasion and influence to achieve agreed objectives
5. Significant experience of managing, engaging and motivating teams, with an ability to liaise effectively with colleagues from different professional backgrounds
6. Experience of setting quality Standards for either Portfolio / Programme or Project Delivery
7. A recognised portfolio / programme / project management qualification e.g. Prince2, MSP, Agile

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge, understanding and experience of working in the UK Higher Education sector

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information:

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university. The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination. When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.