Portfolio Manager
John Lewis Partnership
Date: 9 hours ago
City: Bracknell, England
Contract type: Contractor
About The Role
The Portfolio Manager holds a central and influential role within the Transformation Office (TxO), ensuring the design, operation and continuous improvement of core portfolio capabilities across the Partnership. Working as one of two Portfolio Managers, this role is responsible for one or more of the following areas: - Portfolio Management - Governance, Assurance and Risk - Portfolio Reporting and Management Information (MI) Both Portfolio Managers are expected to work flexibly across these capabilities as needed and lead teams of analysts to deliver high-quality analysis, reporting and insight. Together, the Portfolio Managers ensure that our Change Portfolio is structured, governed, and managed in a way that enables effective decision-making, early intervention, and delivery confidence. The role plays a key part in ensuring the right initiatives are selected, prioritised, funded, governed and delivered in alignment with Partnership strategy. You will be instrumental in designing and leading the Annual Planning and Quarterly Review cycles, ensuring our strategic priorities are translated into a sequenced, deliverable plan that reflects both ambition and capacity. You will work across the enterprise to bring consistency to portfolio management practices, ensuring robust risk management, clear governance thresholds, and accurate and timely information flow. This includes managing cross-functional dependencies, embedding structured change control, and contributing to the development of the Portfolio roadmap. A critical part of this role is the ownership and stewardship of high-quality portfolio data. You will drive the adoption and optimisation of our tooling (currently Planview), ensuring it supports timely, insight-led decision-making and becomes a single source of truth across the enterprise. As Product Owner (or in close partnership with one), you will work with the Enterprise Agility team and Change Community to shape development backlogs and promote tool best practice. You will also be accountable for the accuracy and relevance of portfolio reporting and management information (MI), ensuring the insights provided support early intervention, informed challenge, and executive confidence. This includes leading data analysis, report design, visualisation, and root cause investigation to ensure trends and hotspots are identified and addressed. As a leader within the Transformation Office, you will work closely with PMO Brand Leads, Finance, Strategy, and other senior stakeholders to ensure that change across the Partnership is governed with discipline, delivered with transparency and measured by outcomes. The role demands a blend of strategic oversight and operational execution, with the ability to lead through influence, work effectively in ambiguous situations, and champion continuous improvement.
At a glance
Portfolio Management
We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.
We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.
As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.
We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.
As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.
Important points to note:
It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.
We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.
We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.
The Portfolio Manager holds a central and influential role within the Transformation Office (TxO), ensuring the design, operation and continuous improvement of core portfolio capabilities across the Partnership. Working as one of two Portfolio Managers, this role is responsible for one or more of the following areas: - Portfolio Management - Governance, Assurance and Risk - Portfolio Reporting and Management Information (MI) Both Portfolio Managers are expected to work flexibly across these capabilities as needed and lead teams of analysts to deliver high-quality analysis, reporting and insight. Together, the Portfolio Managers ensure that our Change Portfolio is structured, governed, and managed in a way that enables effective decision-making, early intervention, and delivery confidence. The role plays a key part in ensuring the right initiatives are selected, prioritised, funded, governed and delivered in alignment with Partnership strategy. You will be instrumental in designing and leading the Annual Planning and Quarterly Review cycles, ensuring our strategic priorities are translated into a sequenced, deliverable plan that reflects both ambition and capacity. You will work across the enterprise to bring consistency to portfolio management practices, ensuring robust risk management, clear governance thresholds, and accurate and timely information flow. This includes managing cross-functional dependencies, embedding structured change control, and contributing to the development of the Portfolio roadmap. A critical part of this role is the ownership and stewardship of high-quality portfolio data. You will drive the adoption and optimisation of our tooling (currently Planview), ensuring it supports timely, insight-led decision-making and becomes a single source of truth across the enterprise. As Product Owner (or in close partnership with one), you will work with the Enterprise Agility team and Change Community to shape development backlogs and promote tool best practice. You will also be accountable for the accuracy and relevance of portfolio reporting and management information (MI), ensuring the insights provided support early intervention, informed challenge, and executive confidence. This includes leading data analysis, report design, visualisation, and root cause investigation to ensure trends and hotspots are identified and addressed. As a leader within the Transformation Office, you will work closely with PMO Brand Leads, Finance, Strategy, and other senior stakeholders to ensure that change across the Partnership is governed with discipline, delivered with transparency and measured by outcomes. The role demands a blend of strategic oversight and operational execution, with the ability to lead through influence, work effectively in ambiguous situations, and champion continuous improvement.
At a glance
- Hybrid Working - This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home and the London or Bracknell Head Offices. There will however, also be an expectation to visit other locations as required, such as branch locations
- Expected Salary - The salary range for this role is set at £59,300 - £75,000 (depending upon experience)
- Contract type - This position is a permanent position.
Portfolio Management
- Lead the enterprise-wide Transformation Annual Planning and Quarterly Review processes.
- Maintain a single integrated portfolio plan across business lines, capability areas, and delivery approaches (agile, waterfall, hybrid).
- Coordinate inputs from Strategy, Finance, and Brand PMOs to ensure a deliverable, prioritised portfolio aligned to strategic objectives.
- Track delivery confidence, resolve cross-portfolio dependencies and provide forward-looking delivery forecasts.
- Manage portfolio change control, ensuring structured impact assessments and traceable approvals.
- Maintain an authoritative version of the Portfolio plan and delivery data, with a single source of truth.
- Operate within agreed governance thresholds and decision rights, triggering required actions when thresholds are breached.
- Support the planning and execution of governance forums, working with Secretariat and Finance to manage the schedule, inputs, and outputs.
- Lead or support assurance activities including health checks, audits, second-line reviews, and maturity assessments.
- Own the Portfolio-level risk and issue log, surfacing early warnings and tracking mitigation progress.
- Collaborate with senior leaders to define and manage the Principal Change Delivery Risk and associated assurance plans.
- Lead the reporting lifecycle across monthly, quarterly, and annual cadences, aligning with performance and governance requirements.
- Deliver consistent, insightful reporting on delivery confidence, value, risks, and trends.
- Design and manage portfolio dashboards and visualisations that support decision-making and self-serve reporting.
- Work closely with our analysts to translate large and complex data into concise, actionable narratives.
- Act as Product Owner for Planview or support its operation, ensuring it meets business needs, supports reporting, and enables best practice.
- Significant experience in portfolio or enterprise PMO leadership roles in large, complex organisations.
- Proven track record in operating across governance, assurance, risk, portfolio planning and MI.
- Experience in both Agile and Waterfall environments.
- Strong user or owner of PPM tools such as Planview, with confidence in dashboard design and portfolio reporting.
- Strong interpersonal skills, able to influence and lead across a matrixed environment.
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams and coach others to higher performance
- Evidencing ability to think critically and strategically, and work at a strategic level as well as at a detailed level.
- PMO and/or Portfolio qualifications, e.g. P3O, AIPMO, MSP, MoP
- Understanding of Planview capability & roadmap (as Product Owner)
- PowerBI or Tableau
- Familiarity with Value Stream management and OKRs.
- Experience working in federated or hub-and-spoke PMO models.
- The application form consists of a CV upload, followed by application questions. Please visit - https://www.jlpjobs.com/how-to-apply/journey/ to understand more about application and hiring process.
- Internal applicants please copy paste this link on to the browser for job outline - Job Outline - Portfolio Manager.pdf
- Once you've submitted an application the next steps of the process, if successful, will include a formal interview.
- You'll be asked about any adjustments you might need to support the recruitment process. Let us know, and we'll be sure to discuss it with you.
We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.
We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.
As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.
We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.
As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.
Important points to note:
It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.
We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.
We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.
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