Portfolio Manager

Job responsibilities

Transformation Leadership & Change Culture

• Drive a culture of transformation across the organisation, modelling the behaviours and mindsets required for significant change
• Build capability and confidence in programme and project teams, coaching SROs and Programme Managers to lead their areas effectively
• Be responsible for managing the transformation team allocating priorities for objectives and work roles for programme managers and project leads and monitoring performance and resource capacity
• Challenge thinking constructively, asking difficult questions that test assumptions and ensure rigorous planning
• Create energy and momentum for change, helping teams navigate setbacks and maintain focus on strategic objectives
• Identify and resolve systemic barriers to progress, escalating where necessary and proposing solutions
• Responsible for management of information, the project management software implementation, monitoring and generating reports on performance and progress, developing analysing and presenting their reports at Board level
• Responsible for expenditure and monitoring on the new transformation department , transformation budget. This post will make recommendations to the Transformation Board for expenditure against a £500k Transformation budget allocated by the Livewell Board and be responsible for resource allocation and compliance with company policies on procurement within the scheme of delegation.

Portfolio Leadership & Governance

• Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of portfolio-level governance, ensuring clear decision-making and escalation routes
• Establish and maintain a report out structure quality improvement room monitoring and analysing key data
• Maintain the integrated Transformation Portfolio plan, ensuring alignment across all programmes and priority projects and consistency of approach
• Oversee and coordinate the Transformation Board reporting cycle, ensuring high-quality, timely assurance for the Director of Transformation, Chief Executive and the Board
• Establish and embed portfolio-wide tools, templates, and standards (e.g., RAID logs, programme briefs, benefit maps, project pipelines)
• Identify and escalate issues to the Director of Transformation that require Executive level solution

Strategic Alignment

• Ensure all programmes and projects map to strategic objectives, workforce strategies, digital roadmaps, estates strategies, and financial sustainability plans
• Support SROs to define programme scope, outcomes, risks, and benefits
• Work with the Head of Strategy to ensure alignment with ICS/ICB ambitions, national priorities, and policy developments
• Work with the Head of Transformation to ensure project management office and Quality improvement resources are prioritised appropriately

Programme Support & Challenge

• Act as a critical friend to Programme Managers and SROs, providing challenge, guidance, and support to strengthen their plans and build their confidence
• Ensure programmes have robust project plans, realistic delivery schedules, and clear phasing
• Identify delivery risks early and ensure appropriate mitigation and escalation
• To analyse and interpret sensitive and highly complex information and figures and take appropriate action and provide appropriate advice that fits with the strategic aims and ensure achievement of performance targets
• To be able to direct others to complete relevant analysis to support decision making
• To be able to understand and communicate complex information and facilitate others understanding of it

Benefits Realisation

• Lead the development and implementation of a portfolio-wide benefits framework
• Work with Finance Business Partners to quantify financial and non-financial benefits
• Track benefit delivery (e.g., £ savings, workforce efficiencies, estate reductions, quality improvements) and provide assurance to the Transformation Board
• Support SROs to make evidence-based decisions on prioritisation and sequencing

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

• Work with Communications Team to ensure staff engagement, clarity of message, and consistent narrative
• Build strong and credible relationships with SROs, senior clinicians, operational leads, and corporate services
• Act as the primary coordination point between finance, digital, HR/OD, BI, quality safety and estates
• Facilitate cross-organisational collaboration to avoid siloed decision-making

Risk, Assurance & Performance

• Maintain portfolio-level risk registers and ensure programme-level risks are actively managed
• Provide independent assurance on deliverability, risk exposure, and readiness
• Lead portfolio performance reviews and ensure transparent reporting to Executives and the Board

Culture & Change Leadership

• Help build a culture of shared ownership, psychological safety, and collective endeavour across SROs and Programme Managers
• Model behaviours expected in complex change environments collaboration, evidence-led decision-making and openness
• Support capability-building across the organisation in programme and project delivery

Communication and Relationships

• To foster effective and supportive relationships with operational teams and external stakeholder to enable delivery of agreed outcomes
• To develop strong and supportive working relationships with operational and corporate teams
• To be able to work with multi-disciplinary teams from across Livewell Southwest (LSW) to deliver agreed outcomes
• To be comfortable participating in Executive led Steering Groups and liaising with Executives and Board members as necessary to deliver objectives
• To develop and lead implementation of large-scale improvement/change projects
• To be credible and foster effective and supportive relationships with senior leaders to enable delivery of agreed outcomes and compliance with new standards and ways of working
• To be able to promote, negotiate and facilitate change and, at times, resolve conflict with senior colleagues
• To be able to work with and empower multi-disciplinary teams from across LSW to deliver agreed outcomes
• To be able to work with a high level of complexity and support translation of this into coherent plans that can be used to motivate and enthuse individuals and clinical teams
• To deal with conflict and remain calm to resolve difficult issues

The post holders key relationships will be with:

• Director of Transformation
• Head of Strategy
• Head of Transformation
• SROs for each of the five transformation programmes
• Programme Managers, Project Managers, Operational Leads, Clinical Leads
• Corporate teams: Finance, HR/OD, Digital, BI, Quality and Safety, Estates, PMO
• System partners: ICB transformation leads, local authority, UHP

Communication and Relationship Skills

Essential

• Required to communicate, establish and maintain relationships.
• Motivate, negotiate, persuade, make presentations, train others, empathise, communicate unpleasant news sensitively and provide counselling and reassurance. Barriers and difficulties in exercising these skills.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to build consensus and support matrix delivery teams.
• To facilitate good working relationships with other colleagues across
• LSW and the wider health and social care community.
• Manage and navigate through ambiguity.
• To demonstrate flexible communication, as appropriate, to audience including with commissioners, clinical and non - clinical stakeholders and networking skills across departments.
• To be able to communicate effectively complex information to others.
• To be able to manage conflict.
• To be personable and credible.

Desirable

• Must be able to make decisions under pressure.

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Must be able to concentrate at a VDU for long periods.
• Ability to concentrate on reports and paperwork and manage unexpected interruptions.

Knowledge

Essential

• Programme management knowledge including cost, quality and risk management.
• Knowledge of improvement methodologies.
• To understand health and social care services to set own work in context.
• Experience setting up governance structures and portfolio management tools.

Desirable

• Experience of using improvement methodologies to deliver results.
• Knowledge of lean improvement.
• Experience of building transformation functions or PMO capability from limited maturity.

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience leading portfolio, programme, or complex multi-stream transformation within NHS, public sector, or similar scale organisation.
• Strong track record of benefits realisation, including financial improvement and workforce/efficiency projects.
• Experience of working with Executives, including providing constructive challenge and assurance.
• Ability to use email and internet.
• Ability to use advanced levels of Microsoft applications.
• To produce and give presentations to audiences of varying size, type and seniority.
• Advanced keyboard skills.
• Experience of developing option appraisals.
• Experience of analysing a range of financial data and making recommendations in regard to improving financial position.

Desirable

• Experience of using improvement methodologies to deliver results.
• Experience of delivering complex projects within a health and social care community or mental health provider.
• Experience working in an environment with significant cost improvement requirements.

Qualifications

Essential

• Project management qualifications or equivalent experience.
• Educated to degree or masters level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in an area relevant to this role.

Desirable

• Formal qualifications e.g. MoP, MSP, PRINCE2, Lean, APM PMQ.

Specific Skills

Essential

• Leadership & Influence:
• Demonstrated ability to lead change without direct authority, building relationships and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Track record of developing capability in others and building high-performing teams.
• Ability to challenge constructively and have difficult conversations that drive better outcomes.

Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• Demonstrates behaviours and attitudes that supports LSW.
• Able to demonstrate appropriate behaviours and attitudes that contribute to an organisational culture where people/patients are at the heart of everything we do.
• Ability to work autonomously and be a self-starter.
• Be a team player.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).