Senior Portfolio & Performance Manager

Location

Cardiff, Glasgow or London

About The Job

Job summary

Ofgem’s mission is to protect energy consumers and deliver Net Zero and we are looking for a Senior Portfolio & Performance Manager to play a vital role in driving the strategic oversight and assurance of our diverse portfolio of programmes and projects. We need a passionate leader to join our Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (ePMO) and establish and maintain robust assurance processes that ensure alignment with our strategic priorities and deliver meaningful outcomes.

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. We’re at the forefront of change across the energy sector, driving towards Net Zero whilst protecting energy consumers - especially vulnerable people.

We’re offering a permanent role with the opportunity to directly influence the delivery of our Forward Work Plan and Multi-Year Strategy. This role combines strategic leadership, portfolio assurance and stakeholder engagement to help shape the future of energy regulation in the UK. You’ll contribute to high-impact programmes that enable investment in low-carbon infrastructure, promote data-driven energy solutions and safeguard consumer interests.

You’ll be part of a high-performing team within a collaborative environment that values continuous improvement and operational excellence. With an emphasis on professional growth and inclusivity, we offer a workplace where you will be empowered to implement your ideas and make real change for the future.

We’re looking for someone with expertise in corporate planning, portfolio management and assurance, alongside a track record of implementing and leading change collaboratively. You’ll have the ability to navigate complex tasks, engage effectively with stakeholders and embed a culture of continuous improvement. A relevant qualification in portfolio management or project assurance (e.g., MSP, PRINCE2 or APM) is essential.

This role comes with excellent benefits, including flexible working arrangements, a strong focus on learning and development and the chance to work alongside peers and talented industry professionals in our newly refurbished offices in central Glasgow, London or Cardiff.

We have a critical purpose to drive a culture of portfolio excellence and deliver impactful, future-focused assurance that supports the energy sector’s journey to Net Zero. This is a high-profile opportunity to shape the future of energy regulation while safeguarding consumers and enabling transformative change.

Read on and find out more.

Job Description

Purpose

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator. Our purpose is to protect energy consumers, especially vulnerable people, by ensuring they are treated fairly and benefit from a cleaner, greener environment.

Energy fuels our society and our economy - that’s why our work is so important, and so rewarding. We protect consumers, enables businesses, influences the entire energy industry and help to bring about the seismic societal and infrastructure changes needed to set the foundations for a Net Zero future.

The Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (ePMO) sits at the heart of Ofgem, supporting delivery of the Multi-Year Strategy through central oversight of the delivery of the annual Forward Work Programme. Our work broadly falls into three functional areas:

• Planning, publications and analysis
• Reporting and Assurance
• Centre of Excellence and continuous improvement

We are seeking a high-calibre leader to join the team as a Senior Portfolio and Performance Manager focussed on Portfolio Assurance activities. Ofgem’s portfolio of work, detailed in our Forward Work Plan consultation, sets out our key priorities and the nature of our work:

• We will enable investment in the low carbon infrastructure needed to deliver net zero.
• To balance the system and keep costs down as the level of intermittent renewables rises, we will need full chain flexibility, for example, through flexible charging of electric vehicles.
• We will deliver a future retail market with innovative new retail products that, for example, enable consumers to benefit from the flexibility they can provide, while ensuring protections are in place for all.
• We will unlock the benefits of data and digitalisation to enable these changes at least cost.
• We will promote energy system governance arrangements that are fit for the future, including Ofgem’s role.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitoring and Assurance – Establish and maintain portfolio level controls, keeping the Head of Reporting and Assurance aware of the portfolio status. Prepare assurance reporting, presenting initial analysis for review by senior portfolio lead and researching new information as directed. Ensure that portfolio assurance information is readily available in any of the required filters and views (by strategy, by organisational structure, by status, by stage)
• Portfolio Assurance – Work with portfolio boards and PMO contacts to identify candidate programmes for ePMO enhanced primary assurance and agree approaches for wider secondary assurance activities.
• Implementation of Assurance processes- Maintain schedule of assurance activities, plan and agree sessions and approaches with key stakeholders. Utilise the tiering, assurance and stage gate processes to deliver assurance activities providing regular feedback to CoE on any enhancements or feedback from usage, as appropriate.
• Establish strategic portfolio and performance culture, delivering change in the interests of the organisation as a whole
• Provide strategic overview, scrutiny and challenge, of the portfolio ensuring alignment of the change portfolio with wider policy and strategic initiatives
• Establish a performance management culture linked to delivery of lessons learned and operational excellence
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, operational efficiency and process control
• Team – contribute to creating a positive team culture, supporting and engaging with wider team activities.

Person specification

Key Outputs and Deliverables

• Lead on Assurance activities for the ePMO team- scheduling, running and tracking ePMO audits, actioning stage gate reviews, assurance reviews and deep dives across the Portfolio.
• Implement and deliver assurance activities and suggest required improvements to processes, tools and systems to drive assurance performance.
• Ensure portfolio assurance information is robust and forms an auditable set of baselines and progress against schedule.
• Deliver highly effective culture and ways of working for the assurance of portfolio activities across the full programme and project life cycle.
• Assist with the production of an annual Forward Work Plan that sets out Ofgem’s portfolio activities, linked to strategic priorities.
• Ensure that Ofgem’s portfolio management processes and PPM professionals are continuously delivering to a high standard in line with best practice, such as APM, MoP and the Civil Service Project Delivery Capability Framework.

Role Criteria

Essential

• Understanding of corporate planning and corporate portfolio management & assurance (lead)
• Experience of providing assurance at portfolio and programme level or within a portfolio management office
• Experience of stakeholder engagement and leading change in a collaborative way
• Experience of setting up and implementing stage gate reviews, assurance checks and deep dives.
• Relevant professional qualifications (MSP, Prince2 or APM)

Desirable

• Portfolio Management or Assurance qualification, such as, Management of Portfolios (MoP), P3O Practitioner or Better Business Cases

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Further information is available via Civil Service Jobs