Defence Digital – Head of Portfolio

Defence Digital ensures our Armed Forces remain among the most technologically advanced in the world. We do this by putting innovative and effective technology into the hands of over 200,000 users, from the boardroom to the front line.

We lead on cutting-edge data science, automation, and cybersecurity at scale. Our mission goes beyond the battlefield by leading humanitarian efforts and driving digital innovation that impacts lives across the globe.

Defence Digital forms part of Strategic Command which manages the MOD’s joint capabilities for the Army, RAF, and Royal Navy.

Watch our video to see what we do at Defence Digital!

Passionate about using your skills to make a critical difference? Your next career move could be here!

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

There are two Head of Portfolio roles available:

• Defence Data Portfolio - Creating and delivering the vision and benefits for the pan-Defence Data portfolio, working across Defence to drive progress towards the Defence Data Strategy and future strategic direction.
• Defence Platform as a Service Portfolio - Own the vision and benefits for the pan-Defence Platform as a Service portfolio providing common software, data, automation, cognitive and information technologies, and services.

Both roles will create and nurture the operational, business, and external partnerships and relationships necessary to cohere and optimise the delivery of the respective portfolios as part of the wider Digital Enterprise, ensuring and measuring outcomes.  Managing adherence to the strategy, policy, and standards is also vital for these roles.

Responsibilities:

• Create and maintain a portfolio plan, aligned to Defence Strategies, that provides hard metrics and measurements of success with track progress against strategic objectives.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year road-map based on inputs from Defence strategies, business and user demand, and product/service team insight.
• Capture and quantify the benefit of services to inform future investment and prioritisation.
• Integration of planning, scheduling, and risk management of portfolio.
• Identifying and managing risk assumptions and dependencies within, across and between services, portfolio, and programmes.
• Manage project mitigation's and ensure they are viable and being managed and coherent from a portfolio perspective.

For further information on the role and duties, please refer to the Government, Digital and Data Capability Framework:  Digital portfolio manager - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework

Person specification

These roles call for passionate and dedicated individuals committed to enhancing the consistency, integration, and coherence of delivery within Defence Digital’s services.  A strong background and experience of applying agile product delivery methodologies, alongside integration into external waterfall programmes, is vital for this role.

You will be responsible for understanding, managing, and communicating with complex stakeholder groups, confidently resolving conflicts, and effectively utilising your negotiation skills. Additionally, you must demonstrate the professional credibility needed to collaborate across digital projects, and programmes and Defence Digital’s boundaries at all levels.

You will be confident in balancing objectives and facilitating the redeployment of resources as priorities change.  This will need to be data-driven, so you will need strong analytical skills and be comfortable discussing metrics with stakeholders.

When submitting your CV, please highlight your career history and experience relevant to this role. Additionally, refer to the "Things You Need to Know" section of the advert and provide a personal statement (max. 1250 words) demonstrating the essential criteria listed below:

• Experience in managing conflicting priorities among diverse stakeholders.
• Demonstrate a proven ability to define, source, tailor, and analyse high-quality management information.
• Be experienced in a fast-paced, complex digital delivery environment, with the ability to prioritise tasks, respond promptly to changes, and devise effective solutions to problems.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• Communicating Analysis Insight
• Strategic Thinking
• Governance and Assurance

• Flexible working options- we understand the importance of adapting work to your life.
• Inclusion and diversity- our culture celebrates uniqueness and encourages collaboration of diverse thought.
• A pension scheme which secures your future.
• Generous annual leave- starting with 25 days and growing to 30 after just 5 years.
• Minimum of 15 Days Special Leave in a rolling 12-month period to volunteer for military or emergency service reserve commitments.
• Special Paid Leave for volunteering up to 6 days a year.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
• Most sites have good travel links with free car parking; many also have other facilities such as a Sports & Social Club and Gyms
• You can read more here- Civil Service Employee Benefits , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Professional Framework Statement  

Defence Digital operates an organisation model in which every individual belongs to a Government Profession. The successful applicant will be posted into one of the defined Government Professions on Standard Terms of Reference for the grade. Defence Digital reserves the right to move individuals between roles, within their allocated profession, to meet the needs of the business and in support of agile resourcing.  Within Defence Digital each profession is led by a Professional Head of Community who will lead professional development and support the Continuous Professional Development path for their group.

Learning & Development

In Defence Digital we have a strong learning and development ethos, supporting you to fulfil your potential by providing:

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and Personal Development of skills
• Access to thousands of training courses through Civil Service Learning, some free or paid by MOD
• Ability to obtain industry recognised qualifications supported by MOD

Hybrid Working

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business or work in another MOD office will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).  The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.