Position Details

IT Services, Portfolio and Project Management

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £56,021 to £64,914 with potential progression once in post to £84,644

Grade 9

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 20th May 2024

 

Our offer to you 

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.  We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.  With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.  We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a leader to be involved in some of the key Digital initiatives that will transform our staff and student experience and contribute to the delivery of our University strategy.

The Head of Portfolio Delivery Assurance role is responsible for:

• Contributing to the development and implementation of the IT Services strategic plans, and developing and putting forward proposals for approval by University Governance Committees. 
• Leading the delivery of projects undertaken by IT Services to deliver new University services to meet mission critical objectives in the University and IT Strategic plans.
• Leading the development and delivery of portfolio, project and demand management methods for all IT Services.
• Leading the IT Services Finance and Procurement function and also promoting Product Management and leading the central pool of Scrum Master resource.
• Making a significant contribution to the development of portfolio, project, and demand management methodologies across Professional Services and providing comprehensive advice and cascading expertise.
• Together with ITLT, designing and managing delivery governance and reporting that will be consumed by ITLT and the University’s senior stakeholders, including KPIs.

The post holder will need to possess high levels of knowledge and experience of delivery, portfolio and project management to enable them to work at strategic level within IT Services and the wider Professional Services. 

The Head of Portfolio Delivery Assurance is part of the IT Leadership team and is the leader of the Portfolio, Project and Demand Management, the Scrum Master function, and the Finance function within IT Services. 

IT Services is one of the largest administrative budget centres, employing over 200 people and with an investment of over £90m in digital strategy over a 5-year period. The service brings together professional and non-professional staff from a variety of specialist backgrounds, and has a very wide remit covering infrastructure, student systems, research support, and corporate business administrative systems.

All new initiatives in IT Services are managed within the Portfolio framework and at any one time there can be more than 100 change initiatives in progress, delivering new university services or significant upgrades to live services. 

These initiatives deliver new services to meet objectives in the University’s strategic plans and Digital Strategy. This translates to a substantial financial and staff investment and represents a significant opportunity and risk to our university. 

The Portfolio Delivery Assurance function is crucial in managing this portfolio of change and acting as a central service for IT Services, providing professional expertise and comprehensive advice to colleagues across IT Services, advising the IT Senior Management Team and Portfolio Investment and Delivery Groups on key issues impacting on the progress of these initiatives. This role is also accountable for providing appropriate assurance and rigour around finances and delivery of the portfolio.

Person specification

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent level qualifications), or extensive experience of working in a complex organisation plus substantial relevant managerial experience.
• Good broad knowledge and significant experience of managing a large and complex service in at least 1 key area of IT services (e.g. data centres, applications development/rollout, infrastructure change).
• Significant experience managing project teams and considerable project management experience with a successful track record in programme and project management.
• Experience of developing and implementing strategies for significant services, in line with high level organisational strategic objectives; including an understanding of working and communicating at a strategic level.
• Significant experience of leading change, with the ability to lead change effectively across a complex service. 
• In-depth knowledge of applying different business change models is essential.
• Significant experience of leading systematic business process improvement and change initiatives.
• Ability to provide a positive leadership style that inspires others and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to develop effective and harmonious working relationships with staff at all levels in an organisation. 
• Ability to organise work flexibly and efficiently in a complex and pressured environment; prioritising and scheduling workloads in the face of conflicting demands. 
• Ability to communicate straightforwardly, listening and responding constructively to the realities and needs of others.
• Ability to exercise a substantial degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion.
• Ability to lead and manage diverse groups of staff through intermediate managers.
• Excellent literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write for different audiences and for different purposes, and to produce and analyse complex source material, information and data.
• Actively promotes equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to use data to identify equality and diversity issues. 
• Experience of developing interventions to address equality and diversity issues.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Formal training in relevant techniques and methodology, particularly PRINCE2, MSP, PMP, Agile or APMP accreditation, is highly desirable.
• Business change knowledge and experience of managing ambiguity.
• Membership of a professional project management body is highly desirable.
• Understanding and experience of higher education is highly desirable.
• Strong facilitation skills.
• Understanding of the complexity and diversity of Higher Education and its environment is desirable.

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate the core competencies and transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. You will be expected to take ownership for getting things done, including calling on others to join you in collaborative working groups as necessary. You will need to be flexible in supporting your department and wider University. 

Planning and organising 

• lead and manage a functional area, taking responsibility for staff and resources, tackling planning and operations over the medium to long term;
• shape strategic direction for own area, and make significant contributions to departmental strategic planning; 
• set quality and professional standards for others; 
• take accountability for the quality and delivery of a service or for the provision of expert professional advice; 
• take the initiative and manage large-scale changes; 
• make decisions and judgements on conflicting data/information;
• as appropriate, research and develop drafts of papers, taking account of the final audience, socialising ideas and seeking input and producing final drafts;
• lead and manage projects which are complex and significant in terms of time and financial resources.

Problem solving and decision making 

• evaluate service provision and implement innovative solutions to improve quality, efficiency and continuity;
• ensure effective resolution of all issues in own area, often requiring complex problem solving through others; 
• identify trends which could have an impact on the area, and identify and implement approaches to these trends;
• deal effectively and sensitively with significant and substantial people management issues, such as major change programmes and lead staff through change whilst maintaining motivation.

Organisational understanding 

• quickly develop an in-depth understanding of their own area and an excellent understanding of the contribution other areas make to success of the University; 
• quickly develop an excellent understanding of how the University and academia operate in the UK (and beyond as appropriate);
• demonstrate empathy with the academic endeavour and encourages others to do so. 

Relationships and communication

• interact effectively at senior levels within the University;
• network with fellow professionals in the wider community to stay up to date;
• promote own/department’s work at internal and external opportunities;
• inspire and motivate others (often large teams) through multiple intermediary managers; 
• provide expert input for internal/external meetings, influencing and facilitating different opinions to reach consensus;
• consult with service users/others to establish service requirements, standards and priorities for change.

Informal enquiries to Gaynor Collins-Punter, email: g.l.collins-punter@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here 


We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.