Defence Digital - Head of Portfolio

Location: MOD Corsham, Westwells Road, Corsham, SN13 9NR (Please note that there will be regular travel required to MOD Abbey Wood Bristol BS34 8JH and MOD Main Building, London SW1A 2HB).

About the job

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.

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 mitigations and ensure they are viable and being managed and coherent from a portfolio perspective.

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.

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. 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. This post is working 37 hours.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills. To apply please complete the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard, ensuring your CV highlights your relevance to the essential criteria. All applicants will also need to provide a personal statement (max. 1250 words) and it is vital that this includes evidence of the following essential criteria (which is also listed within the Person Specification). Each one will be scored 1-7 and make up part of your overall score to assess your suitability to be invited to interview.

Essential Criteria:

• 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.

We will assess you against these Behaviours and Technical Skills during the interview process:

Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical Skills:

• Communicating Analysis Insight
• Strategic Thinking
• Governance and Assurance

Candidates will need to prepare a presentation on a specific topic (maximum 5 minutes) for the interview. The topic will be provided to you in advance. If you are invited for an interview, it will be conducted via Teams. We will strive to offer as much flexibility as possible, but please note that alternative interview dates may not be available. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service