Head of Portfolio Operations

Location: London or Milton Keynes (minimum two days a week in the office; may do more if desired)

Working hours: Full time (9‑day fortnight companywide)

Salary: £80,920 - £89,472 per year (dependent on office location and proven ability)

Reporting to: Strategy & Portfolio Director – Aisling Conlon

Closing date: 8 June 2026

Interviews: 8 June – 6 July

This is a pivotal leadership role shaping how Connected Places Catapult translates strategy into delivery and impact. You will define and lead the operating system that underpins our portfolio, from how we plan and prioritise, to how we deliver, learn and improve. This is an opportunity to build a high‑performing, insight‑led operational function at the heart of Connected Places Catapult.

This role leads portfolio operations across Connected Places Catapult, ensuring that strategy is translated into a deliverable, governed and high‑performing portfolio. The role owns the bid‑to‑project lifecycle as a defined process and governance framework, designing and continuously improving how work moves from opportunity to delivery. While delivery decisions and inputs sit within Business Units, this role ensures that the system, standards, insight and enabling functions are in place to support consistent, high‑quality delivery across Connected Places Catapult.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio insight, governance and lifecycle: Maintain a clear, single view of the portfolio (pipeline to delivery), providing decision‑grade insight and analysis to senior leaders. Maintain accountability for the bid‑to‑project lifecycle as a process, ensuring effective qualification, mobilisation and handover into delivery. Design and evolve governance frameworks, standards and reporting cadence that support confident, proportionate decision‑making. Coordinate assurance activity, ensuring risks, issues and delivery confidence are visible and effectively managed.
• Performance, forecasting and planning: Lead corporate portfolio reporting, ensuring data is accurate, trusted and translated into meaningful insight. Work with Business Units and Finance to strengthen pipeline management, forecasting and delivery confidence. Maintain a view of organisational capacity and resourcing, advising on prioritisation, trade‑offs and delivery risks.
• Systems, knowledge and improvement: Own and improve portfolio systems, processes and data standards across the end‑to‑end lifecycle. Lead knowledge management approaches that ensure learning, insight and good practice are captured and shared. Drive process improvement and business improvement activity, simplifying ways of working and reducing delivery friction. Champion a culture of continuous improvement, using evidence and insight to identify and prioritise change.
• People leadership: Lead and develop a high‑performing team spanning portfolio operations, reporting, knowledge management and improvement. Set clear expectations, priorities and standards, building capability and a strong delivery culture across the team. Ensure an ethos of equity, inclusivity and diversity underpin your work activity, contributing to inclusive innovation across all Catapult activities.

You may be required to undertake any other reasonable duties to support the Catapult in achieving its strategic outcomes and ensure effective business operations.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential:

• Strong leadership experience in portfolio operations, PMO or similar roles in complex, matrix organisations.
• Deep expertise in portfolio governance, lifecycle management and performance reporting.
• Proven experience designing and improving operating models, processes and systems.
• Strong analytical capability, translating data into clear insight and action.
• Proven ability to lead teams and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ability to successfully develop collaborative working relationships across the business and work with colleagues with diverse skill backgrounds, creating success around a common purpose and collaborating across disciplines.
• An excellent working knowledge of the MS Office 365 suite including MS Project.
• The ability to plan, prioritise and manage a varied and busy workload delivering to a high standard with measurable outputs and meeting deadlines.
• Experience of embedding sustainability and EDI principles into portfolio management.
• Displays commercial acumen in leading, shaping and guiding activities.
• Excellent facilitation, communication and presentation skills with the ability to produce reports, briefs, analysis, etc. to inform stakeholders and decision makers.

Desirable:

• Experience in innovation, R&D or government‑funded environments.
• Experience embedding systems and reporting tools (e.g. Dynamics365, PowerBI).
• Experience in continuous improvement, knowledge management or business improvement.
• Understanding of financial forecasting, utilisation and portfolio performance.

Required Competencies

• Provide coaching and feedback that drives development, innovation, creativity, and delivery in team using key metrics and data points, offers challenge and support as required to maintain high performance.
• Use emotional intelligence to create an environment where team members feel safe to experiment, challenge and try new things.
• Seek, encourage and create the conditions for continuous improvements in processes, systems, behaviours and ways of working.
• Build motivation and engagement in the team through understanding of the person, their aspirations and development needs.
• Manage performance through effective goal setting based on business and role objectives and development needs or desires.
• Complete regular one‑on‑one discussions and performance reviews that ensure clarity over performance levels and development areas.
• Provide clarity of expectations and take ownership of wider team performance.
• Managing change, navigating the team through the ‘transition fog’, mitigating resistance, and ensuring everyone's on board with the new direction.
• Organise the work and team around multiple simultaneous initiatives, with reference to key policies, practices and procedures, effectively prioritise tasks and delegate effectively.
• Use management information to understand trends, gaps, challenges and opportunities and make commercial decisions.
• Actively build an inclusive and sustainability focused team culture that celebrates the value of diverse experiences and perspectives, ensures team compliance with policies, and applies equalities impact assessments on all aspects of work at CPC.

Benefits

• 9 day fortnight for everyone, every other Friday.
• 23.5 holiday entitlement for everyone, with pro‑rata calculations for part‑time employees, along with a Christmas shutdown period for additional days off.
• Competitive pension, up to 10% company contribution to help you save for your future.
• Two paid days of volunteering leave per year (pro‑rata for part‑time employees) to support charitable activities.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) providing 24/7 confidential work/life support services to you and your immediate family members.
• Cycle to Work Scheme encouraging a healthy and sustainable commute.
• Cash Health Plan, offering reimbursement for a wide range of essential and everyday healthcare expenses, promoting your well‑being.
• Payroll Giving scheme, allowing regular charitable contributions from pre‑tax income, maximizing the impact of your donations.
• Discounts and offers from a wide variety of retailers, enhancing your purchasing power and providing savings opportunities.
• Mortgage Advice benefit, delivered in partnership with Charles Cameron & Associates – provides employees with free, expert mortgage advice and end‑to‑end mortgage support from the application process through to completion.

Employment here is based solely upon individual merit and qualifications directly related to professional competence. We strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, colour, religion, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy status, sex, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, mental or physical disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected by law. We also make all reasonable accommodations to meet our obligations under laws protecting the rights of the disabled.