Are you looking for an opportunity to drive portfolio delivery and champion new ways of working?
The “Head of Transformation & Portfolio Delivery” will lead the delivery of an ambitious, organisation-wide transformation portfolio at the National Records of Scotland (NRS), shaping how services are modernised, digitised and delivered for the people of Scotland.
This is a high-impact leadership role at the heart of strategy, driving prioritisation, governance and outcomes across complex change. You will lead multidisciplinary teams and influence at senior levels to ensure change delivers real public value. This is an opportunity to make a lasting difference; transforming services, strengthening capability, and helping NRS stay fit for the future.
- Lead and oversee NRS's transformation portfolio, ensuring programmes and projects align with strategic priorities, capacity, budgets, and organisational objectives.
- Accountable for portfolio delivery performance, proactively managing risks, dependencies, priorities, and delivery outcomes.
- Establish and continuously improve portfolio governance, assurance, reporting, and delivery management frameworks across the organisation.
- Drive strategic prioritisation and investment decisions, ensuring delivery activity supports organisational outcomes, public value, and service user needs.
- Lead benefits realisation and continuous improvement, embedding outcome-focused delivery, evidence-based decision-making, and lessons learned.
- Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, partners, suppliers, and governance bodies, providing influence, challenge, and clear communication.
- Lead and develop the Innovation & Transformation function, the Delivery Management function and the Portfolio Management Office, building organization-wide capability, digital skills, and high-performing teams.
- Oversee portfolio financial planning ensuring value-for-money delivery across major transformation initiatives.
Responsibilities
- A professional level qualification, such as Axelos’ Management of Portfolios (Practitioner) qualification or equivalent. APM’s PMQ or Axelos’ P3O qualifications would also be considered relevant.
Proof of qualifications will be checked at the assessment stage.
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.
- Planning and scheduling - Practitioner
- Governance - Expert
- Benefits management - Expert
- Frameworks and methodologies - Expert
- Stakeholder engagement - Practitioner
- Asset allocation - Practitioner
- Risk and issue management – Practitioner
- Digital and data - Practitioner
Applicants for this role are expected to be experienced transformation or portfolio delivery leaders, with a proven track record of operating at enterprise scale and taking accountability for delivering multiple complex changes in demanding environments.
- Extensive experience defining and managing a portfolio of complex projects using Agile, Waterfall and hybrid methods, ensuring proportionate assurance and continuous improvement.
- Significant experience leading a team of delivery and change specialists, ensuring projects deliver the best possible outcomes.
- A proven track record of influencing and negotiating with senior stakeholders and clearly communicating complex portfolio analysis and recommendations to drive strategic alignment and action.
- Experience leading transformational change encompassing culture, ways-of-working and organisation and operating model changes.
- Communicating and influencing
- Seeing the big picture
- Delivering at pace
You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here:Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot
Apply online, providing a CV and supporting statement (of no more than 1000 words) providing evidence of how you meet the behaviours, experience and technical skills listed in the Success Profile above. Both the CV and the supporting statement provided will be assessed against the criteria for the role.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
Close: 20 August 2026 at 23:59.
Sift : 28 August 2026
Interviews 10 and 11 September 2026
Sponsorship
Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
Qualifications
National Records of Scotland (NRS) is Scotland’s record keeper. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.
NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government & and our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.
We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.
Security checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).
You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.
Head of Transformation and Portfolio Delivery in Edinburgh employer: Scottish Government
The Scottish Government offers a dynamic and supportive work environment, where you can make a significant impact on customer service and safeguarding across Scotland. With a strong focus on employee development and innovation, you will have access to numerous growth opportunities while working alongside a dedicated team committed to excellence in public service. Join us in shaping a high-performing organisation that values collaboration and strives for transformative results.
