Duration: Permanent 

Salary: Circa £70,000 per annum 

Job Level: 2 

Hours: 35 hours per week. Flexible arrangements will be considered 

Disclosure Level: Basic. This role involves no direct or indirect work with children. 

Reports to: Director of Strategy 

Location: Minimum requirement of 2 days in the office at 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ. 

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we pull together to achieve the best possible results for children in danger around the world.  We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.   

Our work is guided by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights. 

ABOUT THE TEAM  

The Portfolio Management Office (PMO) sits within the Strategy Directorate (also home to the Knowledge & Insight and Strategic Planning teams). It exists to help UNICEF UK deliver its strategic objectives through portfolio oversight, strategic delivery, governance, financial oversight, audit and assurance, and standardisation.  

The PMO is the organisational centre of excellence for strategic portfolio management and delivery discipline, working across directorates to improve prioritisation, visibility, governance, sequencing and accountability across strategic initiatives.      

The PMO’s key responsibilities include: 

• Portfolio Management: overseeing the strategic portfolio to support coordinated intake, prioritisation, planning, reporting and dependency management. 

• Strategic Delivery: providing expert guidance, delivery oversight, escalation and troubleshooting for a small number of agreed strategic initiatives. 

• Audit and Assurance: improving confidence in project health, governance and control through audit and assurance processes. 

• Financial Oversight & Benefits Management: improving visibility of investment, value, benefits and return across the portfolio. 

• Standardisation: defining and embedding best-practice approaches, tools, templates and delivery standards. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The Head of the Portfolio Management Office is a pivotal leadership role at UNICEF UK, responsible for providing strategic direction, governance and oversight across the PMO and its full remit. This role leads the development and running of the permanent PMO operating model, ensuring that UNICEF UK has a coherent, joint approach to strategic portfolio management, delivery governance, assurance, financial oversight and standardisation.  

The Head of PMO is accountable for sustaining this centre of excellence, building a community of practice around portfolio management, delivery discipline, governance, benefits realisation and change. The Head is additionally accountable for the overall approach to change within the strategic portfolio at UNICEF UK ensuring that change is prioritised, sequenced and governed so that benefits are realised and changes are embedded into business-as-usual.  

The postholder will lead executive and director-level engagement on strategic priorities and portfolio decisions, ensuring that strategic initiatives remain aligned with organisational objectives, available capacity and agreed governance. The role will not only coordinate and chair the Commissioning Group but steer investment decisions, lead portfolio intake, prioritisation, dependency mapping and reporting, and ensure that leaders receive the right information at the right time to make effective decisions. This post reports to the Director of Strategy.      

What we will expect you to achieve  

• Lead the vision, operating model and development of the PMO, ensuring it becomes a strong, effective business‑as‑usual function that supports strategic prioritisation, oversight and accountability across the organisation.  

• Provide organisation‑wide leadership of the strategic portfolio, ensuring there is a trusted, single view of all strategic initiatives and that portfolio activity aligns with strategic priorities, planning cycles and available capacity.  

• Chair and coordinate the Commissioning Group, ensuring high‑quality information, robust challenge, effective prioritisation and well‑governed investment decisions—including discussions to stop, pivot or re‑scope initiatives when needed.  

• Lead portfolio intake, prioritisation, dependency mapping, sequencing and reporting, ensuring leadership receives clear, action‑ready insight.  

• Set and maintain strong governance and control, including clear escalation pathways, standards and expectations for how strategic initiatives are governed across their lifecycle.  

• Hold accountability for audit and assurance outcomes, determining required actions, influencing senior stakeholders to make necessary changes, and ensuring follow‑through by accountable leads.  

• Strengthen organisational capability in strategic delivery, governance and portfolio management through coaching, thoughtful challenge, expert leadership and visible sponsorship of good practice, and by championing disciplined delivery, transparency, meaningful measurement and continuous improvement across all Directorates. 

• Lead and develop a high‑performing PMO team, fostering collaboration, strategic thinking and an institutional centre of excellence for portfolio management, delivery discipline and governance. 

BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS 

This section contains the essential behaviours, experience, knowledge and skills needed to be effective and successful in this role. All criteria in this section are essential. 

Effective behaviours 

Supporter driven and mission aligned 

• Is committed to children and their rights and motivated to work towards achieving a world that is fit for every child. 

Collaboration 

• Works effectively across the organisation and builds strong, credible relationships with senior stakeholders. 

• Values diversity, respecting and drawing on colleagues’ different perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge. 

• Creates alignment across teams, functions and leaders in complex environments. 

Communication 

• Conveys complex ideas clearly and persuasively, using a range of methods to engage an audience and win understanding and support. 

• Presents strategic and difficult messages clearly and with impact. 

• Anticipates and responds to the needs of different audiences, including Executive and Director-level stakeholders. 

Efficiency and effectiveness 

• Works strategically and proactively, balancing organisational detail with the bigger picture. 

• Anticipates risks, constraints and delivery challenges and acts early to address them. 

• Simplifies ways of working to improve organisational effectiveness, decision-making and delivery confidence. 

Good management 

• Ensures people have the skills, clarity, support and direction they need to be effective. 

• Delegates appropriately and empowers others within clear parameters. 

• Uses a flexible leadership approach: coaching, supporting and guiding each individual for best results. 

Relevant experience 

• Significant experience leading a portfolio, programme or project management office or strategic delivery functions in a complex environment. 

• Experience of leading cross-organisational governance, prioritisation and reporting processes for multiple strategic initiatives. 

• Experience of working with senior leadership teams to guide strategic decision-making and organisational prioritisation. 

• Experience of developing and embedding portfolio management frameworks, governance, assurance or delivery standards. 

• Previous people management and team leadership experience. 

Specific knowledge and skills 

• Strong knowledge of portfolio management, governance, proactive risk and issue management, and prioritisation approaches. 

• Strong understanding of programme and project delivery, organisational governance and strategic planning interfaces. 

• Excellent communication, facilitation and senior stakeholder management skills. 

• Ability to interpret complex information, identify strategic implications and support evidence-based decision-making. 

• Strong understanding of delivery tools, frameworks and portfolio reporting approaches, including project/ portfolio management platforms such as Asana or equivalent. 

• Demonstrable understanding of benefits realisation and management, including how to design and use a benefits management framework across a portfolio of strategic initiatives. 

• Familiarity with resource and capacity modelling concepts at portfolio level, with the ability to shape how UNICEF UK approaches portfolio-wide capability and capacity planning over time.  

• Strong grounding in change management principles and practices, and how these integrate with portfolio management, strategic delivery and benefits realisation.