UK&I Portfolio Governance Lead
Are you a strategic leader with a passion for driving large-scale change and ensuring successful project delivery? AXA is seeking an experienced UK & Ireland Portfolio Governance Lead to oversee and enhance the management of our change initiatives. You’ll be instrumental in establishing governance standards, prioritising initiatives and ensuring that projects are delivered on time, within scope and aligned with business objectives. Your expertise will help shape our approach to managing complex programmes, supporting a culture of continuous improvement and effective decision-making. As the Portfolio Governance Lead, you‘ll work with senior leaders, project teams and external partners to coordinate reporting, stakeholder engagement and process improvements. You’ll lead key workstreams within the Next Gen Ways of Working programme by championing best practices and supporting new governance models. This strategic role offers the chance to influence how AXA manages change regionally, ensuring initiatives deliver value and support long-term success. At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team and our customers. You'll work at least two days a week (40%) away from home, moving to three days a week (60%) in the future. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events. What you’ll be doing:
- Support governance of the UK & Ireland change portfolio, including defining standards, prioritising initiatives and reporting on key risks and trends.
- Lead workstreams within the Next Gen Ways of Working to implement and embed the new portfolio governance model.
- Manage Group-mandated “SPC” program reporting, reviewing key program submissions and governance gates specific to UK&I.
- Act as a representative for the UK&I portfolio in forums and stakeholder meetings, supporting the Head of Strategy and Portfolio Governance.
- Contribute to the delivery team with culture, engagement, and continuous process improvement activities.
- Ensure disciplined project and programme management, including planning, resourcing, risk mitigation and stakeholder communication.
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders across business units, ensuring project delivery aligns with strategic objectives and standards.
- Promote AXA’s culture of high performance, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the UK&I portfolio.
- Proven experience in delivering Target Operating Models (TOMs) and developing agile practices within complex, multi-organisational environments.
- Strong knowledge of end-to-end project and programme management disciplines, including Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe.
- Demonstrable ability to manage budgets, influence senior stakeholders and cultivate productive relationships across multiple business units to achieve strategic objective
- Experience managing relationships with third-party suppliers, including contract management and quality assurance.
- Proven skill in clear and impactful communication, with a track record of influencing and negotiating with senior stakeholders.
- Leadership qualities, including staff development and performance management, with experience in fostering high-performance cultures.
- Knowledge of current market trends in Insurance and IT, such as digital transformation.
- Competitive annual salary dependent on experience
- Annual company & performance-based bonus
- Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
- Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
- Private medical cover
- 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
- Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
- Wellbeing services & resources
- AXA employee discounts