Head of Infrastructure Portfolio

Head of Infrastructure Portfolio (Director Level)
Banking & Financial Services
London (Hybrid) Up to 160,000 + Bonus + Benefits

Are you a senior portfolio leader ready to take ownership of a major technology infrastructure change agenda within a global financial institution?

This is a rare opportunity to lead the Infrastructure Portfolio for a leading global banking group, directing a multi-million-pound book of investment and change projects, managing a team of consultants and contractors, and reporting directly into senior technology and Head Office stakeholders. You'll have real authority to shape delivery, influence executive decision-making, and drive the "do-ability" of a complex, high-profile portfolio.

If you thrive on governance, stakeholder engagement, and getting large-scale change over the line - this is your next move.

What you'll be doing

• Plan, direct and govern the Infrastructure investment portfolio end-to-end, owning the delivery roadmap, critical path and prioritisation decisions across projects and programmes.
• Manage delegated authority from senior Head Office stakeholders (via the CIO), driving delivery on behalf of the Accountable Executive and reporting into EMEA ExCo, Delivery Forum and portfolio committees.
• Own portfolio governance: baseline control (budget, scope, benefits, timeline), change approval, risk/issue management, business case sign-off and project closure.
• Lead, recruit and develop a team of circa 13 consultants/contractors, plus matrix-manage wider project delivery staff.
• Manage investment budgets, cost forecasting and financial control, ensuring accurate, golden-source reporting to stakeholders and oversight committees.
• Set and maintain quality standards across all portfolio artefacts, ensuring compliance with project delivery policy, controls (including SOX) and regulatory requirements.
• Manage vendors, consultants and contractors, and work with procurement to ensure cost-effective, well-governed delivery.
• Provide oversight across major infrastructure and technology transformation programmes - spanning data centre migration, network transformation, cloud migration, and end user compute (EUC) modernisation such as VDI, Microsoft 365 (M365) deployment, Windows/OS migration, endpoint and device deployment, and email/Exchange upgrades.

What you'll bring

• 10-15+ years' proven track record delivering programmes and projects within financial services, financial institutions or comparable large-scale technology/infrastructure organisations, to time and budget.
• Genuine portfolio management experience - not just programme or project delivery - including prioritisation and trade-off, resource allocation, roadmap and dependency management across a large, complex book of work.
• Hands-on experience of major infrastructure transformation, such as data centre migration, network transformation, cloud migration, and end user compute (EUC) platform modernisation - for example VDI, Microsoft 365 (M365) deployment, Windows/OS upgrades, endpoint and device deployment, or Exchange/email platform upgrades.
• Strong financial management skills, including capex/opex management, budget planning and forecasting, and understanding of IFRS or local GAAP standards.
• Demonstrable experience managing multiple senior stakeholders, with first-hand knowledge of banking or financial services products, and executive/steering committee reporting experience.
• Line management or matrix management experience, with strong coaching and leadership skills.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence and report at C-suite/CIO level.
• Desirable: annual/multi-year planning cycle experience, knowledge of banking regulations and regulatory project delivery, vendor/consultancy contract negotiation, and experience delivering through both waterfall and agile (SDLC/PDLC) methodologies.

Ready to lead?

If this sounds like your next challenge, apply now or get in touch for a confidential conversation about the role.

If you've held any of these roles or used these technologies/skills, this role could be a great fit: Head of Infrastructure Portfolio, Portfolio Director, Head of Technology Portfolio, Portfolio Manager, Senior Programme Manager, Programme Director, Head of PMO, Infrastructure Programme Manager, IT Portfolio Manager, Change Portfolio Lead, Technology Delivery Director, PPM (Portfolio, Programme, Project Management), Investment Budget Management, Portfolio Governance, RAID Management, Critical Path Analysis, Earned Value Analysis, PDLC/SDLC, Agile & Waterfall Delivery, Regulatory Change, Banking Technology Change.

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