Portfolio Manager

Background: The UK Space Agency: 

The UK Space Agency is an executive agency of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and provides technical advice on the government’s space strategy, supporting the UK space sector to deliver the government’s vision. 

Space is a part of everyday life. Satellites underpin our national economy, from agriculture and banking to aviation and shipping, and support our national security. Space science provides critical data to understand and address global challenges such as climate change, while missions to explore our solar system unite nations and advance humanity’s horizons. 

We support a thriving space sector in the UK, which generates an annual income of £16.5 billion and employs 47,000 people across the country. 

Through our portfolio of programmes and projects, we encourage the development of national space capabilities and are an early-stage investor in space research and development.  We also promote the UK space sector’s interests and achievements; make connections to join up industry and academia; and represent the UK in international space programmes. 

We have a powerful global voice, partnering with institutions across the world, including the European Space Agency. 

More information about the Agency is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency 

To discover more please watch this film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZZ-o0IkVU

Our Inclusive Environment

We have an inclusive culture to make UK Space Agency a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We offer first-class flexible working benefits, excellent employee well-being support and a great pension. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

We actively welcome applications from anyone who shares our commitment to inclusion.

The Agency defines its portfolio as the activities that directly deliver value from space to the UK, plus business change programmes that involve a material allocation of Agency resource.  This definition includes the grants that the Agency oversees as well as projects delivered by the Agency.

The Portfolio Manager is instrumental in providing constant, continuous, multi-year alignment of delivery with strategy through approaches consistent with the Management of Portfolios practices, ensuring that the Agency optimises the allocation of resources to gain greatest value from spending the Agency’s budget in delivering our strategic outcomes.

This role is aligned to the G7 Portfolio Manager role in the Project Delivery Capability Framework. 

Key Responsibilities:

Working closely with the Head of Portfolio Management and Corporate Performance and Head of Strategy & Planning, the post holder will be responsible for:

• Project pipeline
  • Working with Corporate Strategy & Planning and business areas to implement ways to identify, categorise and prioritise new work elements for a decision on entry to the portfolio and provide regular updates on the pipeline to Delivery Board
  • Establishing and running portfolio-level change control
  • Leading, developing and implementing project prioritisation approaches for the Agency

• Business cases and assurance
  • Working with project teams to co-ordinate business case production ensuring appropriate specialist input and timing of approval through

• Planning, scheduling and resourcing
  • Developing and maintaining a multi-year year investment delivery road-map
  • Recommending how financial and other resources be allocated across change initiatives to optimise the organisation’s return on investment. Develop strategies to address resource gaps

• Risk and opportunity management
  • Identifying and monitor portfolio risks (threats and opportunities), planning and implementing responses to them and responding to other issues impacting the portfolio

• Benefits management
  • Supporting the development and maintenance of a Benefit Management Framework
  • Working with stakeholders to ensure that portfolio activities are aligned to the Benefit Management Framework
  • Establish ownership and responsibility within the business for benefit realisation
  • Review business cases to assess benefit realisation plans

• Team leadership
  • Line management of a small team of SEO and HEO Civil Servants and contractors, including driving their performance and development
  • Supporting managers in communicating, and building commitment to, a shared vision and sense of purpose for performance information

UK Space Agency Generic Responsibilities (This is a requirement of all posts)

• Ensure compliance with statutory and legal provisions as set out in the UK Space Agency’s policies and procedures. In particular in relation to: Financial Regulations, Equal Opportunities and Diversity, Health and Safety, Civil Service Code, Data Protection & the Official Secrets Act.
• Comply with the behaviours and standard requisites as relevant to your post as detailed in your job description, person specification and take responsibility for continuing self-development, participating in training and development activities as required or requested by your line manager.
• Attend meetings as required some of which may be outside normal working hours

The above mentioned tasks and responsibilities are neither inclusive nor exhaustive. The post holder may be called upon to carry out such other appropriate duties as may be required by the Chief Executive and/or senior officer(s) within the grading level of the post and the competence of the post holder.

• An experienced portfolio manager
• Strong analytical skills
• Good relationship management skills, with experience of building constructive relationships and influencing senior decision-makers across organisational boundaries.
• Good communication skills, with experience of using clear messages to raise buy-in to best practice standards and processes at all levels of an organisation.
• Resilience and adaptability to changing priorities and processes. Experience of delivering within a context of organisational change would be an advantage.

Essential experience:

• Recent experience of portfolio planning and prioritisation across complex environments
• Expertise in portfolio planning tools and techniques
• Significant experience in portfolio management and organisation-wide benefit realisation
• Line management experience

Essential qualifications:

• Management of Portfolios Practitioner

Desirable experience:

• Experience of grant management
• Experience in a governmental organisation
• Analytical and presentation skills to articulate the position and forecast of the portfolio highlighting risks, issues and opportunities
• Recent experience of supporting staff development and line management in order to deliver a new service with portfolio and directorate colleagues

Desirable qualifications:

• Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner
• APM Project Management Practitioner Qualifications
• APM or PMI Registered Project Professional
• APM Chartered Project Professional
• Project Leadership Programme
• P3O Practitioner
• Better Business Cases Practitioner

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Planning
• Frameworks and methodologies

UK Space Agency offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.

Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.

An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.

Access to a range of retail, travel, and lifestyle employee discounts.

A generous maternity/paternity and adoption leave package.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station which is based on business assessment of where the work is best done) and working from home, or elsewhere, as a personal choice (if the role is suitable for this).  If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

You must seek approval from your substantive manager before applying for any non-permanent vacancy, this includes applying for a new post during an existing temporary posting.  Please note that if applying for a temporary post within UK Space Agency or elsewhere on promotion, successful appointment will not automatically result in a permanent promotion – you will revert to your current substantive grade at the end of the Fixed Term or Loan period (unless funding has been approved to make the post permanent).

Job contact :

• Name : Matt Cocker
• Email : matt.cocker@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : uksarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk