Overview
Deputy Portfolio Director – Strand, London, WC2R 2LS
About us:
The Campus Futures portfolio is one of the university’s most significant transformation initiatives, central to delivering Strategy 2030 through future-ready campuses aligned to the academic vision. The portfolio encompasses large scale capital planning and delivery including developing longer term master planning across all campuses, introduction of cultural change via new ways of working and interdependencies with strategic planning across all faculties and professional services
The Deputy Portfolio Director provides senior strategic leadership across the full portfolio, operating with delegated decision-making authority within agreed parameters on behalf of the Campus Futures leadership team. The role drives delivery at scale across multiple projects and programmes, working directly with faculty leadership and executive stakeholders to shape priorities and ensure alignment with institutional strategy.
Spanning major capital investment, long-term master planning, and organisation-wide transformation, the portfolio involves complex interdependencies across faculties, professional services, and external partners.
Working with the Campus Futures Academic and Portfolio leads the postholder has accountability for integration, governance, performance, and benefits realisation across Campus Futures activity. The post holder will be required to build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels optimising delivery, resources, and outcomes across the whole portfolio ensuring high quality delivery and realisation of benefits aligned to the ambitions of Strategy 2030.
About the role:
The postholder will be expected to take on the following responsibilities:
Leadership, Decision-Making & Portfolio Accountability
- Provide day-to-day portfolio-level leadership, management and decision-making across Campus Futures, working as part of the senior portfolio leadership team and reporting to the Transformation Programme Director.
- Make decisions across projects and programmes within agreed parameters on behalf of the Campus Futures leadership team
- Work directly with faculty leadership and senior institutional stakeholders, helping to shape strategic direction and ensuring delivery of outcomes.
Line Management & Leadership
- Line manage a team of Deputy Programme Directors, ensuring consistent leadership, performance, and delivery standards across all programmes.
- Provide leadership across the full portfolio, fostering cohesion, clarity, and accountability across multiple delivery teams.
Portfolio Integration & Delivery
- Lead the integration and coordination of multiple programmes and projects, ensuring alignment to strategic priorities and interdependencies are actively managed, and acting as a senior escalation point for risks and issues.
- Operate at a level of complexity beyond individual programme leadership, ensuring cross-portfolio optimisation delivery, and outcomes.
- Lead elements of programme design, delivery planning and prioritisation, coordinating resources and managing key dependencies, taking the lead on specific projects or programmes of work as required.
Business Cases & Financial Scope
- Assisting in the development of portfolio-level business cases, investment strategies, and impact assessments, including oversight of resource allocation across the Campus Futures portfolio.
- Ensure visibility and control of significant financial investment across multiple programmes, driving value and affordability at scale.
Governance & Reporting
- Support portfolio and programme governance, including reporting, risk and issue management, financial management, change control and assurance activities.
Benefits & Performance Management
- Embed a portfolio-wide benefits realisation framework, ensuring consistent tracking, reporting, and delivery of strategic outcomes, aligned to the wider Transformation Office framework.
- Oversee performance across programmes, ensuring delivery of measurable impact aligned to Strategy 2030.
Stakeholder Management
- Build and maintain trusted, influential relationships with Estates and Facilities, internal and external stakeholders, including senior academic leaders, professional services, and delivery partners.
- Represent Campus Futures at senior governance forums and externally where required.
Ways of Working & Standards
- Develop and embed standardised policies and procedures across Campus Futures and related professional services for project planning and delivery
- Coordinate activities across multiple project teams, ensuring alignment with Transformation Office methodologies and standards
- Contribute to broader Transformation Office initiatives and cross university strategic work.
- Champion inclusive leadership, collaborative working and the university’s values.
- Lead the exploration and adoption of AI solutions to enhance portfolio management, reporting, and assurance capabilities
- Work in partnership with professional services and faculty teams, in particular with Estates and Facilities colleagues.
This is a full-time, indefinite contract role (35 hours per week) with a hybrid working arrangement, requiring two days on campus and three days remote each week.
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