Strategy and Planning COO - FS Experience Mandatory

JR United Kingdom; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the technology sector is seeking a Portfolio Strategy and Planning Lead to join their Chief Technology Office in Sheffield. This senior role involves managing complex global change portfolios, aligning strategic priorities, and engaging with senior stakeholders to drive the CTO's vision and strategy. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in strategic portfolio management, particularly within Financial Services technology, and demonstrate strong leadership and communication skills.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of strategic portfolio management experience, preferably in Financial Services technology.
• Proven ability to develop multi-year business cases exceeding $100m.
• Experience with annual operations plans and multi-million dollar global programs.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for overall delivery of strategic portfolio outcomes supporting business vision.
• Develop and maintain regular engagement with senior stakeholders at C-suite level.
• Assist in managing portfolio budgets for CTO's annual operating plan.

Skills

Strategic portfolio management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Problem-solving

Leadership

Job description

Strategy and Planning COO - FS Experience Mandatory, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Client: Square One Resources

Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Job Category: Other

EU work permit required: Yes

Job Views: 1

Posted: 23.05.2025

Expiry Date: 07.07.2025

Job Description:

Role Description:

Within our Chief Technology Office, the COO function supports the evolving needs of the CTO organisation through expert financial, business, and resource management. The change portfolio management function supports the alignment of CTO strategic priorities to execution by:

• Enabling decentralised delivery, minimising dependencies, and maximising collaboration across CTO Areas
• Managing demand more effectively, ensuring we are working towards the right strategic priorities
• Supporting alignment of funding and capacity to drive delivery of our strategic outcomes and OKRs
• Delivering streamlined governance and reporting through a simplified operating model

We are currently seeking an experienced professional to join our Change Portfolio team as Portfolio Strategy and Planning Lead. The role will report to the Head of CTO Change Portfolio Management and work closely with CTO Transformation and Change Leads and wider teams/stakeholders to deliver common objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the overall delivery of strategic portfolio outcomes supporting business vision and purpose through complex and global change portfolios.
• Owns CTO portfolio strategy and ensures organisational strategic requirements and priorities are understood, documented, and supported by technology architecture roadmaps and vendor strategy.
• Ownership and delivery of strategic planning cycles across change portfolios to ensure financial investment decisions support CTO long-term strategy, risk appetite, and align with strategy and future business/customer needs.
• Development of business cases and benefit validation to support transformation, strategic initiatives, and to enable rapid response to emerging threats and opportunities.
• Develop and maintain regular engagement with senior stakeholders at C-suite and director level to influence and deliver CTO vision and strategy.
• Support risk management across CTO by ensuring portfolio risks, issues, and dependencies are effectively managed and senior stakeholders are kept informed.
• Own and deliver portfolio-level reporting related to strategy and planning.
• Support leadership development within the CTO Change portfolio management team.
• Assist in managing portfolio budgets to help CTO meet its annual operating plan of approximately $2bn P&L across 65 countries, including identifying and delivering savings opportunities.
• Work with engineering teams to align supply with forecasted demand pipelines, ensuring CTO can meet its committed outcomes.
• Coordinate inter-program dependencies within Technology and ensure they are well understood and managed.
• Require 8+ years of strategic portfolio management or relevant experience, preferably within Financial Services technology functions and working with C-level executives.
• Demonstrate strong emotional intelligence and leadership, navigating organizational complexities and fostering a positive work culture.
• Proven experience in large-scale transformation projects.
• Knowledge of portfolio management principles and practices.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of articulating complex issues clearly at all levels.
• Proactive problem-solving skills, able to work under pressure and deliver promptly.
• Strong stakeholder management capabilities and ability to influence at all seniority levels.
• Deep understanding of financial and strategic planning.
• Experience with annual operations plans and multi-million dollar global programs.
• Proven ability to develop multi-year business cases exceeding $100m.
• Sound knowledge of infrastructure technology landscape and industry trends.
• Experience working within diverse global teams.
• Flexible and adaptable to changing priorities, schedules, and workloads, often in complex, time-sensitive environments.
• Demonstrated leadership and teamwork skills, with the ability to influence and encourage collaboration within and outside the team.