GDT Strategy, Portfolio & Performance Lead

Unilever Brazil; Kingston upon Thames; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading multinational company in the UK is seeking a GDT Strategy, Portfolio & Performance Lead to drive digital initiatives that align with business priorities. This role focuses on shaping the digital strategy, managing portfolios, and ensuring project success metrics are defined and tracked effectively. The ideal candidate should possess strong strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and a robust background in managing large-scale digital transformations. Exceptional leadership and communication abilities are essential for stakeholder engagement and achieving business outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in managing OKR, performance, and collaboration with product teams.
• Strategic change management experience in complex organizations.
• Digital technology expertise and familiarity with current trends.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop and drive the regional digital strategy roadmap.
• Maintain portfolio performance and evaluate initiatives.
• Define success metrics and performance frameworks.
• Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders.
• Track value realization and drive accountability.

Skills

Global product / programme leadership

Digital expertise

Influencing

Strategic Thinking

Problem-Solving

Financial Acumen

Job description

Title: GDT Strategy, Portfolio & Performance Lead

Reporting into: Karla Hrabar

Location: Kingston / 100VE

Work Level: WL2C

Purpose of the Role

The Strategy, Portfolio & Performance Lead will partner with senior business leaders across Europe to shape and drive the digital strategy, working closely and aligning with product domain leaders, to ensure that digital initiatives directly enable business priorities and deliver measurable value. This role will establish a coherent portfolio approach—aligning programmes and projects to strategic outcomes, defining what success looks like, and embedding consistent performance management. The role will serve as a strategic orchestrator, bringing clarity, prioritisation, and focus to the digital agenda while identifying opportunities for optimisation, continuous improvement and driving insights into actions.

What will your main responsibilities be

Strategy Development & Alignment

• Work closely with European business and functional leaders to develop the regional digital strategy roadmap by understanding and translating BU strategy and context into a comprehensive view of the requirements and opportunities.
• Identify key capabilities and programmes which will realise impact of Europe and BUs, present a view of the GDT Portfolio by BG/BU to the BU CDIO and BU LT, with cost visibility, benefits realisation & deployment timelines.
• Ensure digital strategy is tightly aligned to broader business strategy, growth priorities, and market needs.
• Translate strategic objectives into actionable roadmaps, portfolio priorities, and clear value cases.

Fostering Innovation

• Collaborate with the BU and Domain Portfolio Lead to make decisions on project timings, structure and delivery. Support CDIO on Digital Transformation and Innovation.

Portfolio Management & Prioritisation

• Maintain portfolio performance, vision and strategy: Formulate clear vision and strategy with the BU teams to drive the Performance metrics of the Digital capabilities against the BU Priorities and goals.
• Evaluate initiatives against strategic fit, value, feasibility, and resource requirements to enable informed prioritisation with the product teams.
• Facilitate governance forums and decision‑making processes to drive alignment and resolve blockers.
• Identify synergies, gaps, interdependencies, and opportunities for consolidation or acceleration.

Performance Measurement & Value Realisation

• Create strong joined up Governance between BU and Products: Define success metrics and performance frameworks for digital programmes and projects, linking outputs to business impact.
• Co‑create and align measurement approach, ensuring consistent visibility of performance, risks, and dependencies.
• Partner with product owners and CDIOs to track value realisation, drive accountability, and course‑correct where needed.
• Track adoption & people dependent ROI of products deployed within the BU.
• Ensure necessary prioritisation decisions are provided on backlog.
• Use insights and data to identify opportunities to enhance delivery, remove barriers, and strengthen business outcomes.

Risk Management

• Identify and elevate risks related to digital initiatives to relevant business stakeholders. Track outcomes from now, Next and Beyond plan with BU Leadership teams.

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders, providing strategic guidance, insights, and challenge where required.
• Align stakeholders around shared priorities and maintain engagement across markets, categories, and functions.
• Enable a culture of transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement in how digital work is prioritised and executed.

Communication and Narrative Development

• Develop clear, compelling, and creative presentations that translate complex strategy, portfolio insights, and performance outcomes into executive‑ready narratives.
• Present confidently to senior stakeholders, ensuring clarity, influence, and engagement.

Continuous Improvement & Opportunity Identification

• Proactively identify areas where digital capabilities, processes, or operating models could enhance business performance.
• Recommend improvements to portfolio governance, strategic planning processes, and performance management frameworks.
• Introduce best practices and emerging methodologies for portfolio management, strategy execution, and value tracking.
• Continuous Alignment and Improvements: Advocate for User‑centric design. Facilitate UAT and drive superior experience to deliver value realization.

Experiences & Qualifications

• Critical Strategy thinking – must have managed OKR, Performance and working collaboration with Product teams.
• Strategic Change Management experience in large, complex organisations.
• Strategy Development.
• Experience in developing clear, compelling, and creative presentations that translate complex strategy, portfolio insights, and performance outcomes into executive‑ready narratives.
• Experience in digital, technology‑enabled transformation, or innovation portfolio management.
• Demonstrated ability to design and manage strategic planning cycles, portfolio governance frameworks, or performance dashboards.
• Technical Acumen – familiarity with digital technologies and technology trends.
• Strong leadership, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and interpersonal skills.
• Global Training and Learning delivery experience.
• Strong programme management and project management skills.
• Experience Driving Digital steer committee for one BG/BU.

Skills – [Skills List]

• Global product / programme leadership: Strong product / programme management skills, with experience in leading complex transformations across multiple geographies.
• Digital expertise: Strong understanding of what good likes like and how to achieve it across data, analytics, ai and/or consumer tech.
• Influencing: Excellent communication, collaboration and interpersonal skills.
• Strong presentation skills, presenting confidently to senior stakeholders, ensuring clarity, influence, and engagement.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and execute strategic plans that align with business objectives and drive transformation.
• Problem‑Solving: Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills to map processes and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Financial Acumen: P&L understanding, and experience managing budgets at a managerial level.

Leadership Skills – Unilever Behaviours

• PASSION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for execution and results. Generates intensity and focus to motivate people to deliver results at speed.
• PERSONAL MASTERY: Sets high standards for themselves. Actively builds own wellbeing and resilience.
• TALENT CATALYST: Invests in people – coaches individuals and teams to realize their full potential. Creates an inclusive climate, empowering everyone to be at their best. Inspires powerful teamwork and collaboration, connecting people for better results.
• CONSUMER LOVE: Brings the voice of the consumer into everything we do, always.
• BUSINESS ACUMEN: Creates opportunities for profitable growth through the core and beyond.