Head of Portfolio Office

Saffery LLP; Daliburgh; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

E-bikes for staff

Sports and social events

Job summary

Saffery Trust in Guernsey seeks a Head of Portfolio Office on a fixed-term contract. You will establish and run the portfolio office, govern three strategic initiatives, and work hands-on across delivery with senior sponsors.

The role combines PMO, governance and reporting, requiring practical execution and strong stakeholder engagement. Length of contract: three months, then month-to-month up to six months, with full-time hours initially.

Qualifications

• Has run a portfolio office, PMO or transformation office in regulated financial services.
• Has set up governance from a written framework in a firm small enough to build the pack themselves.
• Hands-on: writes the packs and reports personally and does practical project work.
• Credible with directors and boards, and able to hold senior sponsors to account.
• A track record of handing over to internal staff rather than creating dependency, with interim or fixed-term references.
• Working knowledge of AML/regulatory change in GFSC environments is an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Lead the STO day-to-day for the contract and maintain a section-by-section log of governance.
• Rework and agree pilot Initiative Cards with Executive Sponsors: benefits, hours, costs, milestones, and done definition.
• Build and maintain a consolidated portfolio view and risk/issue/dependency log.
• Prepare and issue the monthly portfolio pack for Committee sessions and drive actions to closure.
• Run weekly working groups, track progress, chase actions and support practical project work.
• Agree measures for each initiative's benefits with sponsor and Finance and report progress.
• Record the model costs to run and support sizing of a permanent role.
• Deliver familiarisation and sponsor briefings and handover to internal counterpart.
• Prepare the quarterly Board report and present to the Managing Director.
• Deliver a final written verdict on framework viability and any permanent role form.

Skills

Portfolio PMO

Governance

Stakeholder management

Credible with directors

Handover to internal staff

AML/regulatory awareness

Education

PRINCE2

MSP

MoP

P3O

APM ChPP

PMI PfMP

Job description

Head of Portfolio Office

Department: Transformation

Employment Type: Fixed Term Contract

Location: Guernsey

Reporting To: Director

Description

Who we are

Saffery Trust is a director-led firm of individually expert, collectively exceptional people. We help clients to optimise their personal and business wealth and to create lasting legacies. We have the freedom and agility to act in the moment, and the wisdom and experience to plan for the long-term.

Established in Guernsey in 1977, we are one of the largest independent private client firms in the island. As an accredited STEP Platinum Employer Partner, we offer great benefits, including:

• a competitive salary
• flexible working and dress for your day policies
• e-bikes free for staff use and opportunities to take part in green initiatives
• regular sports and social events as well as opportunities to support local charities

The role

This is a hands-on role supporting the delivery of three strategic group-wide initiatives (IC4, IC6 and IC9). The successful candidate will help establish and run the portfolio office function, ensuring effective governance, reporting and delivery. The role combines project and portfolio management expertise with practical execution and stakeholder support, requiring active involvement in day-to-day delivery rather than oversight alone.

Length of contract: three months, then month by month up to a maximum of six months

Working hours: full-time for the first two weeks, then three days per week

The responsibilities

You’ll be working in a friendly and progressive environment as part of the team, with responsibilities across a broad range of areas. You’ll:

• Lead the STO day to day for the contract, running it on the framework as written and without reference to its authors, and keep a section-by-section log of where the document works, where it is silent and where it is wrong.
• In the first fortnight, rework and agree the three pilot Initiative Cards with their Executive Sponsors: benefits, internal hours, cash cost, external help, milestones and definition of done. All three cards have moved since they were written; nothing enters governance until its card is agreed.
• Build and maintain the single portfolio view (consolidated status reports, milestone chart and the portfolio risk, assumption, issue, and dependency log) using the framework's templates and status scheme, so that every forum works from the same numbers.
• Prepare and issue the monthly portfolio pack for the relevant Committee session that acts as the framework's Steering Committee, with the decisions required stated plainly; act as secretary, record decisions and actions, and drive them to closure between meetings. At least two full cycles within the contract.
• Run the weekly working groups for the three initiatives: track progress, identify blockages, chase agreed actions, elevate anything unresolved after a week, and support practical project work (requirements, supplier follow-up, preparing acceptance) where agreed with the sponsor, drawing on our virtual CTO, who keeps technical authority. Sponsors keep accountability for outcomes.
• Agree the starting position and measures for each initiative's benefits with its sponsor and Finance and report progress against them.
• Record what the model costs to run: hours from this role, sponsors and leads, decisions taken and escalations raised, so that we can size the permanent role on evidence rather than assumption.
• Deliver the short familiarisation and sponsor briefing the framework describes, and coach a named internal counterpart so that they can run the next cycle unaided.
• Prepare the quarterly Board report the framework requires, for the Managing Director to present.
• By the end of the contract, deliver a written verdict on the framework: what worked, what is too heavy for a firm of our size, what must change, and whether a permanent role is justified and in what form (full-time, part-time or internal), with a handover pack for the internal owner.

You

• Has run a portfolio office, project management office (PMO) or transformation office in regulated financial services. Trust, fiduciary, fund administration, or wealth management strongly preferred.
• Has set up or reset governance (steering committee, initiative business cases, benefits tracking) from a written framework, in a firm small enough that they built the pack themselves.
• Hands-on: writes the packs and reports personally and does practical project work when an initiative needs it.
• Credible with directors and boards, and able to hold senior sponsors to account.
• A track record of handing over to internal staff rather than creating dependency, with interim or fixed-term references for outcome-based work.
• Working knowledge of AML and regulatory change in a GFSC environment is an advantage, not a requirement.

Ideally holds one of the below qualifications but this is not essential:

• Projects IN Controlled Environments (PRINCE2)
• Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
• Management of Portfolios (MoP)
• Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices (P3O)
• Association for Project Management (APM ChPP)
• Portfolio Management Professional (PMI PfMP)