Portfolio Support Office

Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority; Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

LGPS

Flexible and hybrid working

Health and wellbeing support from Nov

Professional development and career成长

Perkbox benefits

Job summary

Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority is seeking a Portfolio Officer to provide consistent coordination, information and control across projects and programmes. You’ll support the Portfolio Office in maintaining records and governance, while helping teams track risks, actions and dependencies to deliver high-quality services.

The role involves organising meetings, producing dashboards, and supporting financial, procurement and stakeholder activities within a devolved public-sector

Qualifications

• Experience coordinating projects, programmes or workstreams in complex organisations.
• Strong understanding of project management tools, plans, risks, issues and reporting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to present information clearly.

Responsibilities

• Support the Portfolio Office with records, reporting cycles, governance schedules and MI.
• Assist project and programme delivery from mobilisation to closure, ensuring clear plans and actions.
• Maintain accurate project information: plans, logs, RAID, lessons learned and registers.
• Coordinate meetings, workshops, governance activity, agendas, minutes and action tracking.
• Prepare project reporting products: highlight reports, dashboards and briefing notes.
• Support procurement, budget trackers and supplier information where required.
• Support stakeholder coordination and communications and manage engagement materials.

Skills

Project coordination

Microsoft 365

Stakeholder management

Governance

Reporting

Tools

Microsoft 365

Job description

Are you looking for a role where you can help shape something new, make a visible difference and work alongside people who care deeply about their place? If so, HSCCA could be a brilliant next step. We are building a new Combined County Authority for Hampshire and the Solent, bringing together partners across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton to bring investment to the region and to create opportunities for our people, places, communities and businesses.

Please note, while the full salary range is shown, most new starters join at the start of the band. Higher starting salaries may be considered where a candidate brings significant relevant skills, experience, or expertise.

The Role

As a Portfolio Officer, you’ll be providing consistent coordination, information and control, the role will help Project Managers, Programme Managers and the Portfolio Office maintain clear plans, accurate records, effective governance and proportionate project controls.

Sitting within HSCCA’s wider delivery model, the Portfolio Support Officer will strengthen the practical routines that enable projects to move forward with clarity and discipline. It will support teams to track risks, issues, actions, dependencies, milestones and evidence in a way that is organised, accessible and useful.

What you’ll be doing?

In this role, you’ll play a crucial part in ensuring our teams have the tools, knowledge, and processes they need to deliver a high-quality service. You will:

• Support the Portfolio Office in maintaining portfolio-wide records, reporting cycles, governance schedules, and management information, ensuring consistent and accurate information across all projects and programmes.
• Support project and programme delivery from mobilisation to closure, helping to establish and maintain clear plans, actions, decisions, risks, issues, dependencies, documents and evidence of progress.
• Maintain accurate project information and controls, including plans, action logs, decision records, RAID information, lessons learned, document registers and reporting trackers.
• Coordinate meetings, workshops and governance activity, including scheduling, agendas, minutes, action tracking, papers, decision records and follow-up with owners.
• Prepare and update project reporting products, including highlight reports, dashboards, trackers, briefing notes, delivery packs and information for project, programme and portfolio governance.
• Support financial, procurement and supplier administration where required, including purchase orders, budget trackers, supplier information, approvals and value-for-money evidence.
• Support stakeholder coordination and communications activity, including engagement materials, contact lists, mailbox management, responses, workshops and follow-up actions.

What you’ll bring?

We’re looking for someone with:

• Experience supporting projects, programmes, workstreams or service improvement activity in a complex organisation or partnership environment.
• Good understanding of project management tools and techniques, including plans, action logs, risks, issues, dependencies, change control, reporting and document management.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing tasks, meet deadlines, follow up actions and keep accurate records.
• Ability to coordinate meetings, workshops and governance activity, including preparation of agendas, minutes, decision records and action tracking.
• Ability to collate, interpret and present information clearly, including project data, progress updates, dashboards, trackers and briefing material.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce accessible written materials for different audiences.
• Confident user of Microsoft 365 tools, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel and PowerPoint, with the ability to maintain well-structured digital records.
• Experience working in local government, combined authorities, central government, public bodies, regulated sectors or partnership environments.
• Experience supporting transformation, devolution, transport, skills, economic development, infrastructure, digital or service-change projects would be desirable.

We do not expect you to meet every one of these criteria. If you are genuinely excited by this role and bring most of what we are looking for, we want to hear from you.

Why join the HSCCA?

We are building the HSCCA on the basis that how we work is as important as what we deliver. We want people who bring enthusiasm, drive, and authenticity - who are proactive, open to challenge, and motivated by progress rather than process. We value collaborative leadership: the ability to bring people together across organisational boundaries, respect the expertise of others, and create shared direction without needing to own everything.

We act in line with the Nolan Principles. We use public money responsibly, make evidence-based decisions, and hold ourselves to high standards of integrity, inclusion, and accessibility. We expect feedback to be given and received constructively, challenge to be welcomed, and relationships to be built on openness, trust, and mutual respect.

This is a complex, fast-moving environment. We need people who are energised by that.

What the HSCCA will offer in return?

Joining Hampshire and the Solent Combined County Authority (HSCCA) is an opportunity to help shape a newly established public service organisation as it takes on new responsibilities devolved from Government. You will have a genuine voice in how we develop, while working on high-profile projects that positively impact communities, businesses and the wider region.

Our reward package

• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), with a current employer contribution rate of 18.1%, life cover and family benefits, flexible retirement options, and the opportunity to make Additional Voluntary Contributions.
• A competitive salary and generous annual leave allowance, in addition to public holidays:
• Grades T/A–E: 30 days, increasing to 32 days after five years’ service
• Grades F–K: 32 days, increasing to 34 days after five years’ service
• Flexible and hybrid working, with a minimum of two days per week in the office, helping you balance work and personal commitments while remaining connected with colleagues.
• Health and wellbeing support from November 2026, including online GP access seven days a week, an Employee Assistance Programme, confidential counselling and wellbeing resources.
• Investment in your professional development and leadership growth, with opportunities to develop new skills, broaden your experience and help shape our policies, processes and ways of working.
• Perkbox benefits from November 2026, including retail and lifestyle discounts, savings on home electronics, a Cycle to Work scheme, health and wellbeing offers, and financial wellbeing resources.
• Purposeful and influential work, collaborating with local authority partners, central government and regional stakeholders to make a positive difference across Hampshire and the Solent.
• A supportive leadership team committed to creating an organisation where people feel valued, supported and able to thrive.

The HSCCA is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone feels valued and able to thrive.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences, particularly those currently underrepresented in our workforce. This includes people from ethnic minority communities, disabled and neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ people, parents and carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

We are committed to removing barriers to employment. If you require a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know so that we can support you.

Selection process

Your application will progress through the following stages:

• Application Review

Your CV and supporting documents will be reviewed by Reed Recruitment against the essential criteria outlined in the Skills & Experience section of this advert.

Please ensure your CV clearly demonstrates how you meet the required criteria in order to be considered.

• Telephone Interview

If shortlisted, you will be invited to an initial telephone interview.

• Face-to-face Interview

If shortlisted, you will be invited to an initial telephone interview. During this stage, you will be assessed against the Skills & Experience criteria and your overall suitability for the position.

This is the final stage of the selection process and will determine the outcome of your application.

• Feedback

Feedback will be provided following the final face-to-face interview stage.

Please note that feedback is only available to candidates who attend the final stage interview stage. Successful candidates will then be considered for an offer.

Further information

As a Disability Confident Committed employer, we run a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants. If you meet the essential criteria listed in the job description for this position and would like to be considered under this scheme, please state this in your application.

All data collected is anonymous and has zero bearing on your application. If there is anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let the recruitment team know.

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. As part of this, we use anonymous shortlisting to ensure candidates are assessed solely on their skills, experience, and suitability for the role.