Strategic Planning & Portfolio Manager

American Express Global Business Travel; Manchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement programs

Parental leave

Adoption assistance

Wellbeing resources

Job summary

Amex GBT in Manchester is seeking a seasoned PMO/Operations Planner to lead annual and rolling planning cycles, align capacity with travel demand, and drive the operations roadmap. You will helm governance cadences and oversee a portfolio of cross-functional projects from initiation through benefits realization.

The role requires 5+ years in PMO or operational planning, with strong proficiency in modern PM tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Monday.com) and excellent stakeholder communication

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations Management, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years in a PMO, project/program management, or operational planning role.
• Experience managing a portfolio of concurrent operational projects with tight timelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual and rolling operational planning cycles with capacity planning and workforce planning.
• Develop and maintain the operations roadmap across multiple teams.
• Establish planning governance cadences and track decisions to closure.
• Manage cross-functional projects from initiation to benefits realization.
• Define and enforce project management standards, templates, and methodologies.
• Track budgets, timelines, resourcing, and risks; escalate where needed.
• Facilitate steering committees and executive status reports and dashboards.
• Design and maintain operational performance reporting (SLAs, KPIs, productivity, quality).
• Communicate plans and progress clearly to stakeholders up to senior leadership.

Skills

PMO management

Capacity planning

Stakeholder communication

Budget tracking

Project governance

Portfolio management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business or related field

Tools

MS Project

Smartsheet

Jira

Monday.com

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Amex GBT is a place where colleagues find inspiration in travel as a force for good and – through their work – can make an impact on our industry. We’re here to help our colleagues achieve success and offer an inclusive and collaborative culture where your voice is valued.

What You’ll Do

• Lead annual and rolling operational planning cycles, including capacity planning, resource allocation, and workforce planning aligned to travel demand and seasonality.


• Develop and maintain the operations roadmap, ensuring visibility of priorities, dependencies, and milestones across teams (e.g., reservations, ticketing, service centers, supplier operations).


• Establish planning governance cadences (monthly/quarterly business reviews, steering committees) and ensure decisions and actions are tracked to closure.


• Manage a portfolio of cross-functional projects (e.g., process re-engineering, system implementations, new client onboarding into operations, automation initiatives) from initiation through to benefits realization.


• Define and enforce consistent project management standards, templates, and methodologies (e.g., RAID logs, charters, status reporting, stage gates) across the operations team.


• Track project budgets, timelines, resourcing, and risks; escal ...


• Facilitate steering committee and governance meetings, producing clear, executive-ready status reports and dashboards.


• Design and maintain operational performance reporting (SLAs, KPIs, productivity, and quality metrics) to support data-driven decision-making.


• Communicate plans, progress, risks, and outcomes clearly to stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership.

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations Management, or a related field (or equivalent experience).


• 5+ years of experience in a PMO, project/program management, or operational planning role, ideally within travel, travel management, aviation, hospitality, BPO, or a similarly service-intensive industry.


• Proven track record managing a portfolio of concurrent operational projects with competing priorities and tight timelines.


• Strong working knowledge of project management methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, or hybrid) and PMO governance practices.


• Experience with capacity/resource planning in an operations or contact-center-style environment.


• Advanced proficiency in project and planning tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Monday.com) and strong Excel/PowerPoint skills.

Location

Manchester, United Kingdom

The #TeamGBT Experience Work and life:

Work and life: Find your happy medium at Amex GBT. Flexible benefits are tailored to each country and start the day you do. These include health and welfare insurance plans, retirement programs, parental leave, adoption assistance, and wellbeing resources to support you and your immediate family. Travel perks: get a choice of deals each week from major travel providers on everything from flights to hotels to cruises and car rentals. Develop the skills you want when the time is right for you, with access to over 20,000 courses on our learning platform, leadership courses, and new job openings available to internal candidates first. We strive to champion Inclusion in every aspect of our business at Amex GBT. You can connect with colleagues through our global INclusion Groups, centered around common identities or initiatives, to discuss challenges, obstacles, achievements, and drive company awareness and action. And much more!

All applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to age, sex, gender (and characteristics related to sex and gender), pregnancy (and related medical conditions), race, color, citizenship, religion, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by law.

Furthermore, we are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities.

For details regarding how we protect your data, please consult the Amex GBT Recruitment Privacy Statement.

What if I don’t meet every requirement?

If you’re passionate about our mission and believe you’d be a phenomenal addition to our team, don’t worry about “checking every box; please apply anyway. You may be exactly the person we’re looking for!