Executive Director, Strategic Portfolio Governance

SMBC Group; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

SMBC Group seeks an accomplished Transformation Portfolio Leader to govern and optimise the bank’s strategic change initiatives. You will provide executive-level insights, design and enforce governance, and ensure delivery alignment across regulatory, technology, and business domains.

You will lead multi-year programmes with focus on risk management, benefits tracking and strong stakeholder engagement, while shaping capacity planning and capability development across the transformation office.

Responsibilities

• Lead governance of the bank’s strategic transformation portfolio, providing Executive Management and governance committees with a clear, objective and forward-looking view of portfolio performance.
• Establish and maintain the portfolio governance framework covering initiation, prioritisation, funding, mobilisation, execution, stage gates, change control and closure.
• Ensure initiatives have clear outcomes, accountable executives, sponsors, governance, credible plans, resources and success measures; provide constructive challenge where these are insufficient.
• Ensure governance forums are decision- and action-oriented, with clear escalation, ownership and resolution of material issues.
• Maintain an integrated view across strategic, regulatory, technology, operational and business change and support senior management in prioritising investment and organisational capacity.
• Identify competing priorities, resource contention, interdependencies and concentration risks; recommend sequencing, acceleration, remediation, pause or termination where appropriate.
• Define practical, risk-based minimum standards for business cases, mobilisation, integrated planning, RAID, financials, resources, dependencies, scope/change, vendors, benefits, implementation readiness and closure.
• Establish a consistent project health methodology and conduct or commission targeted health reviews of strategically important or challenged programmes.
• Identify initiatives requiring management intervention and lead or support recovery and stabilisation of critical programmes.
• Own executive portfolio reporting covering delivery confidence, milestones, financial performance, risks, dependencies, resources, benefits and decisions required.
• Develop forward-looking indicators that expose emerging delivery risk before milestones are missed; ensure reporting provides insight and recommendations rather than aggregated status.
• Ensure credible investment forecasts, expenditure controls and benefit assumptions; challenge material variances and forecast accuracy with Finance and programme leadership.
• Strengthen accountability for measurable business outcomes and benefits, including post-implementation tracking and transparency where expected outcomes are not realised.
• Ensure transformation activity operates within the bank’s risk and control frameworks and that material programme risks are appropriately identified, governed and evidenced.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Finance, Technology, Operations and Internal Audit; support regulatory and audit reviews relating to transformation execution and governance.
• Establish portfolio-level visibility of programme and project resource demand, capacity constraints and critical capability gaps.
• Work with business and functional leadership to resolve resource conflicts and ensure priority initiatives are appropriately staffed.
• Lead and develop Programme Management, Project Management and Business Analysis capability, with clear role definitions, competency expectations and career pathways.
• Coach senior delivery leaders in executive communication, planning, risk management, stakeholder management and recovery of challenged programmes.
• Build a culture of ownership, transparency, constructive challenge, early escalation, delivery discipline and continuous improvement.

Job description

SMBC Group seeks an accomplished Transformation Portfolio Leader to govern and optimise the bank’s strategic change initiatives. You will provide executive-level insights, design and enforce governance, and ensure delivery alignment across regulatory, technology, and business domains.

You will lead multi-year programmes with focus on risk management, benefits tracking and strong stakeholder engagement, while shaping capacity planning and capability development across the transformation office.