VP - Platform Portfolio Lead

Barclays; Whippany (NJ); On-site; USD 155,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Barclays in Whippany, NJ seeks a VP - Platform Portfolio Lead to define and drive the digital channels platform portfolio strategy, multi-year roadmap, and end-to-end execution. You will partner with senior business and technology leaders to align capabilities with priorities across architecture, engineering, product, risk, and compliance.

You will own enterprise-scale portfolio delivery, balance budgets, and govern complex programs while ensuring security, resilience, and regulatory alignment.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in delivering enterprise-scale technology portfolios and complex programs, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
• Extensive experience managing multi-million technology portfolios with on-time, on-budget delivery and measurable outcomes.
• Executive stakeholder engagement with ability to influence and communicate at senior levels.
• Deep expertise in Agile and scaled delivery frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban).
• Strong governance, portfolio planning, and data-driven decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio management team, setting portfolio vision and performance.
• Monitor progress, budgets, risks, and portfolio status reporting to senior management.
• Manage portfolio documentation, schedules, book of work, and budgets.
• Facilitate governance and ensure alignment with controls and strategic objectives.
• Manage the Book of Work, dependencies, resources, and risk; enable changemanagement and improvement.
• Collaborate with senior management, project teams, and external partners to meet business needs.
• Develop portfolio processes aligned with governance standards to support project delivery.

Skills

Portfolio leadership

Executive engagement

Agile/SAFe

P&L oversight

Financial services

Technical foundation

Certifications

Vendor management

Change management

Job description

Embark on a transformative journey as a VP - Platform Portfolio Lead. At Barclays, where our vision is to redefine the future of banking and drive innovative, scalable solutions. In this role, you will be accountable for defining and driving the overarching strategy, multi-year roadmap, and end-to-end execution of the digital channels platform portfolio. You will partner closely with senior business and technology stakeholders to align platform capabilities with enterprise priorities, ensuring delivery against strategic objectives. You will collaboration across cross-functional architecture, engineering, product, risk, and compliance teams to design, build, and continuously enhance secure, resilient, and scalable platforms. These platforms will support complex, industry-wide payment solutions while adhering to evolving regulatory and security standards.

To be successful as an VP - Platform Portfolio Lead, you should have:

• Proven leadership in delivering enterprise-scale technology portfolios and complex programs, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives
• Considerable record of achievement of managing multi-million pound technology portfolios with consistent on-time, on-budget delivery and measurable outcomes
• Effective executive stakeholder engagement, with ability to influence and communicate at executive and senior leadership levels
• Deep expertise in Agile and scaled delivery frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban) to drive efficient and adaptive execution
• Considerable strategic, financial, and governance acumen, including portfolio planning, P&L oversight, risk management, and data-driven decision-making

Other Highly Valued Skills Include

• Ample financial services expertise with deep understanding of banking operations, regulatory frameworks, and industry challenges
• Solid technical foundation across software engineering, architecture, and infrastructure domains
• Relevant industry certifications spanning Agile, Product, Portfolio Management, and Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure)
• Proven experience managing vendors, third-party suppliers, and strategic partnerships across large-scale engagements
• Demonstrated strength in driving enterprise transformation, change management, and corporate technology domain programs

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in this role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking, digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role is located in our Whippany, NJ office.

Minimum Salary: $155,000

Maximum Salary: $225,000

The minimum and maximum salary/rate information above includes only base salary or base hourly rate. It does not include any other type of compensation or benefits that may be available.

Barclays employees are eligible for a suite of competitive and generous employee benefits, including medical, dental and vision coverage, 401(k), life insurance, and other paid leave for qualifying circumstances.

This position is eligible for an incentive award.

Purpose of the role

To lead the portfolio management team in the delivery of successful projects, while ensuring that portfolio management processes and practices are aligned with controls and governance standards and that projects are aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Accountabilities

• Leading of portfolio management team, including setting of portfolio vision, management of portfolio performance, and provision of guidance and support to portfolio analysts.
• Monitoring of portfolio performance, including tracking of project progress, managing budgets, identification of thematic risks and issues, and reporting on portfolio status to senior management.
• Management of portfolio documentation, including aggregation of portfolio book of work, schedules, and budgets, and ensuring that portfolio documentation is up-to-date and accurate.
• Facilitation of portfolio governance, including ensuring that projects are aligned with the organisation’s strategic objectives, aligned with the controls and governance standards and that portfolio thematic risks and issues are managed effectively.
• Managing the portfolio Book of Work outlining the sequence and dependencies of change initiatives, considering factors like resource availability, stakeholder buy-in, and potential risks.
• Facilitation of change management activities, to ensure that change initiatives are successfully implemented and embedded in the organisation.
• Continuous improvement of portfolio management practices, including identification of areas for improvement and implementation of changes to improve portfolio performance.
• Collaboration with stakeholders, including senior management, project teams, and external partners, to ensure that portfolio management practices are aligned with their needs and expectations.
• Development of portfolio management processes that are aligned with controls and governance standards and that support the delivery of successful projects.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and elevate breaches of policies/procedures.
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.