Investment Portfolio Planning Lead

Summary:

Do you have a track record of bridging the gap between high-level business strategy and ground-level project schedules?

Do you have the expertise in portfolio planning to balance the competing priorities of customers, regulators, and shareholders in a highly regulated sector?

The Investment Portfolio Planning Lead is a critical role within the central hub of the South East Water IPMO, accountable for ensuring effective planning of SEW activity at Portfolio, Programme and Project Level. They will ensure there is a clear line of sight from the Business Plan, through Annual Planning cycles and into individual schemes and facilitate the development of optimised Regional delivery programmes that balance the needs of Customers, Regulators and Shareholders.

Operating within a highly regulated business delivering a Capital Programme in excess of £1billion, you will own the development, maintenance, and analysis of all project and portfolio schedules. You will engage with various 'spokes' of the business to break down silos, ensuring scheduling consistency across the enterprise.

Without this role, South East Water would lack a 'single source of truth' for time-related data, compromising the ability of senior leadership to make informed strategic decisions regarding the delivery of its capital investment programme to deliver best value for its customers and its regulatory commitments.

Main responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain the comprehensive portfolio schedule structure in P6 to provide a 'single source of truth' for project timelines.

• Analyse schedule performance and critical paths to identify early warnings of slippage and enable timely corrective action.

• Define and govern scheduling standards and hierarchies to ensure consistency and data integrity across all business 'spokes'.

• Collaborate with the Reporting Lead to visualize schedule data to provide actionable insights for senior leadership decision-making.

• Mentor and coach project teams on planning best practices to uplift scheduling capability across South East Water.

• Lead the continuous improvement of the planning discipline to ensure the PMO adapts to changing business needs.

• Integrate schedule data with risk and cost datasets to ensure a holistic view of project health.

• Lead schedule recovery planning during periods of significant variance to minimize impact on regulatory commitments.

• Integrate with other business teams on the creation of PR29 to ensure the SEW Business case can be effectively delivered, tracked and managed through AMP9.

• Connect Operations, Engineering, Water Quality and Water Resource teams through a Regional plan that is continuously reviewed for effectiveness and delivery opportunities.

You'll need:
Skills / Qualifications / Experience

• Degree or equivalent professional experience.

• Relevant professional training in Project Planning and Scheduling (e.g., APM, PMI-SP) or equivalent in-work training.

• Advanced technical certification or equivalent proficiency in Primavera P6.

• Training in project management methodologies (e.g., PRINCE2, APM) or equivalent provable experience.

• Clear demonstration of developed/developing leadership skills and capabilities.

• Expert in management skills required to develop a high performing team of Direct Reports.

• Ability to demonstrate strong strategic thinking to understand, control and facilitate delivery of the SEW Capital Portfolio with instinct for when to dig deeper to help course correct.

• Expert stakeholder manager and adaptive influencer to align multiple different parties in pursuit of target business outcomes.

• Expertise or developing expertise in leading and delivering assurance activities that enable maturity of core governance processes and outcomes.

• Problem-solving skills to identify root causes of performance variance.

• Demonstrable ability to ensure enterprise-wide effective escalation, enabling effective decision-making at all levels of the organisation.

• The ability to manage and influence all levels of stakeholders and build collaborative partnerships across business teams.

• Adaptive communication to successfully tailor complex messages to varied audiences.

• Expert-level proficiency in Primavera P6 software.

• Leadership for the planning discipline with the ability to mentor and coach staff.

• Ability to integrate schedule data with cost and risk functions.

• Proven experience leading planning functions for major capital programmes.

• Extensive operational knowledge of establishing scheduling standards and maintaining baseline integrity.

• Significant experience facilitating planning workshops and engaging with stakeholders across a matrixed organisation.

Employees are required to be flexible and to be prepared to perform duties and other tasks within their capabilities. The nature of our business is such that the contents of any job profile are subject to change from time to time.

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Grow a career with a meaningful purpose.

We know the communities we serve are diverse. We recognise creativity comes from diversity not similarity. That’s why we are enthusiastic about creating inclusion across age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity. You will experience our dedication to equal opportunities and fair treatment for all: through your recruitment, employment and career progression with South East Water.

Benefits package:

• Excellent Stakeholder pension scheme, up to 10% employer contribution.

• 5 weeks holiday plus bank holidays per annum, increasing to 6 weeks with length of service.

• Flexible annual leave policy to buy or sell holiday leave.

• Paid volunteering days.

• Cycle to work scheme.

• Health cash plan.

• Life assurance.

• Wellbeing related benefits.

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What can you expect from your recruitment?

• To apply for this position, please submit your CV on our career’s website.

• It is necessary for you to have the legal right to work in the UK when you begin employment with South East Water.

• Additionally, as part of the employment offer, you will need to pass background, identity, and employment referencing checks.

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If this sounds like the opportunity you’ve been looking for, apply now!

South East Water kindly asks that recruitment agencies refrain from submitting CVs to our employees or associates without explicit invitation from our HR Resourcing team. CVs sent on a speculative basis will not be acknowledged and will not assume any responsibility for fees or commissions in the event that we hire a candidate who applied directly or subsequently introduced by an instructed agency.

Compensation package:

£77,000 - £90,000 p.a. dependant on experience