AVP-Portfolio Planning & Execution

Embark on a transformative journey as an AVP-Portfolio Planning & Execution. At Barclays, our vision is clear –to redefine the future of banking and help craft innovative solutions. The USCB Value Management Office (VMO) is seeking an experienced person to support strategic investment planning, intake management, portfolio governance, and cross-functional prioritization across a multi-faceted technology and business portfolio. This role will serve as a key liaison between business stakeholders, technology teams, finance partners, and delivery organizations to enable informed investment strategies and effective portfolio execution.

To be successful in this role, you should have experience with:

• Lean Portfolio Management, Agile, SAFe, or Program Increment planning environment

• Portfolio governance, investment prioritization, business case readiness, and funding approval processes

• Facilitation and communication skills, including the ability to support prioritization, trade-off, risk, dependency, and capacity discussions

• Executive presence with the ability to influence senior stakeholders through data-driven recommendations and clear articulation of trade-offs

• Evaluative capability to track portfolio demand, investment status, sizing outcomes, risks, dependencies, and planning metrics

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Comfort using collaboration, planning, and workflow management tools such as Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, Excel, PowerPoint, or similar platforms

• Experience building or improving portfolio dashboards, planning reports, intake trackers, or demand pipeline views

• Ability to identify opportunities for tooling improvements, process automation, and practical use of AI to improve sizing, planning, reporting, and governance workflows

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in 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 Wilmington, DE.

Purpose of the role

To support 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 organization's strategic objectives. 

Accountabilities

• Facilitate portfolio prioritisation, ensuring the portfolio is compliant with the established control framework, including oversight of controls and standards.
• Support the effective governance of the portfolio, helping establish and operate effective Portfolio Governance that enables quality, data driven decision making, ensuring executive reporting is fit for purpose and timely.
• Monitor portfolio performance, including tracking of programme and project progress, identification of thematic portfolio risks and issues, and reporting on portfolio status to senior management and key stakeholders.
• Facilitate the management of the portfolio Book of Work, prioritisation and dependencies of change initiatives, considering factors like resource availability, stakeholder buy-in, and potential risks.
• Oversight of change delivery to ensure alignment with relevant policies and standards, driving consistent, robust controls data; monitoring indicators of control adherence, acting to remediate any weaknesses in the controls; and identifying and implementing actions to drive greater maturity against key control indicators.
• Review, resolve, manage and escalate portfolio risks and issues, challenging where appropriate and actively supporting the resolution of variances as necessary.
• Engage and influence all stakeholders to help them to understand their responsibilities and fulfil them effectively through clear, timely communication and well facilitated portfolio management processes.
• Support an environment of effective delivery by empowering portfolio management resources, utilising data led thinking to inform decisions, leverage expertise, and drive accountability and transparency.
• Operate as a source of best practice guidance and expertise, to ensure consistent excellence around controls, and  governance (including training) is embedded across the portfolio.

Assistant Vice President Expectations

• To advise and influence decision making, contribute to policy development and take responsibility for operational effectiveness. Collaborate closely with other functions/ business divisions.
• Lead a team performing complex tasks, using well developed professional knowledge and skills to deliver on work that impacts the whole business function. Set objectives and coach employees in pursuit of those objectives, appraisal of performance relative to objectives and determination of reward outcomes
• 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 lead collaborative assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will identify new directions for assignments and/ or projects, identifying a combination of cross functional methodologies or practices to meet required outcomes.
• Consult on complex issues; providing advice to People Leaders to support the resolution of escalated issues.
• Identify ways to mitigate risk and developing new policies/procedures in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Take ownership for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work done.
• Perform work that is closely related to that of other areas, which requires understanding of how areas coordinate and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the organisation sub-function.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategy.
• Engage in complex analysis of data from multiple sources of information, internal and external sources such as procedures and practises (in other areas, teams, companies, etc).to solve problems creatively and effectively.
• Communicate complex information. 'Complex' information could include sensitive information or information that is difficult to communicate because of its content or its audience.
• Influence or convince stakeholders 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.