Portfolio Demand Manager

Demand Manager

Contract - 3 months initially - May convert to permanent

Start - ASAP

Location - Remote initially - Dublin occasionally thereafter

Details of the Role.

This role is part of the Strategy Planning & PMO team and is reporting into the Strategy Planning & PMO Manager. The team is responsible for leading the coordination of the strategy & portfolio and delivery planning across the Irish business.

The role of the Demand Manager is a new role in the organisation and is responsible for managing the central demand management process which acts a single front door for all Portfolio requests (capex and resources). Supporting the design of initiatives and aligning the demand to the strategic priorities of the business.

Primary point of contact for business owners and delivery partners across Technology & the Business in shaping prioritised projects to move them into delivery and speed up delivery timelines.

Secondary objective to support high level sizing of new asks to place on the backlog.

Main responsibilities.

• Manage the process that takes in initiatives, validate concepts, assess delivery flow and flow sizing of initiatives.
• Works with the Portfolio Manager to line up the projects on the Outline Delivery Plan to bring through the Flow Assessment Process ensuring the front end of the delivery pipeline is optimised.
• Support business owners through the front end of the delivery process until the initiative is approved into delivery or is placed on the Portfolio backlog.
• Ensure initiatives meet the demand criteria.
• Supporting delivery partners in managing what flows through to the delivery teams is shaped and prioritised for delivery, resources are assigned and brought into the ODP (Outline Delivery Plan).
• Facilitates the creation of technical and business requirements to agreed specifications by working closely with appropriate delivery managers, analysts, architects to ensure demand is prioritised and scheduled in line with business requirements.
• Collaborates with Finance and the business owner to produce a business case or benefits profile on each initiative.
• Actively manages the Prioritisation ranking of the backlog and works in collaboration with the Portfolio manager on the rolling multi-year portfolio plan and ODP (outline delivery plan)
• Reporting on progress to senior stakeholders
• Works in conjunction with the Portfolio manager on quarterly and annual planning cycles in conjunction Finance aligned to budget timelines.
• Ensures collaboration and a focus on the delivery of business outcomes is at the heart of all planning activities.
• Works closely with peers and internal customers to ensure alignment of ways of working and planning processes.

Skills & Experience.

• Will have a Growth Mindset. Comfortable working with a backdrop of change which may mean operating at times out of our comfort zone to enable growth and evolution.
• Someone who is curious and has an approach to continuously learning, adapting and pivoting as we continue to evolve the management of our Portfolio to align to the company's strategic objectives.
• Establishing relationships, analysing perspectives, and managing stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Adapting stakeholder engagement style to meet the needs of different audiences.

• Demonstrates the ability to use insight to track performance and support quality decision making. Able to articulate the benefits or drawbacks of such decisions.
• Experience in using simple rules and frameworks underpinned by purpose, trust and transparency, to deliver business planning outcomes within a complex environment.
• Demonstrates pragmatic approach to decision making, maximising value opportunity whilst minimising business disruption and risk.
• Experience in identifying and implementing an approach of continuous improvement to all planning activities with a clear focus on maximising the flow of valuable work.
• Strong visualisation and communication skills. Demonstrates ability to gain shared understanding through visualisation.
• Experience of working with teams using a wide variety of change frameworks and methodologies (such as traditional waterfall and iterative/agile delivery methods, architecture frameworks and process improvement methods).
• Will have worked directly with teams delivering change in a complex organisation, including programme and project management/delivery, portfolio management, strategy, financial planning and enterprise architecture.
• May have experience of working in a number of different functions and industries.

Project People is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.