Digital Portfolio Manager - 2 Year FTA

Details

Reference number

473150

Salary

£44,620 - £52,090

The base salary of this grade is £47,355 for London and £44,620 for other locations.

GBP

Job grade

Senior Executive Officer

Contract type

Fixed term

Length of employment

2 Years

Business area

GDS - Digital Centre Design

Type of role

Digital

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours

Number of jobs available

4

Contents

Location

About the job

Benefits

Things you need to know

Apply and further information

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

joining up public sector services

harnessing the power of AI for the public good

strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure

elevating leadership and investing in talent

funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation

committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

Job description

As a Digital Portfolio Manager in Service Transformation, you will play a key role in supporting team delivery, embedding appropriate tracking, and reporting to our central PMO across multiple disciplines. All in support of our central mission to provide people across the public sector with the skills, tools, guidance, and knowledge they need to build better public services.

You will have a sound knowledge and experience of using tracking software, particularly Jira, as well as an excellent understanding of operational delivery, organisational governance and management information reporting.

As a Digital Portfolio Manager, you’ll:

establish and maintain portfolio governance, reporting and management information processes, providing accurate insight to support monthly, quarterly and annual business planning and decision making

support Senior Managers and Deputy Directors to prioritise work, manage dependencies, identify critical paths and balance resources across a portfolio of complex digital initiatives

provide portfolio assurance and performance oversight, identifying risks, issues and emerging delivery concerns, supporting senior leaders to make informed decisions and maintain delivery confidence

manage portfolio financial activities including forecasting, budget monitoring, purchase order management, receipting, spend reporting and value for money assessments, working closely with Finance and Commercial colleagues

develop executive dashboards, reporting and portfolio insights, tracking outcomes, benefits and performance measures to demonstrate progress against strategic objectives

foster a culture of continuous improvement and successful delivery by strengthening ways of working, supporting workforce planning, removing blockers and building effective relationships across multidisciplinary teams

Person specification

We are looking for a candidate who:

has demonstrable experience working in complex programme, portfolio or transformation environments, applying agile and lean practices to support governance, prioritisation, dependency management, workforce planning and delivery oversight

is comfortable operating in ambiguous and changing environments, helping teams and senior leaders adapt to evolving priorities while maintaining focus on delivery outcomes

has experience developing and embedding portfolio management processes, tooling and reporting that improve visibility, consistency and delivery confidence across multidisciplinary teams

can analyse complex delivery, financial, workforce and performance information, providing clear and evidence based recommendations to support effective decision making

has strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, building productive relationships across delivery, product, policy, finance, commercial and operational teams to resolve issues and drive alignment

has experience of portfolio financial management and assurance, including forecasting, budget oversight, spend monitoring, risk management and ensuring value for money across a programme or portfolio

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours

a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%

25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days

an extra day off for the King’s birthday

an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance

career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development

a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme

job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK

advances on pay, including for travel season tickets

death in service benefits

cycle to work scheme and facilities

access to an employee discounts scheme

10 learning days per year

volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)

access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and to answer 2 application questions

a 45 minute video interview

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: Tell us about a time where you managed a portfolio of projects in a complex organisation. What problems did you face and how did you overcome them?

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours

making effective decisions

communicating and influencing

delivering at pace

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Digital Portfolio Manager role:

Agile working

Governance and Assurance

Stakeholder relationship management

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: Week commencing 3rd of August 2026

Panel interviews: Starting from week commencing 10th August 2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals

nationals of the Republic of Ireland

nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.