Head of Grants Portfolio Management Office Position Available In Darlington, South Carolina

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the department for economic growth. We support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country.

We:

Advise, support, and promote British businesses to grow and export. Shape our rules to ensure businesses thrive, markets are competitive, and consumers are protected. Open up new markets for businesses by removing barriers and striking trade deals. Secure global investment from businesses and investors. Champion free trade, economic security, and resilient supply chains. This role presents an opportunity to work at the heart of the Grants Delivery Directorate (GDD) in DBT. The department operates a broad portfolio of grants with a lifetime budget of over £30bn. These schemes support many of the department’s priority industries and sectors. GDD has been established as a centre of excellence for grant and funding delivery within the department. GDD works closely with colleagues from policy, finance, analysis and legal, as well as industry experts, to award and monitor grants across a wide range of policy areas, ensuring compliance with government grant standards and HMT’s Managing Public Money. We are looking to appoint a Grade 6 Head of Portfolio Management Office. The individual would be responsible for building a new portfolio management function to enable effective oversight of the growing grants and delivery function.

Responsibilities will include:

Leadership of a new Portfolio Management Office Team . This is an important leadership role that involves (i) building a new team and the PMO capabilities within it so that provide stronger leadership to the directorate and department around how we manage our grants (ii) building a professional function – including through creating & iterating new products and tools to support effective portfolio management and deciding how to set the team up to deliver these. Overseeing the transition of all DBT grants onto an end-to-end grant management platform enabling greater grip and oversight of the portfolio as well as increased automation and standardisation of service to grant recipients. Improved digitisation is a vital pillar of the GDD transformation programme which this role will be accountable for. As part of this workstream, there will also be a key role in addressing capacity and capability gaps through an ongoing programme of training for staff. Reporting and Management Information – The individual will be expected to ensure the team prepares high quality reporting information to enable effective oversight of the grant and wider delivery portfolio. This will include reporting on financial payments and forecasting, delivery progress, as well as strategic risks and issues. Reporting information will need to be prepared for senior audiences, displayed using smart tools. Build robust governance arrangements – The candidate will be responsible for leading the team to develop a new Chief Finance Officer led grants delivery portfolio board. For each quarterly board, the individual will be responsible for agreeing the agenda with the senior team in GDD and the chair, ensuring that high quality papers are prepared and circulated in advance along with the regular delivery oversight pack. The role will also involve owning and running the process of business case approvals which go to the board, and ensuring that accurate notes are taken, with actions followed up. Commissioning & Briefing Function – The individual will be responsible for ensuring that the team can act as a smart interface with the wider department – deciding how to engage with commission and briefing requests, adding value and collaborating with other teams as needed.