Head of Portfolio Management

Location

Berlin

Contract

Full time

Job Category

Project & Program Management

**ABOUT THE TEAM**

The Global Project Management Organization (PMO) helps Zalando achieve its strategy by driving the intake and successful delivery of Zalando’s most impactful, collaborative, and technically complex initiatives. In order to deliver against the organizational ambitions and goals, we steer the complexity and challenges around prioritization, ranking and transparency while owning the process. Our organization with its Leadership, Portfolio Managers, Program Managers, and Project Managers ensure these initiatives are driven to successful delivery across services, products, business units and teams in the organization.

At Zalando, our long-term goal is to build deep customer relationships. As Zalando’s largest proposition, Core Fashion aims to pay into Zalando's goal by helping our customers feel confident, safe and happy with their fashion choices, serving them across different styles, for different purposes and during different stages in life.

**THE ROLE**:
As the Head of Portfolio Management you define the portfolio scope, implement target portfolio metrics, and implement key ceremonies and standard processes for portfolio management in all customer propositions together with the respective executive leaders.

**WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)**:

- Strategic Planning and Execution

Develop and implement a comprehensive strategic portfolio management framework aligned with organizational goals and objectives. Collaborate with executive leadership to define and refine the company's strategic priorities. Driver of annual operational planning in the customer propositions and collaborating with other heads of portfolio management to drive feasibility and sequencing of strategic initiatives across the company.
- Portfolio Optimization

Have an expert understanding of portfolio processes, and are able to enable decision making in your portfolio. You are able to quickly zoom in on details as required while at the same time maintaining a robust helicopter view of your portfolio. Structure and adapt your portfolio to develop a clear granular view of work based upon the organization’s needs, and enable your business leader to secure support, budget and resources to achieve the expected impact. Oversee the management and optimization of the project portfolio to ensure it aligns with the company's strategic objectives. Evaluate and prioritize projects based on their strategic fit, resource requirements, and potential impact. Manage your portfolio to the highest standard with a continuous improvement mindset, and continuously guide your organization in identifying the right projects to pursue at the right time, ensuring strategic investment in alignment with the company strategy. Make complexity manageable and bring structure to the organization by driving an increase in transparency on the organization's strategy and resource investment.
- Risk Management

Identify and assess potential risks associated with the project portfolio and develop mitigation strategies. Implement risk management processes to proactively address challenges and uncertainties. Drive discussions around the identification and management of trade offs in your portfolio, including the escalation to higher level portfolios, and work with little to no guidance. Forecast upcoming changes and/or incoming projects due to a strong understanding of both your organization’s and the overall company’s strategy.
- Resource Allocation

Work closely with department heads to allocate resources efficiently across strategic initiatives. Monitor resource utilization and recommend adjustments to optimize portfolio performance.
- Performance Monitoring and Reporting

Responsible for the management of an organizational portfolio including steering, intake, prioritization, implementation, reviews, and reporting. Provide regular, transparent reporting on key portfolio updates to executive leadership. Manage work in progress through regular prioritization and ranking exercises, and resource availability and allocation insights. The insights derived from your work with your portfolio is leveraged to improve the design of your organization, and increase transparency of your organization’s strategic investments, resourcing, budget tracking, planning, and investment forecasting.
- Stakeholder Engagement

Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment of project outcomes with stakeholder expectations. Foster strong relationships with key partners and vendors to enhance collaboration and project success. Work as a member of the customer proposition senior leadership team while nurturing and maintaining a relevant network. This includes identifying the right senior stakeholders when working on tasks, understanding their needs, and actively asking for their feedback to uncover blind spots.
- Innovation and Continuous Improvement

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