Head of Portfolio Management Office

Job summary

Want to play a pivotal role in helping Companies House deliver its strategic ambitions?

Join us and shape organisation-wide decision-making through portfolio insight, governance and delivery assurance.

There’s never been a more exciting time to join Companies House. As we deliver the transformational changes introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act alongside a major organisation-wide transformation programme, you’ll have the opportunity to help reshape our digital services, operating model and culture.

This is your chance to play a key role in delivering change that will have a lasting impact on the organisation, our customers and the wider UK economy.

Why choose Companies House?

At Companies House we take a proactive approach to wellbeing by promoting a welcoming culture, healthy work life balance and supporting colleagues to be their best in work because we know people are the key to our success.

Our benefits include:

• Flexible working with no core hours (between 6am and 8pm)
• 30 days annual leave
• 8 bank holidays & 1 privilege day
• Enrolment into the Civil Service Pension scheme, with an average employer contribution of 28%

Find out more about what a great place Companies House is to work.

Job description

The Head of Portfolio Management Office leads the PMO function, providing strategic oversight of portfolio governance, assurance, planning, controls, standards and reporting across Companies House's change portfolio. The role delivers an integrated view of delivery performance, benefits, risks, dependencies, capacity and investment to support informed decision-making, prioritisation and successful delivery of strategic change.

Working closely with senior delivery leaders, the role maintains robust governance and assurance arrangements, oversees the Go/No-Go framework, and drives portfolio standards and continuous improvement. The postholder also supports the Project Delivery profession through capability development, accreditation pathways and communities of practice, helping to build a high-performing and inclusive delivery community.

About the team

The Portfolio Delivery and Change Directorate delivers Companies House’s strategic priorities through portfolio management, project delivery and change management. We play a key role in delivering the changes introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act and an organisation-wide transformation programme, redesigning our digital services, operating model and culture. We’re looking for adaptable, curious and empowered people who can help shape and deliver lasting change.

Please note:

• You will be based at our Cardiff office where you will be expected to attend on a regular basis.
• Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.
• Security Check (SC) Clearance is an essential requirement for this role. You'll need to have been in the UK for at least 3 out of the last 5 years to be eligible to apply for SC.
• This is a full time role, however, we can accept applications from those looking to work compressed hours.

For a full job description and list of responsibilities, please read the attached role profile, which is located at the end of this advert.

Person specification

We are looking for the following skills and experience, which will be assessed throughout the recruitment process.

• Leading a PMO and portfolio office within a complex organisation.
• Developing and implementing portfolio governance, assurance and control frameworks.
• Providing strategic portfolio insight, reporting and assurance to senior executive and governance boards.
• Leading portfolio planning and management activity, in partnership with the Strategy and Business Planning function.
• Effective resource management, ensuring data is collected from across the business, maintaining data quality, and using insights to drive decision-making.

The full person specification can be found in the attached role profile, which is located at the end of this advert.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £76,312, Companies House contributes £22,107 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels of the organisation. At Companies House we’re committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is not only fulfilling, but also rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance with our employee wellbeing being central to our working practices.

Head to Our benefits - Working for us - Recruitment (companieshouse.gov.uk) to find out more about the fantastic benefits package we have at Companies House.

We celebrate diversity...

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity, being committed to ensuring we’re representative of the citizens we serve and creating an inclusive environment. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups. We also welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader. Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments as needed through our process. These could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions in advance, to name a few.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at application stage, or if you'd like to discuss any person-centred adjustments, please contact us by emailing recruitmentCH@companieshouse.gov.uk.

Read our 'Applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS)' guide to find out how to successfully complete an application under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS).

Where will you be working?

You will be based at our Cardiff office where you will be expected to attend on a regular basis. We are currently using a hybrid approach to the way we work which provides opportunities for you to be adaptable in the way you work so that you can achieve a healthy balance between your work and home life. The degree of choice you have will depend on your role and your day-to-day work activities. Your manager will agree regular patterns of attendance with you, however you may be required to make yourself available to attend the office more frequently when required to meet business needs. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Key dates (dates are indicative only and could be subject to change)

• Closing date - 23rd November 2026, at 23:55
• Sifting - 24th November 2026, onwards
• Interviews - w/c 7th December 2026, in-person in our Cardiff office

Communications will be electronic via email therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

What will the process look like?

1. Application

During the application and sift stages we will be using the Success Profiles: Experience.

In your application form we’d like you to:

1. Tell us about your employment history, including any key responsibilities and achievements.
2. Write a 1250 word personal statement where you demonstrate how you meet the skills required for this role, providing examples to evidence your level of experience. In your personal statement we are looking for evidence of:

• Leading a PMO and portfolio office within a complex organisation.
• Developing and implementing portfolio governance, assurance and control frameworks.
• Providing strategic portfolio insight, reporting and assurance to senior executive and governance boards.
• Leading portfolio planning and management activity, in partnership with the Strategy and Business Planning function.
• Effective resource management, ensuring data is collected from across the business, maintaining data quality, and using insights to drive decision-making.

We’re committed to being diverse and inclusive, so please make your application anonymous by removing all identifying personal information (such as names and dates) from your employment history and personal statement.

You should aim to make use of the full wordcount in each section of your application and show how you meet the above criteria. Please give clear and specific examples of what you have done personally and the impact it has had.

Further guidance on how to write your personal statement can be found here.

2. Sift

Once the advert has closed we will sift applications - this involves reading through them all, please bear with us as this can take some time. The panel will look at all elements of your application for evidence of the sift criteria.

We may raise the score required if we receive a high number of applications. We may also choose to take through the highest performing candidates to the next stage. If, after the final stage is completed and roles are unfilled, we will proceed to invite lower scoring candidates to interview.

Also, if we receive a high volume of applications, we may carry out a pre-sift and will look at your application for evidence of: Leading a PMO and portfolio office within a complex organisation. Those applications which are successful at pre-sift stage will then progress to the main sift, where we'll read and score the rest of your application.

3. Interview

Successful candidates from the sift stage will be invited to attend an interview, which will be in-person in our Cardiff office (CF14 3UZ).

Companies House uses a blended interview technique, allowing us to find out more about you. We use the Success Profile framework and during the interview stage we will be assessing:

• Behaviours: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Working Together, Seeing the Big Picture
• Experience: As listed in the person specification, and the attached role profile document

4 . Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome. Offers will be made in strict merit order. The lead criteria to distinguish between tied candidates will be the Behaviour: Leadership.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles (of the same or lower grade). Subject to business need, if a suitable position opens during this time we may reach out to individuals in merit order.

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of recruitment based on fair and open competition with decisions made on the basis of merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check before they can be appointed.

BPSS is an entry level security check. It uses the Police National Computer (PNC) to make sure a candidate has no convictions. The check returns evidence of any current criminal record and un-spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements for Security Check (SC) before they can be appointed.

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.

Further information on National Security Vetting

Sponsorship

Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. Companies House holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship, your application may be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment withdrawn.

Pre-Employment Checking

In line with Government guidance, successfully appointed candidates will need to provide documents for our Right to Work checks.

From June 2026, applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). Your personal details (name, National Insurance number, and date of birth) will be checked against the Civil Service Resourcing Extract IFD.

This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued.

If your details appear on this database, you will not be offered employment unless you can demonstrate exceptional circumstances. Companies House, acting on behalf of the vacancy holder, will inform you if your application is refused for this reason.

Please note: You are not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Nationality statement

As part of our recruitment process, it is essential for all candidates to independently verify their eligibility to work in the UK before applying. This includes a thorough check of your right to work to ensure compliance with UK employment laws, being mindful of the recent changes to going rates detailed on GOV.UK.

Please ensure you have the necessary documentation and permissions in place. Our team is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce and encourages applicants from all backgrounds to apply. However, it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure they meet the UK's legal requirements to work.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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) (opens in a new window)
• 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more 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 : Jon Shenton
• Email : jshenton@companieshouse.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmentch@companieshouse.gov.uk

Further information

We welcome applications in Welsh / Rydym yn croesawi ceisiadau yn y Gymraeg. Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. 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 infopoint@companieshouse.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission .

info@csc.gov.uk

Civil Service Commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road SW1A 2HQ

Attachments

Head_of_PMO_Role_Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 283kB)