Portfolio Analyst

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

This role directly supports the delivery of the Surveys and Economic Statistics Improvement Plan within the newly established Surveys and Economic Statistics (SES) Portfolio. Our Improvement Plan sets out our public commitment to improve the quality and trustworthiness of our statistics and the latest update can be found here.

Job description

A Portfolio Analyst supports delivery confidence across a portfolio of programmes and projects by providing clear, evidence-based insight into performance, risks, dependencies, resources, benefits, outcomes and strategic alignment. You will bring together information from multiple sources to help senior leaders understand whether the portfolio remains on track to deliver intended organisational outcomes, where confidence is reducing, and what decisions or interventions may be required.

In this role you will establish and maintain portfolio information by bringing together milestone reporting, performance measures, risks, dependencies, assumptions, benefits, financial information and resource data. This supports a transparent view of portfolio health,delivery predictability, emerging constraints, opportunities, strategic priorities and outcome traceability.

You will support effective governance by ensuring boards and senior decision makers have reliable, timely and proportionate information on delivery confidence, strategic alignment, risks, dependencies, affordability, benefits and organisational readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Leads the development of portfolio confidence reporting, providing senior leaders with clear assessments of delivery predictability, emerging risks, systemic constraints, trade-offs and options for intervention. Challenges optimism bias and ensures reporting reflects evidence rather than activity alone.
• Leads portfolio governance, reporting and assurance support, setting standards for consistent assessment of performance, delivery confidence, risks, dependencies, resource pressures, affordability and benefits. Provides independent challenge and presents evidence-based recommendations, options and trade-offs at boards and senior forums.
• Provides visible leadership for portfolio analysis, governance and reporting. Sets direction for how portfolio data is gathered, interpreted and used, building trusted relationships with senior leaders, delivery teams and professional communities. Acts as a subject matter expert, presents insight at boards, coaches and mentors colleagues, and uses influence to drive best practice.
• Builds trusted working relationships with senior leaders, delivery teams and governance forums to support effective decision making. Uses evidence, insight and constructive challenge to influence prioritisation, escalation and intervention decisions.
• Provides portfolio-level analysis of complexity, uncertainty and dependencies, identifying systemic risks, competing priorities and delivery constraints. Supports senior leaders to understand trade-offs and adjust portfolio plans, sequencing or controls in response to emerging evidence.
• Provides strategic oversight of portfolio risks, assumptions, opportunities and dependencies. Uses evidence to identify emerging issues, delivery constraints and risks to objectives, supporting governance bodies with clear assessment of risk exposure, delivery confidence and organisational resilience.
• Leads portfolio pipeline analysis to support prioritisation, sequencing and investment decisions. Develops evidence-based views of demand, capacity, strategic fit, affordability and delivery confidence to inform portfolio choices.
• Leads portfolio-level analysis of outcomes, benefits and strategic value, ensuring senior leaders can understand whether delivery activity remains aligned to intended organisational objectives. Provides challenge where benefits, outcomes or assumptions are unclear, unsupported or misaligned.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Significant experience of analysing complex portfolio, programme or organisational data from multiple sources to generate evidence-based insights, identifying trends, systemic risks, constraints, opportunities and emerging issues that inform senior decision-making.
• Demonstrable experience of supporting strategic decisions on areas such as investment, prioritisation, sequencing and trade-offs through evidence-based insight, constructive challenge, and the presentation of credible options, implications and recommendations.
• Strong capability in providing objective assessments of delivery confidence and predictability, integrating evidence on key performance indicators, milestones, risks, dependencies, assumptions, resources and finance to provide a clear view of delivery outlook and identify where intervention may be required.
• Experience of assessing progress towards strategic outcomes, benefits and expected value, using evidence to evaluate delivery performance, organisational impact and alignment with strategic objectives.
• Proven ability to understand the information needs of senior stakeholders, applying sound judgement to distinguish strategic issues from operational detail and focus attention on the decisions, risks, opportunities and trade-offs that matter most.
• Excellent communication and visualisation skills, with experience of using a range of analytical, visualisation and presentation tools to synthesise complex information into clear, compelling products that highlight key insights, implications and recommendations for senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

Desirable experience in one of the following qualifications:

- Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner
- Managing Portfolios Practitioner

Or any other similar qualification.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

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

• Digital and Data - Expert Level - Project Delivery Profession Framework
• Assurance - Practitioner Level - Project Delivery Profession Framework

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,861, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,472 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).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

ONS may be able to provide visa sponsorship where the role meets ONS sponsorship criteria and all relevant Home Office requirements. Applicants must hold, or be eligible to obtain, the right to work in the UK before employment commences.

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2-stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, CV, skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours, and essential skills.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours and technical skills listed in the job advert.

You will be asked to complete an in-tray exercise which will be provided on the day of the interview and candidates will be allocated time to prepare. This in-tray exercise will assess candidates against the Digital and Data Technical Skill (Expert Level).

Interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates

The Sift will be conducted w/c 26th October

Interviews will be conducted w/c 2nd November

Dates are subject to change.

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachments.

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) 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) (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.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 : Gavin de Courcy
• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.recruitment@ons.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, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

2721 Advert 1B Permanent - ONS National v1-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 83kB)Role1_Standard_Requirements Opens in new window (pdf, 76kB)