Senior Digital Portfolio & Governance Manager - Fixed Term Appointment (3897)

Job summary

Social Security Scotland currently has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Senior Digital Portfolio Manager who will provide leadership to the Strategic Portfolio Management team and ensure investment delivers the best possible outcomes for the people of Scotland.

In this pivotal role, you will set strategic direction for portfolio governance, provide senior leaders with clear, forward‑looking insight to support confident decision‑making, and lead a team of circa 15 portfolio specialists to manage risk, align priorities and enable effective delivery at scale across the organisation.

This is a Fixed Term Appointment opportunity for 47 months with the possibility of permanency dependent on business requirements.

Job description

Responsibilities

The Senior Digital Portfolio Manager leads a team of Portfolio specialists and ensures the strategic portfolio delivers the best possible outcomes. You will set direction for how the portfolio is tracked, governed and controlled, using an iterative and flexible approach to portfolio governance.

At this role level, you will:

• Lead the tracking and governing of digital projects
• Ensure the right controls are used
• Address risks and deal with, or escalate, issues
• Provide leaders with insights into the portfolio's future so they can make informed decisions
• Build and lead a diverse, skilled and motivated team of portfolio specialists
• Ensure the portfolio team is meeting the needs of the organisation
• Support the professional development of the portfolio community, including line management and coaching

Main Duties

• Lead the tracking and governance of the strategic portfolio, ensuring it is effectively governed and monitored end-to-end.
• Ensure appropriate controls are used across the portfolio (for example, governance and assurance processes and standards), and continuously improve them where needed.
• Identify, manage and escalate portfolio risks and issues—dealing with them directly where appropriate and escalating when required to enable timely decisions.
• Provide portfolio-level reporting and insight that supports effective oversight and corrective action by senior decision-makers.
• Provide leaders with forward-looking insight into the portfolio’s trajectory so they can make informed decisions (for example, on sequencing, resourcing, trade-offs and risk).
• Set and evaluate portfolio strategy and policies, ensuring the portfolio continues to meet business requirements and remains aligned to organisational objectives.
• Use data and analysis to shape planning, prioritise high-value work, and manage complex dependencies across the portfolio to maintain delivery confidence.
• Direct the stakeholder relationship strategy for portfolio teams, setting clear stakeholder objectives and ensuring teams are supported to meet them.
• Influence, negotiate and mediate with senior stakeholders to resolve issues, unblock delivery and enable progress across competing priorities.
• Communicate complex analysis and recommendations (positive and negative) using appropriate formats and clear narrative to drive action at both tactical and strategic levels.
• Build and lead a diverse, skilled and motivated team of portfolio specialists, creating an environment where people can perform at their best.
• Ensure the portfolio team meets organisational needs, adapting team focus, capability Reference: and ways of working as priorities evolve.
• Support professional development across the portfolio community, including line management, coaching and capability-building.
• Promote and support iterative and Agile ways of working across the portfolio, ensuring governance and assurance processes enable effective iteration and that teams and stakeholders understand why continuous improvement and iteration are critical to successful digital delivery.
• Lead portfolio-level demand, capacity and resource planning, developing and communicating portfolio road maps and digital change plans across the organisation to support prioritisation, alignment with operational needs, and successful adoption of change.

Person specification

Success Profiles
We use an assessment framework called ‘Success Profiles’ which lists the elements we test and provides detailed descriptions of each. Find out more about the framework here

For this post, the following Success Profile elements will be assessed:

Experience

1. Extensive experience defining and leading portfolio-level governance and controls for complex digital portfolios across Agile, Waterfall and hybrid delivery environments, ensuring proportionate assurance and continuous improvement.
   
2. Significant experience owning and managing portfolio-level risks, issues and dependencies, and providing forward looking insight that enables senior leaders to make timely, high impact decisions.
   
3. Significant experience leading a team of portfolio specialists and ensuring a portfolio of digital projects delivers the best possible outcomes.
   
4. A proven track record of influencing and negotiating with senior stakeholders, and clearly communicating complex portfolio analysis and recommendations to drive strategic alignment and action
   

Behaviours

• Leadership (Level 4)

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours here: Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Technical / Professional Skills:

This role is aligned to Head of Portfolio within the Government Digital and Data Profession. These skills will be tested during the Technical Assessment if you are successful at sift stage. They will not be assessed at application stage.

Please review the following to understand the skill expectations: Head of Portfolio - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework

Benefits

Annual Leave - You will receive 25 days annual leave on joining us. This will increase to 30 days after four full years of service. You will also have 11.5 public and privilege days of leave every year. We also offer Flexi-time. Any extra hours you've worked can be taken as leave when suitable.

A Civil Service Pension - This job comes with a Civil Service pension. New joiners to the Civil Service will join a career average pension scheme as standard. Read more here - www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk.

Healthy work life balance - We can offer the possibility of full-time, part-time, term-time, and job shares. We also encourage flexible working.

Discounts - You can enjoy a vast range of retail, travel and lifestyle discounts through our benefit scheme.

Personal support for you - Our Employee Assistance Programme gives you confidential, independent information and guidance 24/7.

Volunteering special leave - Up to six days paid special leave a year for volunteering. We support our staff to help causes important to them.

Great locations - Our bright and modern offices in the heart of Dundee and Glasgow have been designed with staff in mind. Both locations are ideal for public transport.

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

Expected Timeline (subject to change)
Sift – week commencing 1st June 2026
Interview – week commencing 29th June 2026
Location – In Person in either Dundee or Glasgow

To apply please submit an application form by clicking on the ‘Apply at Advertisers Site’ button.

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) (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.

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 : Resourcing Team
• Email : recruitment@socialsecurity.gov.scot
• Telephone : 08001577194

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@socialsecurity.gov.scot

Further information

https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/help-with-your-application