Portfolio Analyst

Job purpose

Supports the execution of the technology portfolio management practices, enabling the portfolio to invest in the right things, build and deliver in the most efficient & agile way, with measurable value. Portfolio Analysts will work with the Product Portfolio leadership team providing insight into the delivery health (delivery, costs and value & benefits) of M&S portfolios.

Analysts will help to supervise and improve financial and delivery performance on a monthly and quarterly basis. In this role, you will be responsible for supporting the Portfolio Manager to implement good Value Realisation and Performance (VR&P) practices and will directly contribute to growing the value M&S achieves from its investments. To succeed in this role, you should actively nurture ways to simplify, automate and continuously improve portfolio-level reporting of delivery health, cost management and value/benefits realisation at every opportunity!

• Work closely with Product Portfolio leadership team to provide insight into delivery health (delivery, costs and value/benefits)
• Operating the Value Realisation & Performance (VR&P) model for the Portfolio including monthly and quarterly financial and delivery performance.
• Support the Portfolio Manager with implementation of good Value Realisation and Performance (VR&P) practices
• Actively champion ways to simplify, automate and continuously improve portfolio-level reporting of delivery health, cost management and value/benefits realisation

• Produce Product/Portfolio performance reports. Analyse and interpret the metrics, costs and value data to identify exceptions/ areas where action/improvement is needed and highlight these!
• Collaborate with portfolio leadership to agree the month end cost position, and accurately reflect this in SAP through order Good Receipts (GRs), accruals, prepayments and recharges
• Supervise Change costs and approvals and provide monthly reporting, variance analysis & commentary plus risks & opportunity to outlook.
• Supervise progress against key achievements, leading key risks, issues & dependencies
• Supervise resources to enable accurate cost reporting, supplier performance management & also future demand forecast to foster recruitment planning
• Supporting facilitation of activities such as Quarterly Planning, OKR weeks etc.
• Facilitation of non-cost reporting (roadmaps, OKRs, demos etc.)
• Perform review of Statement of Work files to ensure accuracy before submission to Portfolio Leadership team, and co-ordinate approval and signature by both parties
• Lead PO lifecycle from creation to Goods Receipt (GR) based on relevant approvals. Liaise with third party vendors for PO creation & invoicing, and to review ageing / discrepancies between Goods Receipt and Invoice
• Work alongside the Portfolio Managers to support the portfolio teams as needed, be able to navigate the Agile Portfolio Management tools confidently and understand the metrics/ data.
• Generate delivery health metrics for the portfolio on a monthly basis for inclusion into portfolio cadences – analyse the measures, insight into trends and progress against improvement targets. Portfolios to agree actions/ areas to improve at portfolio cadences.
• Work closely with Communities of Practice (CoPs) in driving continuous improvement through process standardisation and consistent usage of tools and practices
• Collaborate with portfolio leadership to agree the latest spend forecast for each month and update the latest forecast for spend highlighting reasons for movement from previous forecasts/budgets and submitting months risk and opportunities for their portfolio.
• To own and handle all programme documentation including roadmaps / value tracking / status reports etc in order to lead the programme successfully and deliver business benefits
• Support the delivery of the monthly Technology leadership delivery and cost presentations.
• Support the programme team when appropriate through workshops, partner engagement and communication planning

• Demonstrated ability in PMO roles including leading costs and delivery health
• Excellent analytical skills including financial literacy
• Experience of agile ways of working
• Knowledge of Agile portfolio/ team tools like Jira & Jira Align
• Exposure to SAP reporting
• Proficient in MS Excel, SAP front-end and other reporting tools (e.g., PowerBI)
• Should possess excellent analytical, communication, facilitation, co-ordination, decision making and partner leadership skills
• Highly organised and disciplined approach to work where they are able to manage multiple activities at any one point in time
• Ability to work with a range of third-party suppliers
• Demonstrable experience of engaging, influencing and communicating to partners at all levels
• Demonstrable experience working with multiple teams and partners to deliver successful products/projects
• The ability to work under pressure in an environment which values fast, impactful delivery

M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That’s why we’re revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There’s never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact. We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working.  We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process. If you consider yourself to have a disability or learning difficulty which means you are unable to complete the application process online, please get in touch either by phone on 0345 300 3725 or by email recruitment.online@marksandspencer.com so we can make alternative arrangements for you.

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