Head of Transformation and Portfolio Delivery

Job summary

Are you looking for an opportunity to drive portfolio delivery and champion new ways of working?

The “Head of Transformation & Portfolio Delivery” will lead the delivery of an ambitious, organisation-wide transformation portfolio at the National Records of Scotland (NRS), shaping how services are modernised, digitised and delivered for the people of Scotland.

This is a high-impact leadership role at the heart of strategy, driving prioritisation, governance and outcomes across complex change. You will lead multidisciplinary teams and influence at senior levels to ensure change delivers real public value. This is an opportunity to make a lasting difference; transforming services, strengthening capability, and helping NRS stay fit for the future.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee NRS's transformation portfolio, ensuring programmes and projects align with strategic priorities, capacity, budgets, and organisational objectives.
• Accountable for portfolio delivery performance, proactively managing risks, dependencies, priorities, and delivery outcomes.
• Establish and continuously improve portfolio governance, assurance, reporting, and delivery management frameworks across the organisation.
• Drive strategic prioritisation and investment decisions, ensuring delivery activity supports organisational outcomes, public value, and service user needs.
• Lead benefits realisation and continuous improvement, embedding outcome-focused delivery, evidence-based decision-making, and lessons learned.
• Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, partners, suppliers, and governance bodies, providing influence, challenge, and clear communication.
• Lead and develop the Innovation & Transformation function, the Delivery Management function and the Portfolio Management Office, building organization-wide capability, digital skills, and high-performing teams.
• Oversee portfolio financial planning ensuring value-for-money delivery across major transformation initiatives.

Person specification

Qualifications

• A professional level qualification, such as Axelos’ Management of Portfolios (Practitioner) qualification or equivalent. APM’s PMQ or Axelos’ P3O qualifications would also be considered relevant.
  
  Proof of qualifications will be checked at the assessment stage.

Success profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

1. Planning and scheduling - Practitioner
2. Governance - Expert
3. Benefits management - Expert
4. Frameworks and methodologies - Expert
5. Stakeholder engagement - Practitioner
6. Asset allocation - Practitioner
7. Risk and issue management – Practitioner
8. Digital and data - Practitioner

You can find out more about the skills required, here: Portfolio Manager G6 - Government Project DeliveryExperience

Applicants for this role are expected to be experienced transformation or portfolio delivery leaders, with a proven track record of operating at enterprise scale and taking accountability for delivering multiple complex changes in demanding environments.

1. Extensive experience defining and managing a portfolio of complex projects using Agile, Waterfall and hybrid methods, ensuring proportionate assurance and continuous improvement.
2. Significant experience leading a team of delivery and change specialists, ensuring projects deliver the best possible outcomes.
3. 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.
4. Experience leading transformational change encompassing culture, ways-of-working and organisation and operating model changes.

Behaviours:

1. Communicating and influencing
2. Seeing the big picture
3. Delivering at pace

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here:Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

Qualifications

A professional level qualification, such as Axelos’ Management of Portfolios (Practitioner) qualification or equivalent. APM’s PMQ or Axelos’ P3O qualifications would also be considered relevant.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Planning and scheduling - Practitioner
• Governance - Expert
• Benefits management - Expert
• Frameworks and methodologies - Expert
• Stakeholder engagement - Practitioner
• Asset allocation - Practitioner
• Risk and issue management – Practitioner
• Digital and data - Practitioner

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £80,172, Scottish Government contributes £23,225 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).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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.Apply using the link below.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (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