Job Description:
Portfolio Manager
CONTRACT 9+ MONTHS
The team:
Come help our BizOps and Priority Programs (BOPP) team run effectively and manage our most important complex priorities. Our team serves as the operational hub for a large global engineering team at Microsoft, connecting across all Lines of Business, Delivery and Supportability teams, working with PMOs, CMOs and leaders across a highly matrixed team. We focus on the most critical and strategic cross-SBU priorities in partnership with our senior-most leaders and aspiring talent around the globe. We offer a diverse set of technical skills and methodologies to execute strategic vision for maximum impact while reducing complexity at scale. Our team governs and manages a portfolio of strategic projects and programs, ensuring teams have a centralized portal for tracking and reporting goals, status, progress, roadmaps and risks to stakeholders.
We guide teams to help them map efforts to overarching organizational OKRs, goals and targets and manage the cadence and system to track and communicate progress and impact through our portfolio management tool and team SharePoint site.
We provide the connective tissue for the operations, PM, change management, and communications teams across the business and report on monthly business progress and keep the leadership teams aligned through regular portfolio business review meetings and discussions.
The role: Portfolio Manager
Seeking someone with experience building and administering a centralized portfolio system and PMO for intake, governance, and reporting/communications to enable leaders and a community of PMs to evaluate and effectively manage a strategic portfolio of people, process, and tooling improvements for a large global team of engineers. Must be comfortable working across and between multiple PMOs and CMOs, and with the level of experience to effectively drive cross-team coordination for a community of project managers and engineers working on our most important cross-SBU people, process, technology initiatives.
Job Responsibilities
• Program Portfolio Intake and Governance to foster operational excellence:
o Engage with PM teams to clarify requirements for highly complex, high-impact initiatives, working through evolving needs and experiences, discussing scenarios, and helping teams communicate successful user stories.
o Develop dashboard and processes to enable Program Portfolio PM team to capture, track, and communicate end-to-end project schedules, status, and outcomes. Be the resident “whip” who holds stakeholders accountable for providing updates on their initiatives with quality information to keep our executives informed on progress, success, risks and blockers.
o Coordinate the Program Portfolio annual planning process that includes the prioritization, scoping, evaluation, and assessment of multiple, competing, and enterprise-wide projects by directing program and project managers in a structured intake and governance process.
• Tracking, Monitoring and Reporting to ensure we are following through:
o Act as a trusted advisor to guide others to understand and identify operational and performance key performance indicators (KPIs), objectives and key results (OKRs), and success measures (e.g. adoption percentage, engagement, quality, latency) for initiatives.
o Ensure program performance review projections compared to actual results; identifying key performance indicators and trend data; guiding return-on-investment analyses; reviewing feedback from key stakeholders; addressing cross-functional program and project issues; driving collaboration across teams.
o Assist and coordinate team of PM teams to ensure they leverage performance data to demonstrate value of programs and show business impact, and ensure impact is captured on a regular cadence in a location where executives can easily access and learn about initiative progress.
• Change Management and Program Communications to raise awareness, support, and understanding:
o Work with our communications team in the development of a suite of templates for our PM team to use as they partner with internal teams and stakeholders to design roadmaps and project plans, and a platform for regular and concise distribution is available on an accessible platform (ie sharepoint and via a manager newsletter) to effectively communicate change to the broader organization.
o Advise in the development of content for operating / business reviews such as KPI trends and program updates. Support leaders so they are prepared to present progress against goals and mitigations to internal audiences. Engage initiative owners and PM teams to prepare and present their plans.
o Participate with Program Portfolio team as they build team walking deck describing our value proposition, services, and other details to help internal partners understand team.
Skills:
• Experience building a PMO
• Verbal and written communication skills, problem solving skills, attention to detail and interpersonal skills.
• Knowledge of production processes, quality control, costs and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, and production methods.
• Knowledge of computer software, such as MS Suite of Products, Project, ADO, CSS BI, SharePoint, PowerApps, and the Microsoft suite of products preferred. Exposure to Pathfinder and Workboard a plus.
• Exhibits superior analytical, evaluative, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Interest and willingness to pursue process improvement initiations to increase efficiency
• Experience in building strong relationships
• Experience supporting enterprise level projects.
• Experience leading and coaching technical team members on understanding, enacting, and adopting Scrum practices
• Ability to understand complex technical systems and programs
• Ability to identify and act on opportunities to improve processes and increase efficiency
• Familiarity with one or more of Agile, Scrum, Six Sigma also preferred
• Demonstrated ability to manage projects using Azure Devops
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc.)
• Experience with data insights and a working knowledge of Power BI
• Preferred candidates will have Agile / Scrum certification(s). PMP or PMI certification is not a requirement but is a nice-to-have.
• Excellent oral/written communication and strong meeting facilitation
Education/Experience:
• Bachelor's degree in business administration or a related field.
• PMI or PMP certification preferred.
• 5-7 years experience required.