Planning & Portfolio Lead

We value in-person collaboration with our teams and those we support, so the ability to travel to our sites is needed for this role. We support hybrid working arrangements, so you have flexibility to work in a way that’s best for you. You’ll work from either our Leamington National Centre, London, or Reading office for two days each week, with flexible arrangements.

Are you passionate about driving strategic change and optimising IS project portfolios to deliver real impact? Can you deliver three projects standing on your head, whilst also planning four more in the pipeline, whilst simultaneously developing and managing a programme framework?

As the IS Planning and Portfolio Lead at Guide Dogs, you’ll play a vital role in shaping and coordinating the strategic planning of our Information Systems (IS) projects and ensuring they deliver meaningful outcomes for the people we support.

Reporting to the CIO, you’ll make sure IS initiatives are aligned to organisational goals, enabling better decision making, smarter resource allocation, and the delivery of high value solutions. Working closely with stakeholders across the organisation, you’ll help define priorities, track progress, and ensure IS programmes and projects are successfully delivered.

Your expertise in project delivery, portfolio management, and stakeholder engagement will support our mission to help people with sight loss live the life they choose.

• Hands‑on delivery through effective project management.
• Leading portfolio governance, including decision‑making criteria, performance tracking and resource planning.
• Acting as the primary point of contact across IS for planning and portfolio activity, fostering strong, collaborative relationships.
• Creating insightful reporting dashboards and analysing portfolio data to give leaders clear visibility of project health and performance.
• Driving improvement in IS planning, processes, and governance, keeping us aligned with industry best practice.
• Supporting the development of IS strategic roadmap for our core technology services.
• Evaluating and prioritising IS initiatives based on business value, feasibility, and risk.

We’re looking for an organised, strategic thinker with strong experience in IS project and portfolio management. You’ll bring a collaborative mindset, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to delivering solutions that make a real difference.

You’ll have:

• A recognised Project or Programme Management qualification
• Proven experience managing an IS project portfolio.
• Expertise in agile methodologies and their application in IS or business-focused projects.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, including at a senior level.
• A track record of process improvement and enhancing IS efficiency.
• A data focused approach to decision‑making and prioritisation.

You’ll thrive in this role if you enjoy balancing strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery, and if you’re motivated by the opportunity to shape how IS contributes to the Guide Dogs' mission. This is a great role for an established project manager to stretch themselves.

No two people with sight loss are the same, and none of our people are either. So, we are proud to offer a range of person‑centred benefits that can support each member of staff in ways that really mean something to them – and show them how much they mean to us. We offer a flexible benefits package, discounts and cashback scheme, a generous holiday allowance and matched contributory pension scheme to care for our people.