Job vacancy: Portfolio Lead, Public Health Wales NHS Trust, Cardiff.

Job summary

Main area: Portfolio Lead
Grade: Band 8c
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 028-AC137-0625

Employer: Public Health Wales NHS Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Capital Quarter 2
Town: Cardiff.
Salary: £75,405 - £86,885 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 24/06/2025 23:59

Portfolio Lead

Band 8c

Welcome to Public Health Wales, the national public health organisation for Wales

Our vision is Working to achieve a healthier future for Wales

To find out more visit Public Health Wales and watch this video about our Strategic Plan

Working together, with trust and respect, to make a difference

Applicants are invited to apply in Welsh, any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English. To support our all Wales service, we particularly welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

Please be advised that there is a temporary top up for Bands 2 and 3 to reflect the incorporation of the top up to the living wage of £12.60 per hour - £24,638 per annum.

This temporary top up will be in place until the annual pay uplift for 2025/26 is confirmed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Operating at the interface between innovation, service delivery, and policy, the Portfolio Lead ensures that programmes are aligned with national and organisational priorities, meet assurance requirements, and deliver value. The role demands both strategic oversight and hands-on leadership.

Strategic Leadership and Portfolio Planning

· Lead the design, development, and implementation of the Digital and Data Portfolio in alignment with Public Health Wales’ digital strategy.

· Define long-term portfolio roadmaps, ensuring effective prioritisation of resources and alignment with corporate and national goals.

· Support development and approval of business cases, investment plans, and financial forecasts.

Governance, Assurance and Risk Management

· Lead portfolio-level governance structures and assurance processes, including risk, issue, and dependency management.

· Ensure compliance with national digital standards, regulatory frameworks, and internal policy.

· Implement and maintain robust reporting mechanisms for senior governance groups, national bodies, and funding partners.

· Manage capital and revenue budgets, ensure value for money, and develop funding proposals where required.

Delivery Oversight and Performance

· Monitor programme delivery across the portfolio, ensuring outcomes are achieved, benefits are realised, and programmes transition into business-as-usual.

· Identify performance issues and lead timely interventions to maintain delivery confidence.

· Support agile delivery models and embed continuous improvement practices.

Service Transformation and Innovation

· Champion digital transformation across clinical and non-clinical services, ensuring programmes are co-designed and user-centred.

· Embed service improvement, change management, and cultural transformation across delivery teams.

· Promote the adoption of innovative technologies to improve outcomes and service experience.

Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration

· Act as a key liaison with senior leaders, delivery teams, NHS partners, Welsh Government, and suppliers.

· Lead stakeholder engagement strategies that ensure ownership, alignment, and successful adoption of change.

· Represent the organisation at national and regional forums related to digital and data transformation.

Digital Systems and Infrastructure

· Ensure appropriate systems, tools, and platforms are in place to support portfolio delivery, including cloud infrastructure, project management tools, and reporting systems.

· Collaborate with digital services and information governance teams to ensure safe and effective use of technology.

The Job Description and Personal Specification provide full details.

Person specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Masters degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., digital health, informatics, business, project management) or equivalent senior-level experience •
Professional certification (e.g., MSP, PRINCE2, Agile, APM, ITIL)

Desirable criteria

• Postgraduate qualification in digital strategy or change leadership

Experience

Essential criteria

• Proven experience and expertise leading large-scale digital and/or data programme portfolios within a complex organisation
• Strong track record of delivering transformation across clinical and non-clinical services
• Extensive experience of governance, risk management, and benefits realisation at a senior level
• Experience working in or with the NHS or public sector digital strategy or large complex organisations
• Experience of working with cloud platforms, digital infrastructure, and related systems
• In depth understanding of NHS Wales digital and data strategies
• Experience with health information governance, data security, and digital standards
• Demonstrable experience of programme lifecycle, stakeholder management, and portfolio assurance methodologies
• Proven experience of end to end people management processes in and outside immediate scope.

Desirable criteria

• Understanding of health analytics and or data platforms
• Working knowledge of NHS cyber and digital maturity frameworks

Skills & Attributes

Essential criteria

• Proven leadership, influencing, and change management skills
• Ability to communicate complex technical and strategic concepts clearly and confidently at executive level
• Budget management and business case development
• Strong problem solving, negotiation, and decision making skills
• Ability to work effectively across boundaries and systems (e.g. national bodies, NHS health boards/NHS Trusts etc)
• Skills in benefits tracking tools or portfolio management software

Desirable criteria

• Welsh Language Skills are desirable in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing in Welsh

Other

Essential criteria

• Ability to travel between sites in a timely manner to meet the needs of the service

Public Health Wales, reserves the right to close this vacancy early. We therefore encourage early applications.

Priority is given to staff awaiting redeployment. We therefore reserve the right to withdraw this advert at any stage.

If you have a disability and have any particular requirements to enable you to participate in the application process, please contact [email protected]

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR APPLICANTS: Applications for our roles are carefully reviewed and shortlisted based on specific criteria, which varies from job to job. Using a generic application to apply for multiple roles or relying on automated AI application services, such as Lazy Apply or AI Apply, may not provide the necessary information, leading to your application being overlooked. To ensure your application is given full consideration, we recommend submitting a tailored application that directly addresses the criteria listed in the Person Specification section of the advert.

If you are successful and short listed for interview you will be contacted by email using the address with which you registered. Please ensure you check your email account regularly.

We are committed to fair, transparent recruitment and believe in equality of opportunity in our workplace and will not tolerate discrimination on grounds of age, disability, gender identity, religion or belief, race or nationality, marriage or civil partnership status, sex, sexual orientation, working pattern, caring responsibilities, trade union activity or political beliefs – or on any other grounds. We welcome applications from individuals seeking flexible working arrangements.

To work in the UK, all candidates who are not UK or Republic of Ireland (RoI) nationals require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care visa or Skilled Worker visa, unless you have permission to work via another route. Non UK / RoI candidates wishing to apply should self-assess the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship by visiting Work in the UK. If you are eligible for the Health and Care visa, application costs are lower and you do not need to pay the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.

The salary scale shown is for a full-time member of staff, with the amount being adjusted pro rata for those working less than 37.5 hours per week.

In general, anyone joining our Trust who has not previously worked in the NHS will, by default, start on the first point of the advertised pay band. Pay progression will then be determined by annual Performance and Development Reviews in accordance with the NHS Wales Pay Progression Policy. An application for Incremental Credit may be considered, but can only be awarded based on evidenced, reckonable service and/or equivalent, relevant experience.