Principal Portfolio Manager (Technology)
Role Overview:
The Principal Portfolio Manager is a senior enterprise leader accountable for strategy execution, portfolio governance, and delivery excellence across a complex technology portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of Business, Product, and Technology, ensuring investments are aligned to strategic priorities and delivered with financial discipline, operational rigor, and measurable business outcomes.
This leader serves as a strategic integrator across the technology organization driving clarity of priorities, enabling executive decision-making, and ensuring disciplined portfolio governance while also possessing the capability to directly lead and deliver large-scale, complex technology programs when required.
The ideal candidate brings executive presence, strong strategic thinking, deep program leadership experience, and a comprehensive understanding of the technology landscape.
Key Responsibilities:
Portfolio Strategy & Governance:
- Translate enterprise strategy into an aligned, prioritized technology portfolio.
- Partner with Business and Product leaders to define roadmaps, OKRs, and multi-year investment plans.
- Establish and maintain portfolio-level visibility across initiatives, risks, dependencies, and outcomes.
- Drive disciplined intake, prioritization, and change governance processes.
- Ensure adoption and evolution of PMO best practices, standards, and reporting frameworks.
Program Leadership & Delivery:
- Lead and deliver large-scale, complex, cross-functional technology programs.
- Ensure end-to-end program health across scope, schedule, budget, risks, dependencies, and value realization.
- Develop integrated plans and proactively manage cross-portfolio dependencies.
- Drive accountability, urgency, and execution excellence across teams.
Financial Stewardship:
- Own the financial position of the portfolio, including budgeting, forecasting, and investment tracking.
- Provide executive-level reporting on financial health and performance.
- Ensure strong governance, transparency, and ROI discipline across initiatives.
Executive & Stakeholder Engagement:
- Serve as a liaison across Business, Product, and Technology to ensure alignment and clarity.
- Communicate portfolio status, risks, and trade-offs to executive leadership.
- Prepare and lead executive reviews, steering committees, and board-ready materials.
- Influence across a highly matrixed organization without direct authority.
Technology & Transformation Enablement:
- Maintain strong awareness of the enterprise technology landscape and modernization initiatives.
- Support digital transformation efforts through structured program oversight and execution discipline.
- Translate strategic business objectives into executable technology initiatives.
Culture & Talent Development:
- Foster a high-performing, accountable, and collaborative culture.
- Coach and mentor Program and Project Managers to elevate organizational capability.
- Model leadership presence, reliability, and composure in complex environments.
Qualifications:
- Bachelors degree in computer science, Information Systems, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 15+ years of experience in Project and Program Management.
- 7+ years of experience in Portfolio Management or enterprise-scale program leadership.
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale, complex technology transformation initiatives.
- Strong financial acumen and experience managing multi-million-dollar portfolios.
- Deep knowledge of Agile, hybrid delivery models, and modern PMO practices.
- Executive-level communication and storytelling skills.
- Experience operating in complex, matrixed environments.
- PMP or equivalent certification preferred.
- Retail experience a plus.
Core Competencies:
- Strategic Thinking & Enterprise Alignment
- Portfolio Governance & Financial Discipline
- Large-Scale Program Leadership
- Stakeholder & Dependency Management
- Executive Communication & Storytelling
- High Reliability & Accountability
- Change & Transformation Leadership
- Culture Building & Talent Development
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