Portfolio Manager - Digital Customer Experience - #2091092

Internal Use only - Grade C

We're the team behind digital retailer Very. 

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do. 

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you're high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you'll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go. 

If you love making a difference, you'll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers.  

This role spans our Digital Customer Experience and Marketing Tech functions: our Digital Customer Experience team owns the end-to-end journey across web and app, creating seamless, insight-led experiences for our customers and our Marketing Technology Function which designs, builds, integrates, and operates the technology that underpins our marketing strategy. Bringing together Product, UX, Research, Engineering, Delivery and BA expertise, we use customer insight and data to design, build and optimise intuitive, high-performing journeys that remove friction, improve engagement, and deliver measurable value.

We are looking for a Portfolio Manager to orchestrate and oversee change across our marketing and digital customer experience pillar to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and delivery of maximum value. Leading a team of lead and senior delivery managers, they will drive delivery of a wide portfolio of activity across their Performance Unit(s), including commercial and KLO initiatives. They are responsible for building delivery capability and ensuring optimal resource utilisation across their PU(s). 

Leadership & Impact 

• Lead multi-disciplinary teams in a large-scale, fast-moving digital business, through up to 6 direct reports and matrix management of multiple delivery teams (100+ colleagues). 

• Role model exemplary delivery principles and champion a culture of performance, accountability, and continuous improvement. 

• Manage recruitment, performance, and development of senior delivery managers. Act as coach and mentor. 

• Accountable for all change delivery within one or more PUs, including planning, funding, resourcing, and reporting to deliver business value early and at high velocity. 

• Manage delivery interconnectivity across PUs and ensure effective delivery drives benefits to customers and colleagues underpinning PU's annual strategy. 

Delivery Leadership 

• Steer delivery teams to deliver on time, to cost, and with quality outcomes. 

• Establish and manage PU delivery plan, ensuring alignment across squads. 

• Facilitate collaboration, remove blockers, and build talent pipelines internally and externally. 

• Drive team productivity using metric-driven continuous improvement. 

• Support Head of Delivery and PMO in raising standards and implementing strategies to meet OKRs. 

• Champion knowledge sharing and innovation through forums and showcases. 

Risk & Issue Management 

• Proactively identify and manage risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies. 

• Manage escalation process with GLT and Head of Delivery/ePMO. 

Portfolio Planning & Prioritisation 

• Facilitate portfolio planning cycles and contribute to Quarterly Planning Process (QPP). 

• Work with stakeholders to prioritise work from technical and product roadmap perspectives. 

Governance & Oversight 

• Ensure adherence to governance framework across projects, small change, and BAU. 

• Monitor delivery performance, risks, and status. 

• Facilitate portfolio-level decision-making forums with senior executives and sponsors. 

Resource & Capacity Management 

• Monitor squad/team capacity, align resourcing to priorities, and optimise allocation. 

• Identify and resolve resource bottlenecks. 
• Manage budget allocations and expenditure tracking. 

• Support business case creation and benefits tracking. 

• Provide advice and information to senior management for investment decisions. 

Stakeholder Engagement 

• Act as primary delivery contact for exec PU sponsor and GLT stakeholders. 

• Build productive relationships with senior leaders, Heads of Product, Heads of Tech, and delivery teams. 

• Communicate progress, risks, and changes clearly to PMO and stakeholders. 

Reporting & MI 

• Provide regular portfolio updates and manage escalations. 

• Deliver accurate and timely reporting on KPIs and delivery metrics 

• Expert in portfolio and programme management with proven ability to govern large, complex, cross-functional portfolios. 

• Experience in managing incoming dependencies and sequencing work to minimise bottlenecks 

• Strong people leader with evidence of delivering transformation. 

• Excellent commercial and financial acumen. 

• Deep understanding of agile, waterfall, and hybrid delivery models. 

• Skilled in change leadership and influencing across organisational boundaries. 

• Action-oriented, removes barriers to rapid delivery. 

• Strong stakeholder and third-party management skills. 

• Ability to coach, mentor, mediate, and build team resilience. 

• Significant experience in delivery and leadership roles in large, complex, technology-led organisations, with deep knowledge of PU area. 

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews

• £10,000 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• Udemy learning access
• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

• Matched pension up to 6%
• More benefits can be found on our career site

How to apply

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.

What happens next?

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you're successful so keep an eye on your emails! We'll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we're a good match, we'll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.

You can expect a two-stage interview process for this position:

1st stage - An informal 30-minute video call with the hiring team to discuss your skills and relevant experience. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.

2nd Stage - A one-hour formal interview where you can expect both competency and technical questions. This can be held either in-person or remotely.

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here.

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We're building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don't discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via [email protected]. We'll be happy to support you.

We're proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.