Director of Portfolio Management (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments – with patients and participants at the heart of it all.

Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

The purpose of the role is to establish and embed a Portfolio Management Office that enables Genomics England to set clear standards for how we deliver work, and to ensure appropriate oversight, governance, and reporting of the portfolio of work, is in place. This includes governance, risk and delivery of projects that support our core work and spending review initiatives. The role holder owns oversight of the company portfolio delivery plan ensuring alignment between the organisation’s strategy and delivery plans, as well as highlighting and identifying risks and opportunities from this alignment.

Job Description

• Lead a team that develops strategies to embed a Portfolio Management mindset and drive long-term business success
• Oversee programme delivery processes, ensuring consistency, quality, and alignment with organisational standards
• Develop and manage stakeholder communication and reporting to support strategy execution and alignment
• Ensures strong governance, milestone tracking, and adherence to delivery frameworks across all programmes
• Collaborates across teams and with partners to drive performance, mitigate risks, and ensure benefits realisation
• Own risk management practices, supporting continuous improvement and compliance across the business
• Develops tools, systems, and training that enable our teams to increase their impact and build organisational capability
• Lead a high-performing, inclusive team, championing professional development and organisational values
• Support change leadership, providing challenge and escalation where delivery is at risk
• Maintain oversight of programme portfolios, ensuring accountability and clear ownership across workstreams

Qualifications

We are not looking for specific

qualifications

We are looking for the following experience:

• Proven experience creating, embedding and leading portfolio, programme or project management functions within complex organisations, with a track record of embedding strategic planning and delivery frameworks
• Strong background in governance, risk management, and benefits realisation, including oversight of cross-functional workstreams and engagement with senior stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to lead high-performing teams and build capability through tools, training, and stakeholder collaboration across companies in diverse sectors (e.g. public, health, or government environments)

Additional Information

Salary from: £92,000

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 

• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, additional leave for long service, and the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace 

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. 

Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.

Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour is contrary to  our virtues , undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties. Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. 

We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us. 

Blended working model

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. 

Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.

Onboarding background checks

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.