Portfolio Lead

We are seeking a Change Portfolio Lead to support the successful delivery of our business change portfolio. This key role ensures strong change management, joined-up planning, a light governance approach and a relentless focus on benefit outcomes. You will work closely with delivery teams and the Tech PMO to maintain a single, integrated view of business change impact, progress, risks, and dependencies across the entire portfolio.

• Reporting & Insight:
  Developing and maintaining clear, concise portfolio reporting that provides stakeholders with confidence in delivery. Translate delivery plans into forward-looking insights and recommendations, highlighting progress, key risks, dependencies, and required decisions.
• Governance & Consistency:
  Supporting consistent and effective delivery across Gold & Silver initiatives by establishing fit-for-purpose ways of working and continually refining approaches to be light touch and outcome focused. Governance and Compliance will be pragmatic, ensuring best practice and supporting the development of our governance framework.
• Integrated Planning:
  Supporting delivery teams to develop and maintain integrated plans for Gold & Silver initiatives, capturing cross‑programme dependencies, critical paths, key milestones. You will work closely with the Tech PMO to connect non‑tech and technology delivery into a single end‑to‑end portfolio view.
• Financial & Benefit Realisation:
  Partnering with finance business partners and delivery teams to ensure benefits are embedded into planning and budgeting, consistently measured throughout delivery, and tracked post‑implementation.
• Change & Business Readiness:
  Supporting PMs in applying best practice change management, providing support and coaching on what good looks like using the Wickes change framework.
• Stakeholder Partnership:
  Operating as a trusted partner to delivery teams, business leads, and key stakeholders. You will build strong collaborative relationships across business and Tech.

You will bring proven experience of portfolio and programme leadership within a retail or FMCG environment, specifically implementing light‑touch, delivery‑friendly frameworks. You will be adept at supporting leadership with decision‑ready reporting and possess strong influencing skills in matrix environments, particularly when partnering with finance on budgeting and benefits tracking.

Your experience should cover both Tech and non‑Tech change, acting as a collaborative partner to delivery teams rather than a control function. You will bring expertise in Dependency & flow management and resource and capacity awareness and demonstrate knowledge of Agile and traditional delivery models alongside the full portfolio and change lifecycle.

We’re looking for a highly collaborative, pragmatic, and solution‑focused person to join Wickes at an incredibly exciting time as we build our single view of change.

Our brilliant culture is an enabler to building great relationships, and you will bring exceptional influencing skills and emotional intelligence which will be the key to success in this role.

You should be someone who is comfortable with ambiguity and can balance structure with pace. A confident communicator who can simplify the complexity of a portfolio into executive level storytelling.

You’ll receive structured learning, mentoring and on‑the‑job experience designed to help you grow with confidence. We’ll fund your books, courses as well as your first exam attempts. You’ll get study leave for each exam. Your starting salary is £30,000. As you progress through the scheme and complete your qualifications, your salary will increase each year, recognising your development and achievement.

• Competitive bonus
• Save As You Earn scheme
• Contributory pension
• 20% colleague discount
• Access to a discount platform with cashback and savings at a wide range of retailers
• Cycle to work scheme and gym discounts

Our culture is one of our strongest assets. We offer flexible working, with a blend of office and remote working. We support a healthy balance between work and life, so you can…