Senior Portfolio and Control Manager

Job Title: Senior Portfolio and Control Manager

Department: Business Planning and Performance

Location: Hybrid working – Birmingham office at least 1 day per week

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (37 hours per week)

Salary: £54,000 per annum

The role:

As the Portfolio and Controls Senior Manager, you will play a key role in ensuring robust portfolio management, assurance, planning and performance reporting to support effective strategic decision-making for the Commission.

You will lead the development and continuous improvement of portfolio management frameworks, ensuring effective controls are in place to support the successful delivery of the organisation’s priorities and strategic objectives.

As a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, you will foster a culture of continuous improvement, promoting best practice and consistency in portfolio and project management and embedding effective controls that enable successful delivery.

You will also lead a team of portfolio planning and performance professionals to ensure the timely production of high-quality data and information reports and that standards are not only maintained but that our processes and systems are continuously improved towards the goal of improving our portfolio management maturity.

Our offer to you:

- Civil Service Pension, with 28.97% employer contribution

- 26 days’ holiday, rising to 29 days after two years’ service (pro rata)

- Holiday purchase scheme (option to buy up to five extra days annual leave)

- Flexible working & family-friendly policies

- Ergonomic, fully accessible office, very close to Birmingham New Street Station

- Open, collaborative and people-focused culture

Your responsibilities:

- Responsible for ensuring that planning and performance reporting activities and insights support the alignment of core service delivery, change initiatives and projects to corporate strategic objectives

- Overall responsibility for leading the production of Commission's Portfolio and Performance monthly reporting cycle

- Overseeing and facilitating portfolio prioritisation activities, including the management of ‘front door’ and making recommendations and advising leaders on the best options to support the delivery of strategic objectives

- Establish clear portfolio governance frameworks and reporting regime

- Define clear planning and performance management, quality standards and criteria, ensuring these are adopted and applied across the organisation through all planning and performance reporting activity

- Coordinate reporting from projects and programmes to provide analysis at portfolio level

- Maintain portfolio delivery map and critical path to monitor project progress

- Track, monitor and analyse progress and resource demands against existing delivery commitments to inform live and future planning decisions

- Work with teams across the organisation to understand and challenge their operational performance, providing advice on identifying, selecting and monitoring strategic KPIs

- Lead, coach and mentor team members to work collaboratively across the organisation to operationalise, implement and continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of planning, delivery and performance reporting activity and outputs

- Agree the team’s service model and key outputs with stakeholders to ensure senior managers have the robust information they need to inform investment decisions

- Actively manage stakeholders to understand requirements, planning & performance service delivery and ensure devolved responsibilities are met

- Working with project delivery teams to ensure quality assurance activities and outcomes are delivered on a continuous improvement basis both within the planning & reporting team and wider organisation

What we’re looking for:

Essential criteria:

- Demonstrable experience in leading, directing and developing a team to deliver effective portfolio planning and performance reporting at an organisational level

- Knowledge and understanding of both business and financial planning gained from experience of portfolio management and application of operational performance management methodologies and reporting

- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders throughout all layers of the organisation

- Proven analytical capability with experience of interpreting and communicating complex data into clear decision-making support insights

Desirable criteria:

- Experience of working within a regulatory environment

- Use of Power BI, Verto or other relevant BI and planning software

- Knowledge of Government Functional Standard for Project Delivery

We value diversity in our workplace and are committed to a culture where each individual is engaged and feels that their contribution is valued and respected. We welcome all applications from candidates who meet the minimum requirements for the role.

To apply for this position, please see the Gambling Commission careers website.

Your application:

The Gambling Commission have an anonymised recruitment process, so you should not attach a CV to your application. Instead, application questions will ask you to evidence how your personal skills, qualities and experience match the essential criteria for the role.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience.

The selection process for this vacancy will comprise of a remote (MS Teams) interview consisting of competency and technical questions. To prepare for your interview, please familiarise yourself with the STAR technique for answering interview questions.

Closing Date: Midnight on 09/08/2026

Interviews: w/c 17/08/2026

Please ensure you have the right to work in the UK before applying, as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Incomplete applications will be discounted from shortlisting. Please ensure your application is fully completed and submitted before logging out of your account.

About us:

The Gambling Commission is the regulatory authority responsible for overseeing and regulating gambling activities in the United Kingdom. Our primary role is to ensure that gambling is conducted fairly, openly, and free from crime, while also protecting vulnerable individuals from harm.

We regulate various forms of gambling, including casinos, bingo, sports betting, and lotteries, and issue licenses to operators. We are committed to ensuring a safe and responsible gambling environment, promoting transparency, and enforcing compliance with legal standards to maintain public trust in the industry.

We’re proud to have notable industry recognition, including the Regulatory Excellence Award from the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This prestigious award recognised the Commission's international leadership in enhancing consumer protection through industry collaboration.

Please apply if you want to be part of an organisation that is a force for good!