Project Manager Enterprise Systems IT Portfolio

Location: London, UK – hybrid

Department: IT – Enterprise Systems & IT Portfolio

Line Manager: Joint reporting to VP IT and Head of Enterprise Systems, with capacity split 50/50 across both portfolios

Contract Terms: Permanent, full-time

THE TEAM & THE JOB

The Enterprise Systems and IT portfolio covers the business-critical platforms and change programmes that YouGov depends on to operate, including finance and business systems, system selections and platform implementations. As that portfolio grows, it needs a consistent way of planning, governing and delivering change across both leadership areas it spans.

This role provides that project management backbone. It is deliberately designed to evolve: the initial focus is on preparing and mobilising projects — building business cases, plans and governance — before transitioning into a delivery capacity as those projects are scheduled, carrying scoping knowledge directly into execution. Working across two senior leaders’ portfolios, the postholder acts as a trusted delivery partner, giving both leaders a single, reliable view of portfolio health and freeing them to focus on strategy and stakeholder relationships.

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING

Preparation and mobilisation

• Develop business cases and ROI models, applying a consistent, evidence-based methodology so that investment decisions are comparable across the portfolio.

• Build resourced project plans with clear milestones, dependencies and critical paths to give leadership a realistic view of delivery timelines.

• Establish and maintain RAID logs as a single portfolio-wide source of truth for risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies.

• Stand up governance including decision logs, requirements traceability, steering cadence and approval routes so that decisions are made and recorded consistently.

• Produce comparable status reporting for leadership and stakeholders to support prioritisation and resourcing decisions.

• Support vendor evaluation, requirements definition and procurement inputs where projects involve system selection.

Delivery

• Transition prepared projects into execution, owning day-to-day delivery against plan, budget and benefits.

• Manage scope, change control, risk mitigation and issue resolution through the delivery lifecycle to keep projects on track.

• Coordinate cross-functional teams, third-party suppliers and internal stakeholders to secure the input each project needs.

• Track and report benefits realisation against the original business case.

• Manage handover into business-as-usual and complete post-implementation review so that benefits are sustained after go-live.

Throughout

• Create reusable frameworks and templates for business cases, RAID, reporting and planning to raise portfolio consistency over time.

• Maintain a clear and honest view of portfolio health, surfacing risks early rather than late.

• Liaise regularly with both sponsoring leaders, Enterprise Systems and IT teams, Finance, Procurement, third-party suppliers and business stakeholders across the affected functions.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW (TECHNICAL & BEHAVIOURAL SKILLS/COMPETENCIES)

Technical skills and experience

• Demonstrable track record of delivering business and IT change and systems projects end to end, from business case through to go-live.

• Strong business case and ROI development skills, including cost and benefit modelling.

• Fluent in core project management disciplines: planning, RAID management, governance, stakeholder management and status reporting.

• Experience running projects involving vendor selection and third-party delivery partners.

• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to report credibly to senior leadership.

• Comfortable working across multiple concurrent projects and two reporting lines.

• Recognised project management methodology such as PRINCE2, APM PMQ, PMP or an Agile/Scrum equivalent.

Behaviours

• Takes end-to-end ownership of delivery and follows through to completion (get it right).

• Brings structure to ambiguity and competing priorities, right-sizing process so that governance helps rather than hinders (be fast).

• Influences without authority, driving progress across teams they do not manage (trust each other).

• Reports status straight and escalates risk early, even when the message is unwelcome (get it right).

• Works collaboratively with technical and non-technical colleagues across functions and cultures (respect).

Why join YouGov?
Join our global team to help us achieve our social mission: to make millions of people’s opinions heard for the benefit of our local, national, and international communities.

Understanding diversity of opinion requires diversity of background. Although our global panel of millions of people worldwide powers our research, our biggest asset is our people. If our research is to be truly representative of what the world thinks, we need people from all walks of life to be part of the team to bring their perspective to the work we do.

Life at YouGov
We are driven by a set of shared values. We are fast, fearless, and innovative. We work diligently to get it right. We are guided by accuracy, ethics, and proven methodologies. We respect and trust each other, bringing these values into everything that we do.

We strive to provide YouGovers with best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing. We want our employees to have a sense of belonging and uniqueness in a supportive workplace, so they can bring their full selves to work.

Equal Opportunity Employer
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity or expression, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, HIV status, political affiliation, socioeconomic background, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law or in line with our responsibilities as a fair and ethic employer. All employment decisions are made based on occupational qualifications, merit, and business need.

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