ePMO and Portfolio Manager

Company Description:

Who are McDonald’s? 

McDonald’s has run its business in the UK since 1974 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The business currently operates over 1,450 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, serving almost four million customers each day. McDonald’s is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers, employing over 177,000 people.

McDonald’s UK & Ireland has a proven track record of investing in the development of its employees and offering flexibility as part of its dedication to being a modern and progressive company. Every year, it invests over £40 million in developing people, giving every one of its employees the opportunity to take part in structured training.

McDonald’s buys ingredients from over 23,000 British and Irish farmers and spends over £1.1billion annually on its food and packaging requirements. McDonald’s is committed to supporting British and Irish farmers to ensure it can continue to source many of its ingredients from the UK and Ireland.

McDonald’s is a market leader in its field, striving for the highest standard of quality, speed and restaurant experience. Re-generation of our restaurant infrastructure, covering digital ordering, re-imaging and dual-point service make working at McDonald’s more exciting than ever! 

We are dedicated to using our scale for good: good for people, our industry and the planet. From bold recycling initiatives and sustainable sourcing efforts to our partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, we see every day as a chance to have a genuine impact on our customers, our people and our partners.

We're a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand in the world by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big every day and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world. 

Company Vision and Culture

Our Global vision is to build a better McDonald’s and in the UK and Ireland we are working hard to be the UK & Irelands best-loved restaurant company. 

McDonald’s is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all.

Our values drive our culture and shape our beliefs, our priorities and our actions. They influence the decisions we make, how we treat one another and how we show up as a brand to the world.

Serve: We put our customers and our people first 
Inclusion: We open our doors to everyone
Integrity: We do the right thing
Community: We are good neighbours
Family: We get better together

Hybrid Working
This role is based in our East Finchley office working 3 days in the office and 2 days remotely

Job Description:

The Opportunity 
As the ePMO & Portfolio Manager you will be a strategic leader in the business; you will play a central role in translating our purpose, vision and business strategy into action, and supporting its successful delivery.

Specifically, you will lead the prioritisation of projects within the organisation, whilst defining project delivery governance and providing a level of assistance (tools and templates) and assurance (through ‘audits/health checks’).  You will be responsible for reporting on the portfolio to a variety of audiences across the business and will act as the ‘go-to’ SME for our plans.

What will my accountabilities be?
At a strategic level, your role is to make sure the portfolio is delivering the right outcomes, as such your accountabilities include: 

• Creating and maintaining a deliverable, costed business plan i.e., the change activity ladders-up to the strategy and is translated into clear plans that everyone can understand, shaping a balanced, sustainable and deliverable project portfolio 
• Defining, implementing, and running the project intake and prioritisation process, including the coaching of stakeholders in the development of their ideas within the process
• Maintaining integrity of the portfolio by managing and preparing the critical information for key forums (such as the Exec and Change Steering Group) to inform strategic and commercial decisions.  As part of this, acting as a gate keeper for these forums (no discussion and consideration to new ideas if correct information is not known)
• Building and maintaining relationships across the business and wider leadership team, to manage associated trade-off/re-prioritisation conversations, as well as ‘return to green’ conversations for inflight projects (acting as a Trusted Advisor)
• Defining and implementing the process to support resource forecasting and eventually resource management across projects in the portfolio
• Working with finance for effective investment governance for all projects in the portfolio 
• Reporting on the status of projects in the portfolio, with input from the respective resources (typically the Project Manager)
• Working with the Head of Project Delivery, educate Project Managers on the project management framework and their responsibilities with regards to artefact completion and reporting
• Providing a level of assurance through the provision of ad-hoc project ‘audits/health checks’ including the recommendation of corrective action as required.
• Working with Business Strategy and Insights Team to support the annual Phase Planning and Plan to Win process, taking responsibility for the project roadmap, and the continual improvement of this business planning process
• Liaising with Technology to ensure the global tech roadmap is aligned with the market plan
• Continually seeking to improve the processes and outputs of the team
• Creating a high performing team, supporting each individuals development
• Providing objectivity and friendly challenge to everything we do through a ‘business change’ lens 

What Team will I be a part?
You will be key part of the Change Team. This hugely important team connects people across our business to focus on delivering the right projects, in the best way, to achieve our business goals. It proactively and independently challenges and innovates, working diligently to improve the way we work and deliver change as a business.  

As the ePMO & Portfolio Manager you will report directly to the Change Director and will have your own dedicated team to support in the delivery of your accountabilities.

Who are my customers?
Given the central nature of the role, your ‘customers’ are wide and varied, and you will need to act with relevance and authenticity at every level.  

• UK&I Leadership Team - align functional leaders around the plan and enable them to deliver it 
• UK&I Change Steering Group - use governance optimally to hold the business to account 
• Project Leads - advocate and demonstrate innovative and agile ways of executing change 
• UK&I Communications Team - ensure our strategic storytelling is simple, clear, and consistent 
• Franchisees - collaborate and value them as a business partner and change enabler 
• Suppliers and partners - demonstrate our scale through smart partnering and resource sharing 
• Restaurants - making sure that in whatever we do we stay grounded and keep it real 
• Global - supporting functional leaders with aligning on Global initiatives 

Qualifications:

What background do I need to have?
Essential requirements 

• Senior Change leadership experience
• Strategic and critical thinking skills
• Portfolio planning (inc. prioritisation), and PMO experience
• Experience of project management using AGILE or PRINCE2 methodology (or equivalent) 
• Experience using digital tools to manage projects, programmes and portfolios 
• Ability to balance competing priorities and task-switch frequently
• Ability to influence all levels, and challenge effectively where required 
• Ability to take sophisticated ideas, assess solution options and communicate them simply, taking people with you along the journey
• Effective communication skills (written and verbal) and storytelling experience 
• Collaborative workstyle with the ability to engage and mobilise teams around common goals (i.e., demonstratable delivery through others)
• The ability to spot problems and solve them creatively, individually and with others 
• Curious mind-set, never settling for the status quo and championing continuous improvement 
• Experience leading and developing diverse teams with an ability to inspire others

Desired requirements 

• Knowledge of how a franchised business operates 
• Experience of project financial management
• Experience of project benefits management
• Experience of rolling out a resource management solution for a project portfolio

Additional Information:

At McDonald’s we are People from all Walks of Life... 

People are at the heart of everything we do and they make the McDonald’s experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. 

We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers give us strength. 

We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind.  These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play. 

We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald’s or elsewhere.

#LI-Hybrid