Portfolio Manager - India

About ETS

ETS is a global education and talent solutions organization, enabling lifelong learners to be future ready. We advance the science of measurement to build the benchmarks for fair and valid skill assessment. We are committed to powering human progress by promoting skill proficiency, empowering upward mobility, and unlocking more opportunities for everyone, everywhere.

For more than 70 years, we have developed products and services based on rigorous research and our belief in the power of learning. Our portfolio consists of some of the world’s most trusted assessments - including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® exams, the GRE® and the Praxis® family of assessments - along with research, development and innovation that explores new frontiers in learning and measurement. Our educational measurement solutions and research contribute to the development of new methods and tools, inform important dialogue with education policymakers, and shed light on critical issues and potential solutions - all with the aim of creating a world where all learners are able to improve their lives through education.

Position Summary

The Portfolio Manager is a project management position focusing on developing a relationship with Strategic Business Units (SBUs) or Functional Centers of Excellence (FCEs) and accountable to successfully deliver a portfolio of investments. In support of the GCC Portfolio Enablement team, the Portfolio Manager leads a portfolio of projects for several small to midsize lines of business or functional areas. This role is accountable and responsible for the staff assigned to manage the projects as part of the portfolio of investments. This role is also responsible for ensuring the successful implementation of the GCC strategy. Finally, the incumbent may be asked to directly manage projects on an interim or short-term basis as full time project management resources are being recruited, evaluated, and deployed.

This critical role possesses a value set and vision on behalf of the GCC and Portfolio Enablement that requires extensive end-to-end knowledge of all business processes and services provided by ETS on behalf of the SBUs. There must be a high degree of knowledge around the diverse business functions and principles in order for the role to execute with authority in support of the projects he/she manages. This role calls for an innovative leader who can enhance existing processes and make decisions in support of investment projects to be sure data-driven decisions are made in support of continuous process improvements.

Primary Responsibilities

Overall General Requirements:

• End-to-end Project Management capabilities and services
• End-to-end production management and delivery (ability to implement)
• Cross-functional/Cross-matrix/Cross-hierarchical communications
• Effective and proven track in problem resolution
• Focus on quality and continuous improvement
  
  

Specific Responsibilities Include

• Astute and savvy relationship management over Strategic Business Units (SBUs) and/or Functional Center of Excellences (FCEs).
• Accountable for financial analysis and drivers in project budget and forecast
• Effectively prioritize and manage the portfolio of investments through the governing committees of the SBU/FCE, overall planning and execution of investments in a manner consistent with the Enterprise Pipeline, project management best practices, and the use of project management supporting tools.
• Effectively maintain, track and measure key portfolio management success metrics related to investments, strategic alignment, fiscal responsibility, resource allocation, and business outcomes. Evaluate success of actions.
• Proactively identifies opportunities and implement tactics to drive efficiencies and increase productivity across portfolio of investments. Manages implementation of opportunities.
• Serves as the senior/designated Point-of-Contact (POC) for the portfolio performance, providing updates and escalations to the members of ETS Leadership and governing committees when necessary.
• Demonstrate expertise in building and managing a portfolio of investments, that may include significant system to system or platform to platform dependencies and potentially the need to serialize interdependencies with other investments within an SBU/FCE or across ETS (as reviewed as part of the Portfolio Management Team), understanding constraints and roadblocks/barriers, identifying potential risks and mitigation plans.
• Maintains superior understanding of best practices and mastery over the art of “right sizing” best practices to drive productivity and efficiencies.
• Understand the portfolio financial reporting, explain variances, and propose recommendations for improvement.
• Collaborates in partnership with the SBU/FCE Leadership for portfolio performance reviews including, updating portfolio-related information, development of executive readout materials and responsibility for communicating portfolio status.
• Accountable for achieving operational efficiency and provides guidance to Product Owners, Product Operations Managers and functional areas; authorized to reduce cost through any reasonable means, including outsourcing, subject to decision making framework.
• Manage comprehensive written and verbal portfolio communications including the creation and dissemination of status reports and ad hoc communications as defined by GCC and the communications plan agreed upon with Leadership.
• Direct supervision of Project Analyst or Project Managers under the SBU/FCE portfolio of investments, including general administrative duties associated with the management of direct staff including annual performance reviews and development plans.
• Provide coaching and mentoring to peers and colleagues in the GCC.
• Serves as an ambassador of the GCC with Project Sponsors, Project Owners, Project Teams and other Stakeholders throughout ETS and continuously represents the OCEO with professionalism while carrying out the GCC vision and strategy.
• Adhere to ethical standards and comply with the laws and regulations applicable to your job function
  
  

Required Skills

• Expertise in the MS Office Product Suite, including Visio
• Expertise in MS Project or other project tracking tools
• Strong knowledge of project management scheduling processes and tools (WBS, Gantt)
• Knowledge of agile project management tools (Jira)
• Knowledge of PPM tools (EPM, Clarity, Planview, Smartsheets)
• Dealing with Ambiguity
• Exceptional Leadership
• Business Maturity and Professionalism
• Approachability and Patience
• Business Acumen
• Composure
• Negotiation and Conflict Management
• Problem Solving
• Customer Focus
• Interpersonal Savvy
• Time Management and Planning
• Motivating Others
• Communication Skills
  
  

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent work experience, MBA preferred
• PMP Certification – preferred
• 5+ years of experience directly managing highly complex projects and evaluating project performance data
• 3+ years of experience managing in a portfolio of projects within an enterprise project management office or environment and evaluating portfolio performance data
• 3+ years of experience managing project management staff