Head of Portfolio: Digital

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Join our journey to create a new experience for the National Lottery and help us to power change for the greater good.

ABOUT US:

We are Allwyn UK, part of the Allwyn Entertainment Group - a multi-national lottery operator with a market-leading presence in Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus and Italy. We have been officially awarded the Fourth Licence (10 year licence) to operate the National Lottery starting February 2024.

We've developed ground-breaking technologies, built player protection frameworks, and have a proven track record of making lotteries better. Our aim is to create one of the UK's most inclusive organisations - where people can bring the best of themselves, to do their best work, every day, for the benefit of good causes.

Allwyn is an Equal Opportunity Employer which prides itself in being diverse and inclusive. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or victimisation in the workplace. All employment decisions at Allwyn are based on the business needs, the job requirements, and the individual qualifications. Allwyn encourages applications from individuals regardless of age, disability (visible or hidden), sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

While the main contribution of the National Lottery to society is through the funds to good causes, at Allwyn we put our purpose and values at the heart of everything we do. Join us as we embark on a once-in-a-lifetime, largescale transformation journey to build a bigger, better, and safer National Lottery that delivers more money to good causes.

ROLE PURPOSE:

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Head of Digital Portfolio Delivery to plan, drive and deliver a dynamic and high impact portfolio of digital initiatives aimed at enhancing our customer experience and digital capabilities through better use of CRM capabilities, personalisation, new features and ways to play on the web / app and more seamless integration of the retail and digital experience. This role is about bridging the gap between strategy and execution. You will be working with a crossFunctional group of stakeholders - from the Director of Digital Play and our Digital Factory through to colleagues in central Portfolio Management, strategy, consumer insight, marketing, technology and regulatory teams to ensure that there is planning, co-ordination and successful delivery execution across our most important digital initiatives and projects.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES:

Portfolio Management:
• Lead and oversee a portfolio of digital initiatives, ensuring that all projects align with business goals and deliver measurable value over the short, medium and long term
• Ensure that digital initiatives operate through the appropriate governance and delivery lifecycle processes
• Balance resources, timelines, budget and risk across the portfolio
• Work with the Director of Digital Play to establish and maintain the digital roadmap, ensuring 'think-ahead' planning so that the right resources, vendors and capabilities are available to support delivery when needed
• Provide high quality, data driven reporting on the portfolio which supports senior stakeholders in decision making
• Work with the other Heads of Portfolio and the central Portfolio Management team to balance digital priorities and plans against the demands of the overall business portfolio and roadmap

Portfolio Delivery
• Ensure that digital portfolio projects are successfully delivered end-to-end from initiation and planning through to execution and benefits realisation, on time, within scope and on budget. Delivery in this context incorporates any aspect of delivery required to land the project successfully into the business, including technology and digital components, regulatory considerations, market readiness and business readiness / change management.
• Ensure that the relevant business functions have a clear, agreed and resourced benefits realisation plan to ensure that project delivery translates into realised value
• Ensure that risks to both delivery and benefits realisation are appropriately understood and proactively managed, escalating as appropriate where issues cannot be resolved within delivery teams

Stakeholder management
• Act as the co-ordination point and key point of contact for key stakeholders including Function / Sub-function heads, product owners / managers, marketing, technology teams, digital teams and vendors to ensure that roles and responsibilities for delivery are clearly understood, dependencies are managed effectively across teams and issues are resolved
• Communicate progress, risks and outcomes effectively to senior leadership

KEY MEASURES OF SUCCESS:
• High percentage of projects / initiatives within the portfolio are completed as planned, without significant delays or cost overruns, demonstrating strong delivery management and efficient resource allocation
• There is clear and measurable traceability from portfolio delivery into benefits realisation (such as improved customer experience, digital adoption and ARPU) and return on investment
• Risks, issues and dependencies across the portfolio - and where they intersect with other portfolios - are proactively identified and managed, resulting in minimal escalations to senior leadership or delays to portfolio plans
• Business stakeholders are clear on their roles and responsibilities in relation to delivery
• Portfolio initiatives follow agreed Allwyn Portfolio Management governance and delivery frameworks and methodologies
• Works collaboratively and strategically with other Portfolios - ensuring that resources, funding and effort is always focussed on the initiatives that are of greatest importance to the delivery of Allwyn's strategic goals

KEY SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
• Experience: 8+ years of managing digital portfolios and delivering complex digital initiatives, preferably in areas such as crm, personalisation, customer experience / journey optimisation, AI and digital products in a fast-paced, direct-to-consumer industry - with a preference for iGaming experience
• Portfolio / delivery management: Strong programme / portfolio management skills, with a proven track record of delivering digital projects on time and within budget. Must have solid experience of working within Agile delivery methodologies - preferably in both pure and mixed method environments.
• Technical expertise: A solid understanding of digital technologies, platforms and tools including CRM systems (Salesforce preferable), analytics tools, data platforms and personalisation tools.
• Leadership: Ability to lead, inspire and organise cross-functional teams, fostering collaboration and a drive to delivery even where there may be competing agendas and demands on resources
• Problem solving and innovation: Outstanding problem-solving skills, with the ability to cut through to the heart of an issue quickly and innovate to find ways to resolve problems so that delivery can stay on track or deliver more effectively
• Customer focussed and analytical mindset: Strong analytical skills, with the ability to leverage data to drive decisions, highlight issues of most critical importance and demonstrate a clear line-of-sight between portfolio delivery and RoI
• Communication: A great communicator who is able to articulate complex concepts to both technical and nontechnical stakeholders

Benefits

• 26 days paid leave (plus bank holidays)

• Annual bonus scheme

• 2 x Life Days

• 4 x Salary of Life Insurance

• Pension: we'll match your contribution up to 8.5%

• Single Private Health Cover

• £500 Wellness Allowance

• Income Protection

• Enhanced parental leave (maternity and paternity)

• Eye Care, Dental and Cycle To Work schemes