Head of EPMO, City of Port Phillip

The City of Port Phillip is a uniquely vibrant and creative inner-city council with a spectacular, enviable foreshore and Fisherman's Bend urban renewal area. A highly talented and dedicated workforce of 1000 staff delivers more than 100 programs and services to residents, businesses and visitors, working to deliver on an ambitious Council Plan that is shaped by a desire to celebrate our history, protect our character, and encourage inclusion and creativity, while planning for the future of a dynamic and evolving City.

The City of Port Phillip is seeking an experienced enterprise governance and assurance leader to establish and lead as the Head of EPMO. This is a hands-on, senior leadership position providing authoritative, enterprise-level stewardship of portfolio governance, systems, assurance and performance insight. This is a deliberately independent function, separate from project delivery, giving the Executive Leadership Team confidence in investment decisions and ensuring material risks are surfaced early.

Reporting to the General Manager Governance and Performance, you will own the Enterprise Portfolio Management Framework and the standards that underpin consistent, proportionate and risk-based governance across Council, while leading a small specialist team.

About the role

• Act as Council's enterprise authority for portfolio governance, owning and stewarding the Enterprise Portfolio Management Framework and associated assurance and reporting standards.
• Lead the annual enterprise portfolio build — demand intake, prioritisation, sequencing and scenario analysis — and advise on in-year rebalancing and trade-offs as priorities and constraints shift.
• Exercise independent enterprise-level assurance authority, including oversight of gateway reviews, High Risk High Value (HRHV) classification and escalation pathways, and material risk escalation to the Executive Leadership Team and Audit & Risk Committee.
• Ensure the integrity and coherence of decision-grade enterprise portfolio reporting presented to the Executive Leadership Team and Council.
• Act as Business/Product Owner for the Project Lifecycle Management system (TechnologyOne OneCouncil), accountable for governance configuration, data standards and portfolio hierarchy design.
• Sponsor the Project Management Framework at an enterprise level and identify systemic capability gaps, advising the Executive Leadership Team on enterprise-level responses.
• Provide professional leadership to the EPMO function, with two direct reports — the Portfolio Systems and Data Lead, and the Portfolio Assurance and Performance Lead.

About you

• Demonstrated senior-level experience providing enterprise-wide portfolio governance leadership, including stewardship of frameworks and assurance arrangements in a complex organisation.
• A track record of providing independent, authoritative portfolio assurance and performance insight to executive leadership teams, including judgement on delivery confidence and risk escalation.
• Experience leading enterprise portfolio prioritisation, sequencing and rebalancing, integrating strategic, financial, capacity and risk considerations.
• Experience as a business or product owner for enterprise portfolio or governance systems, embedding discipline and transparency through system design.
• Comfort assessing and managing High Risk High Value or sensitive initiatives, including defining escalation thresholds and managing reputational and organisational risk.
• Highly developed ability to influence and advise senior leaders with credibility, translating complex portfolio information into clear, decision-relevant insight.
• A tertiary qualification in business, governance, finance, project, program or portfolio management, and extensive senior-level experience in EPMO/PMO leadership, assurance or governance functions.

Why this role

This is a genuine opportunity to build and shape an enterprise governance function from a position of real authority and independence, working at the heart of Council's investment, risk and performance decisions, with direct visibility to the Executive Leadership Team and Council.

How to apply

Download a copy of the position description by copying https://tinyurl.com/2w2frkm7 into your browser or contact Charlie Cole at ***email_hidden*** with any specific questions.

Applications close on Thursday 2nd July and should include a CV (maximum 4 pages) and cover letter (maximum 2 pages) that broadly addresses your suitability. All enquiries will be treated with absolute confidentiality.

City of Port Phillip welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, LGBTIQ+ people and people with disability. Pre-employment screening, including a National Police Check and Working with Children Check, applies to this appointment.