Strategic Portfolio Lead

Job Description

Circa £80k, salary depending on skills and experience

Permanent

Full-time, with flexibility for part-time

Location: Peterborough, Hybrid Working

Plan smarter investments for resilient services and sustainable futures.

This is a senior role at the heart of shaping & strengthening the organisation’s medium‑term investment planning capability - turning strategic ambition, regulatory requirements & risk into prioritised, deliverable investment plans that create lasting value for customers, communities & the environment.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, with exposure to Executive stakeholders, you will ensure future investment choices are evidence‑based, risk‑informed, and operationally aligned. As part of that approach, you will balance performance, asset resilience, affordability and compliance, while maintaining alignment with our statutory frameworks.

A key part of the role is applying systems and place‑based thinking approach to investment planning. You will take a whole‑system view across catchments, communities and infrastructure; ensuring interactions, dependencies and trade‑offs across programmes and geographies are understood and managed.

Bringing together water resources, drainage, environmental outcomes, asset health & resilience, you will create cohesive, prioritised medium‑term plans - articulating risk and options to support confident decision making at senior levels and supports securing future investment at the regulatory interface.

What you will do

• You will shape investment strategy spanning complex, multi‑asset systems and long‑term regulatory commitments, operating at the interface between asset strategy, delivery and regulation.

• Lead on the development of medium‑term investment portfolios, translating strategy, risk and regulatory drivers into future prioritised, sequenced and deliverable programmes.

• Optimise investment across systems using strong asset intelligence, operational insight and whole‑life value principles.

• Apply systems and place‑based planning, ensuring future investment decisions reflect how assets interact across networks and environments.

• Shape future investment strategies, ensuring decisions made today support long‑term resilience and sustainability.

• Support delivery of current investment programmes while maintaining alignment with longer‑term strategic objectives.

• Provide robust challenge and assurance through governance forums, clearly communicating complex risks, trade‑offs and choices to senior leaders.

What we are looking for

You will be a highly analytical, commercially minded professional with strong credibility in asset management and investment planning, comfortable operating in complex, regulated environments.

Essential experience and skills:

• Significant experience in asset management, strategic or medium‑term investment planning, or infrastructure portfolio management.

• Proven ability to develop and prioritise investment plans using risk‑based, evidence‑led approaches.

• Strong systems‑thinking capability, integrating operational, environmental and regulatory drivers.

• Confidence interpreting asset condition, performance, resilience and risk data to inform investment decisions.

• Ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders, with clear, effective communication skills.

• Degree in Engineering, Asset Management, Environmental Science, Systems Engineering or a related discipline.

Desirable:

• Chartered Engineer or Chartered/Certified Asset Management professional.

• Experience in the water sector or other regulated infrastructure sectors.

• Knowledge of climate change adaptation, long‑term risk modelling and resilience planning.

• Experience with systems modelling, asset health forecasting or investment optimisation techniques.

As a valued employee, you’ll be entitled to:

• Full private healthcare with no excess

• 26 days leave, rising with service + Bank Holidays, with the option to swap Christmas and Easter holidays for those celebrated by your religion

• A flexible and friendly working culture

• Competitive pension scheme – we double-match your contributions up to 6%

• Life Assurance at eight times your salary

• Personal Accident cover – up to 5x your salary

• Bonus Scheme

• Lots of great discounts

Why apply?

• This is a rare opportunity to shape how future major investment choices are made, influencing programmes that will have a lasting impact on customers, communities and the environment.

• You will operate at the centre of the organisation, working with senior leaders to turn strategy into action - balancing risk, resilience, growth and affordability across complex systems.

• The role offers real visibility, challenge and scope to leave a meaningful legacy in how investment is planned and delivered.

Closing date: 20th May 2026

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