Head of Portfolio (Commercial and Digital Technology)

As the Head of Portfolio and leading the creation of the hotel of the future, you'll oversee product development, software engineering, and service performance within our Commercial Technology function.

Whitbread, the home of the UK’s number 1 hotel brand Premier Inn is making significant investments in its people and technology as we set up for the next decade of growth. To lead the way, we are looking for a strategic and delivery-focused Head of Portfolio - Commercial and Digital, to oversee technology projects across our core business areas.

As the new Head of Portfolio, you will lead the planning, execution, and governance of all product development, software engineering initiatives, and service performance activities across our Commercial Technology function. You will be accountable for overseeing a diverse and dynamic portfolio of projects, ensuring that both delivery outcomes and service performance align with customer expectations as we build the hotel of the future.

You will bring strong experience in both Agile and Waterfall delivery models, with a proven ability to tailor governance structures and reporting. You’ll lead a high-performing team of  Senior Project Managers, PMO, QA, and Business Analysis and play a critical role in managing portfolio financials, risks, and cross-functional dependencies.

Role:                  Head of Portfolio (Commercial and Digital Technology) 

Package:         Up to £130,000pa + up to 40% bonus and car or car allowance of £7,000pa                        

Contract Type:  Full-Time and Permanent

Location:        Digital Office, Holborn, London and working to a hybrid way of working with coming to the office a minimum of 3 times a week (there will also be expectation to visit our Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire office)

Why You’ll Love It Here

• Healthcare: Individual & Family BUPA healthcare
• 10% matched pension
• Discounts: Up to 60% discount on Premier Inn stays and 25% discount on our Restaurant brand
• Choice of Car or Car allowance

Check out all our benefits here: https://www.whitbreadcareers.com/about-us/benefits/

What you’ll be doing:

• Portfolio Leadership: Think of portfolio leadership as the guiding hand that steers our technology journey. You’ll oversee our collection of tech projects, like product development and engineering initiatives, and ensure they align with our business goals, available resources, and overall strategy. This role isn't just about managing; it’s about supporting and empowering our Technical Product Managers.
• Governance & Steering: We want your gentle guidance that keeps everything on track. It's about setting up a flexible system that supports both Agile and Waterfall projects, allowing them to thrive in their own ways. By leading steering committees and executive forums, decisions are made with clarity and confidence. This approach fosters open communication, enabling proactive resolution of challenges and keeping everyone aligned with our shared goals.
• Delivery Oversight: Track and support the successful delivery of projects and engineering workstreams so that timelines, budgets, and value outcomes are met.
• Service Performance Oversight: We’ve always stayed ahead of the curve by predicting what the next big thing in hospitality will be, so we need you to report on key service performance indicators across the commercial technology estate, working closely with product management, service and operations teams to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Financial Management: Own portfolio-level financial oversight, including budgeting, forecasting, variance tracking, and benefit realisation.
• Risk & Dependency Management: Focus on spotting and managing risks and dependencies early, ensuring that everyone knows their responsibilities. By setting up clear ownership and open communication, keep our projects moving smoothly.
• Reporting & Communication: We believe in keeping you informed with clear and regular updates on how our portfolio is doing. Whether it’s tracking service performance, delivery progress, or overall health, you’ll make sure the information is easy to understand and always aligned with your priorities. Our goal is to keep you connected and confident in the direction we're heading.

What you’ll need:

• Extensive experience managing complex technology portfolios across product, engineering, and service domains with a track record of working closely with engineering, service, and delivery teams to drive performance and value.
• Experience setting up and running effective portfolio governance structures and executive steering forums.
• Proven financial management skills across large, multi-initiative portfolios.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, able to bring structure and clarity to evolving environments.
• Familiarity with service performance management frameworks (e.g. SLAs, SLOs, operational dashboards).

• Exposure to enterprise-level portfolio, product and engineering practices and DevOps environments

Be part of our Technology Team at Whitbread

Through collaboration, passion and hiring the smartest minds, our Technology team builds products and services that are used by 38,000 of us at Whitbread and millions of guests. Everything from an eCommerce website that handles £2 billion in transactions per year, applications that are scalable across our 1,200 hotel and restaurants, devices that enable our teams and guests to have a seamless experience, all whilst keeping data secure. Together we’re building the hotel of the future.