DescriptionThis role is part of the Office of the Chief of Staff (COS) to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Technology, Data & Analytics (TD&A). The Director, Portfolio Management is responsible for leading enterprise portfolio operations and governance across Technology, Data & Analytics, ensuring effective demand management, prioritization, resource allocation, and execution governance.
This role serves as the operational integrator across the TD&A portfolio, driving alignment between strategic priorities, organizational capacity, financial planning, and execution outcomes. The Director partners closely with senior leaders, Finance, other COS functions, and key stakeholders from across the TD&A organization including Global Process Owners (GPOs), portfolio and PMO leads, and Capability Strategic Governance leads to enable disciplined portfolio decision-making, transparent prioritization, and optimized execution of project portfolio across the enterprise.
Key Considerations- This role requires a highly operational and analytically driven leader who can balance enterprise priorities with execution realities.
- Must possess strong expertise in portfolio operations, demand management, prioritization, and resource optimization within complex Technology organizations.
- Requires proven expertise in Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) and process optimization, with a track record of applying Lean principles to eliminate operational and executional waste, streamline complex intake and governance workflows, reduce cycle times, and accelerate enterprise value delivery.
- Requires exceptional influencing and negotiation skills to align leaders on competing priorities, resource tradeoffs, sequencing decisions, and execution plans.
- Must be able to operate effectively in highly matrixed environments with shifting priorities and evolving organizational demands.
- Requires strong business acumen and data-driven decision-making capabilities to support investment optimization and portfolio performance management.
- Must proactively identify execution risks, portfolio dependencies, resource constraints, and operational bottlenecks across the organization.
- This role requires both strategic perspective and operational rigor, with the ability to translate enterprise priorities into executable portfolio plans.
Key Roles & ResponsibilitiesDemand & Portfolio Operations Management
- Lead enterprise demand management (including annual, quarterly and ad-hoc) and portfolio operations processes across Technology, Data & Analytics (including other enterprise transformation that require tech investments which may receive funding overlays from other stakeholders across ELC).
- Establish, manage and continually evolve and optimize intake frameworks, operational governance processes, and portfolio operating cadences to drive efficienes and a focus on value creation and delivery.
- Partner with leaders across TD&A to evaluate, prioritize, and align demand and portfolio to strategic priorities at the Enterprise, Tech, Data & Analytics, and Functional/Regional/Brand levels.
- Ensure demand intake processes drive transparency, consistency, traceability, and alignment to enterprise priorities.
- Manage portfolio operational rhythms, governance forums, decision tracking, and execution oversight processes; with an eye towards simplification, process improvement and agility.
Key Roles & Responsibilities (Continued)Portfolio Prioritization & Optimization
- Lead portfolio prioritization processes using progressive structured frameworks, business value analysis, risk assessment, and strategic alignment criteria.
- Facilitate prioritization discussions and tradeoff decisions across senior leadership teams, including non-traditional levers and sources.
- Balance short-term operational needs with long-term strategic investments and transformation priorities.
- Support scenario planning and investment optimization exercises to maximize portfolio value and execution feasibility when considering resources both internally and externally along with the interdependency of key resources across the portfolio.
- Ensure portfolio decisions align with organizational capacity, funding constraints, and enterprise objectives.
- Continuously assess portfolio performance and identify opportunities to improve throughput, focus, and strategic alignment.
Key Roles & Responsibilities (Continued)Execution & Portfolio Governance
- Establish governance structures, portfolio management standards, and operational execution disciplines across TD&A, with an eye towards simplicity and value realization.
- Ensure portfolio execution processes are scalable, measurable, and consistently applied across functions and initiatives.
- Drive governance compliance, reporting accuracy, and operational accountability across the portfolio, increasing organizational maturity and operational effectiveness.
- Partner with Portfolio Leads, PMO Leads, Capability Strategy & Governance Leads, Domain or Process Technology Leaders, GPOs and Financeto improve execution visibility and portfolio discipline.
- Leverage portfolio management tools and reporting platforms to improve operational effectiveness and governance transparency.
- Own post-approval measurement. Monitor execution health, portfolio risks, and delivery performance metrics across projects and work with the right stakeholders to ensure all projects are executed on time and on budget. Establish consistent benefits/ value tracking.
Key Roles & Responsibilities (Continued)Influencing, Alignment & Stakeholder Engagement
- Build strong partnerships across Technology, Data & Analytics leadership teams to drive alignment on portfolio priorities and execution decisions.
- Facilitate complex prioritization, resourcing, and sequencing discussions across stakeholders with competing interests.
- Influence leaders and teams without direct authority to drive enterprise portfolio outcomes.
- Support executive-level governance discussions and provide clear recommendations on prioritization, tradeoffs, and portfolio risks.
- Act as a connector across functions to improve coordination, transparency, and execution alignment across the organization as the overall portfolio process owner.
Key Roles & Responsibilities (Continued)Data Analysis & Business Acumen
- Develop portfolio reporting, dashboards, KPIs, and analytics to support operational and executive decision-making.
- Leverage financial, operational, and execution data to guide prioritization, investment decisions, and resource optimization.
- Partner closely with Finance teams to align portfolio planning, budgeting, forecasting, and execution tracking.
- Use scenario modeling and business analysis to support investment planning and portfolio optimization decisions.
- Drive data-informed portfolio management practices that improve transparency, predictability, and business value realization.
This role is expected to manage a direct report to help with portfolio operations.
Qualifications- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- Minimum 8+ years of experience in portfolio management, PMO leadership, technology operations, or resource planning.
- Strong experience operating within complex, highly matrixed Technology organizations.
- Proven ability to lead enterprise portfolio operations, prioritization, governance, and resource optimization processes.
- Experience facilitating executive-level decision-making and prioritization discussions.
- Strong familiarity with portfolio management and governance tools such as Planview, Clarity, Jira, MS Project, and ServiceNow preferred.
Key Capabilities- Lean Portfolio Management and Process Simplification:Proven ability to apply Lean and Agile portfolio principles (LPM/VSM) to eliminate administrative drag, streamline intake lifecycles, eradicate redundant governance loops, and accelerate enterprise delivery flow.
- Demand & Operations Management: ability to manage enterprise demand intake, operational governance, and portfolio execution processes while ensuring alignment to organizational priorities and execution capacity.
- Portfolio Prioritization & Optimization: ability to apply structured prioritization frameworks and optimization methodologies to maximize strategic alignment, execution feasibility, and business value across the portfolio.
- Resourcing Modeling & Allocation: ability to forecast, model, and optimize resource allocation across initiatives while proactively managing capacity constraints and execution risks.
- Excellence in Execution: strong operational discipline and execution rigor with the ability to drive governance consistency, portfolio visibility, and delivery accountability.
- Influencing & Negotiation Skills: ability to influence leaders, facilitate tradeoff discussions, and negotiate prioritization and resource decisions across highly matrixed stakeholder groups.
- Data Analysis & Business Acumen: leverages operational, financial, and performance data to support portfolio planning, investment decisions, and execution optimization.
Pay Range:The anticipated base salary range for this position is
$139,850.00 to
$241,550.00. Exact salary depends on several factors such as experience, skills, education, and budget. Salary range may vary based on geographic location. In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for participation in a highly competitive bonus program as well as participation in the share incentive plan. In addition,
In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for participation in a highly competitive bonus program with the possibility for overachievement based on performance and company results. In addition, The Estée Lauder Companies offers a variety of benefits to eligible employees, including health insurance coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance), wellness and family support programs, life and disability insurance, retirement savings plans, paid leave programs, education-related programs, paid holidays and vacation time, and many others. Many of these benefits are subsidized or fully paid for by the company.
