Head of Portfolio York, PA
Summary-
The Head of Portfolio is accountable for the strategic leadership and governance of assigned projects or a defined project portfolio from early involvement in the proposal stage through project completion. The role ensures alignment between project execution and Voith Hydro's strategic, financial, and governance objectives, while fostering strong customer relationships and ensuring effective coordination with the Voith Board of Management and senior leadership.
The Head of Portfolio works closely with Project Managers, providing oversight, mentorship, and decision-making support, without replacing their operational accountability.
Responsibilities -
- Provides overall strategic direction for assigned projects or portfolios, ensuring alignment with Voith Hydro's business objectives, risk appetite, and financial targets.
- Establishes and maintains the project governance framework, including decision rights, escalation paths, and management cadence in accordance with Voith standards and PMI best practices.
- Acts as the senior escalation point for critical project issues related to scope, risk, schedule, cost, contractual matters, and strategic trade-offs.
- Ensures that project objectives, success criteria, and value realization targets are clearly defined, communicated, and monitored throughout the lifecycle.
- Serves as the primary interface between projects and senior leadership, including the Head of Projects and the Voith Board of Management.
- Prepares and presents executive level- project updates, focusing on strategy, risk exposure, major decisions required, and forecasted outcomes.
- Ensures alignment between project decisions and corporate-level priorities, including safety, compliance, sustainability, reputation, and long-term customer positioning.
- Owns and nurtures senior-level customer relationships
- Leads strategic customer interactions related to:
- Contractual positioning and high-level negotiations
- Major scope changes, claims, or dispute resolution
- Long-term partnership and follow-on opportunities
- Supports Project Managers in customer communications while maintaining clear role separation-Project Managers remain the primary operational interface.
- Holds ultimate accountability for project outcomes (financial, schedule, quality, risk), while delegating execution accountability to Project Managers.
- Reviews and challenges:
- Project budgets and profitability forecasts
- Schedule baselines and recovery strategies
- Risk and opportunity registers
- Change and claims strategies
- Ensures early identification of systemic risks and proactive mitigation at a strategic level.
- Acts as a mentor and coach to Project Managers, supporting their development in leadership, decision-making, and stakeholder management.
- Promotes a culture of learning, accountability, and continuous improvement, including post project- reviews and lessons learned.
- Contributes to the evolution of Voith Hydro's project management standards, governance models, and best practices, in alignment with PMI principles.
- Ensures effective alignment between projects and key internal functions (Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Site, Finance, Legal, and Commercial).
- Supports resource prioritization and portfolio balancing, in coordination with the Head of Projects.
- Provides input to bid reviews, project handovers, and strategic project selection decisions.
Qualifications -
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field; a Master's degree in Engineering, Project Management, or Business Administration is preferred
- Minimum 10-15 years of experience in project management and project leadership within industrial, energy, or EPC environments.
- Demonstrated experience leading large, complex, and high-risk projects or portfolios.
- PMP® certification or equivalent project management credential strongly preferred.
- Strong background in contract management, claims strategy, and executive-level customer engagement.
- Strong strategic thinking with the ability to balance customer, financial, contractual, and organizational priorities.
- Executive level- communication and presentation skills, particularly for senior management and customer leadership.
- Proven ability to lead complex stakeholder environments and make high impact- decisions under uncertainty.
- Strong coaching and leadership mindset, with the ability to empower Project Managers rather than micromanage.
- Willingness and ability to travel as required to support customers, project sites, and executive engagements.
