What Does An IT Portfolio Manager Do?

WHAT DOES AN IT PORTFOLIO MANAGER DO?

Published: Nov 03, 2025 - The Information Technology (IT) Portfolio Manager leads cross-departmental collaboration to align business objectives, technology initiatives, and risk management strategies. This role drives innovation and continuous improvement by implementing best practices, ensuring data security, and optimizing IT operations. The manager also oversees portfolio execution, balancing resources, timelines, and priorities to deliver strategic value across the organization.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for IT Portfolio Manager

1. IT Portfolio Manager Duties

Project Coordination: Formulate, organize and monitor interconnected projects
Strategic Execution: Work with IT Leadership to develop, organize and execute on strategy(ies) within the responsible area(s)
Strategy Development: Recommend suitable strategies with clear objectives and creative solutions for the assigned portfolio areas
Activity Coordination: Coordinate cross-project activities
Deadline Management: Develop and control portfolio deadlines and activities
Financial Oversight: Assist in the oversight of financial objectives for projects by forecasting requirements
Budget Analysis: Overseeing project budget, scheduling expenditures, analyzing variances, and initiating corrective actions
Budget Control: Collaborate with IT Leadership and work to control portfolio budgets through project execution
Team Leadership: Lead project managers and other assigned project team members to accomplish portfolio outcomes
Quality Assurance: Maintain organizational standards of satisfaction, quality, and performance
Risk Management: Apply change, risk and resource management principles
Performance Evaluation: Assess portfolio performance and aim to maximize ROI
Process Improvement: Identify areas for improvement
Issue Resolution: Resolve higher-impact or more complex project scope issues

2. IT Portfolio Manager Details

Problem Analysis: Analyze systematic problems or issues to resolve promptly
Professional Assistance: Seeks additional and/or professional assistance when all efforts have been exhausted
Report Preparation: Prepare portfolio/project reports, including status updates, for IT Leadership and Governance bodies in compliance with established PMO guidelines
Project Planning: Work closely with project sponsor, cross-functional teams, and assigned project managers to plan and develop scope, deliverables, required resources, work plan, budget, and timing for new initiatives
Risk Identification: Work with other portfolio managers to identify risks and opportunities across multiple projects within the Division
Work Monitoring: Monitors the work of project managers and team members, including both internal and external resources, as outlined within the Project Charter and external resource contractual obligations
Scope Management: Work closely with the IT PMO Director and Portfolio Business Sponsor(s) to address any scope changes or other reportable events for each assigned portfolio/project
Leadership Support: Provide coverage for the IT PMO Director or project managers within the PMO
Process Improvement: Supports periodic review and refinement of PMO guidelines and standard operating procedures with the IT PMO Director
Training Support: Contributes to the Project Manager onboarding/training materials
Team Collaboration: Works collaboratively with other team members to achieve group goals
Priority Management: Understands competing priorities, effectively manages simultaneously occurring projects or tasks and adapts to the dynamic needs of the organization
Standards Compliance: Adheres to HMH Organizational competencies and standards of behavior

3. IT Portfolio Manager Responsibilities

Portfolio Leadership: Leads and manages the functional portfolio, programs, projects, and governance process to deliver business value
Strategic Alignment: Understands the business strategy and roadmap for the Corporate and Enabling Functions and leads the Functional Program Governance Meetings for recommending approval of technology investments within the portfolio
Governance Support: Supports the governance process for requesting investment funding approvals by the Capital Portfolio Investment Committee (CPC) and provides updates on KPIs regarding the financial health and status for programs
Performance Reporting: Serves as the main point of contact between Project Managers, the IT Cost Controls function, and Finance to report KPIs
Funding Management: Prepares the portfolio Capital Project Approval Request (CPARS) and Purchase Order (PO) requests for approval by executive leadership to release funding for business system investments
Budget Oversight: Leads the management of and reports out of the functional technology budget and resource allocations to support the successful delivery of IT programs
Risk Analysis: Identifies risks to portfolio health, accesses spend forecasts and allocations of Capex vs. Opex, and reports variances and impact to drive informed investment decisions
Review Facilitation: Facilitates monthly portfolio review sessions (financial and program delivery status) with IT Leadership and identifies mitigation plans for KPIs that are not on track
Team Management: Hires and manages a team of Project Managers and external partners to efficiently deliver IT business systems while adhering to Spark’s SDLC and GxP regulations
Program Guidance: Provides critical guidance to ensure the overall quality of program planning and execution, while minimizing and mitigating program risks
Project Oversight: Provides oversight to Project Managers during planning, tracking program timelines, resource plans, milestones, stage gate reviews/approvals, and deliverables using appropriate tools
Issue Management: Manages issues and risks requiring evaluation, exercises judgment within broadly defined practices and escalates to management
Goal Achievement: Ensures programs are executed on time, under budget and meet pre-established goals and objectives that support the financial and business objectives within the organization

4. IT Portfolio Manager Job Summary

Project Monitoring: Monitor/report end-to-end project forecasting, execution and completion, including Finance
Demand Forecasting: Understanding and communicating with suppliers near-term demand forecast for application solution delivery services and infrastructure programs
Process Communication: Dissemination of information to BRMs on new process updates
Portfolio Reporting: Portfolio level reporting on application solution delivery execution including quality, cost, and milestones
Process Compliance: Monitoring compliance and utilization of the project management process
Success Measurement: Ensuring that Measures of Success are captured for Projects
Budget Assistance: Assisting with new investment application budgets and the project prioritization process under management guidance
Issue Escalation: Identifying project issues and escalating them after coordination with Enterprise Architecture and Supply/Vendor Management teams
Dashboard Reporting: Providing updated dashboard reporting on all requests to suppliers and leadership including status
Performance Reporting: Develop and circulate reports detailing Enterprise/Strategic application solution delivery execution including quality, cost, and milestones
Governance Implementation: Implement quarterly demand planning governance for managing and prioritizing IT investments and budgets
Performance Enhancement: Manage and continually enhance reporting around work intake and project delivery performance

5. IT Portfolio Manager Accountabilities

Program Management: Plans and manages a portfolio of multi-million dollar IT programs that are comprised of highly visible, high-profile projects that span the organization and have significant enterprise impact
Strategy Development: Develops overall program strategy to ensure proper sequencing and integration of large/complex projects within the portfolio and adjusts project scope, timing, and budgets, based upon the needs of the business
Leadership Communication: Communicates with IT leadership and senior business leadership to review program strategy, direction and changes
Risk Analysis: Experienced in quantifying impacts of risks and issues to scope, schedule, budget and prioritizing and driving resolution
Portfolio Evaluation: Continually evaluates and maintains efficiency in managing the portfolio of programs through planning, scheduling and budget assessment
Team Management: Manages a team of multiple project managers and project resources for the execution of programs/projects
Status Reporting: Monitors, measures and reports on program status to IT leadership and senior business leadership
Executive Accountability: Accountable to the Executive Steering Committee and Stakeholder Reference Groups for IT program delivery including the efficiency and functionality of all IT Project completions, timeline adherence, budget and resource management
Project Leadership: Provides leadership, direction, coordination and coaching for project managers and project teams during their day-to-day management and implementation of IT and Business projects, programs, activities and processes
Vendor Management: Manages multiple service providers selected to participate in assigned projects, including full vendor management procedures
Cross Coordination: Planning and coordination across multiple IT and business groups for the startup and execution of programs through delivery

6. IT Portfolio Manager Functions

Requirement Analysis: Collecting business requirements and translating them into data requirements, designing and developing reports or dashboards (visualization) to ensure on-demand visibility
Performance Analysis: Conduct performance management analysis and decision support that realizes routine investment performance against planned accomplishments through coordinated program reviews with stakeholders
Planning Coordination: Draft portfolio-level and program-level planning guidance input, and coordinate input with stakeholders
Systematic Management: Apply systematic management to enterprise IT capabilities to quantify, measure, and evaluate IT efforts against strategic goals and objectives
Briefing Preparation: Create briefings for investment owners and the Customer CPIC team, as well as their management, on the outcomes of reviews
Investment Management: Guide investment management control, records maintenance, and technical program management and support for the Business Certification and relevant functions
Risk Assessment: Review, prepare, interpret and analyze data from various sources to identify risk type and risk levels
Data Evaluation: Assist in evaluating and entering monthly investment and project status data into the agency's portfolio management tool
Deployment Management: Provide scheduling and deployment of business intelligence components in accordance with standards and best practices, and complete accurate and timely documentation

7. IT Portfolio Manager Job Description

Program Support: Supporting the IT Establishment Program and the setup of the Elida Beauty IT organization
Business Analysis: Identifying areas for improvement in efficiencies, documenting business requirements, scoping projects, and analyzing business processes
Request Management: Managing new project requests and facilitating the prioritization of such requests
Progress Tracking: Liaising with IT for estimates and tracking progress against the project plan
Stakeholder Communication: Providing regular updates to all stakeholders, logging and managing project issues
Portfolio Management: Establishing and managing an IT project portfolio and framework, supporting prioritization against strategic business priorities
Roadmap Development: Create and manage the IT strategic roadmap
Vendor Coordination: Working with vendors to enable project delivery on time with effective use of resources
Documentation Management: Compiling and maintaining project documentation such as business specifications, test packs, and project plans
Implementation Planning: Planning and coordinating UATs, obtaining necessary sign-offs, and managing implementations

8. IT Portfolio Manager Overview

Cross Collaboration: Work across departments to gather and understand the varying perspectives on the program and its solutions function, user experience, privacy, risk, technology, and security
Trend Awareness: Stay current with trends in the assigned area for both business and technology that influence the area
Best Practice: Maintain awareness of best practices and competitive intelligence of what other firms are doing in this area
Roadmap Communication: Communicate and socialize the roadmap to achieve executive buy-in
Decision Making: Make key tradeoff, risk, and other critical decisions to do the right thing for the program, considering all perspectives
Change Leadership: Champion change and innovation in the area, socializing a forward-thinking program of projects and a program roadmap
Conflict Resolution: Resolve resource, timing, or other conflicts between projects and groups
Policy Development: Establish policies and procedures related to data security, integrity, and audit while applying the principle of least privilege
Process Application: Apply ITIL processes around service delivery, ticket management, and operational best practices
Team Oversight: Oversee and manage the team responsible for the operations of internal databases

9. IT Portfolio Manager Details and Accountabilities

Portfolio Management: Assisting senior management with continuous portfolio management including status, projections, resource planning, and new request monitoring
Budget Review: Conduct ongoing budget reviews with actual vs budget analysis, projections, and periodic reporting
Cost Analysis: Perform analysis to understand resource commitments, burn rates, and total program costs at completion
Conflict Resolution: Work directly with development teams to resolve conflicts and highlight portfolio changes
Process Coordination: Act as a key point of contact for the E&E assigned team for the FDP process
Estimation Facilitation: Work with several teams in the organization, facilitating the estimation process and coordinating with strategy and execution
Forecast Management: Facilitate the project forecasting process for assigned teams and provide revised forecasts and variances to management every month
Variance Reporting: Provide timely reporting of actuals to forecast as well as key project changes, variances, and risks
Impact Awareness: Ensure all team managers are aware of the impacts and can justify changes appropriately

10. IT Portfolio Manager Tasks

Budget Coordination: Coordinate the annual budget process and work across teams to meet submission timelines and requirements
Alignment Management: Ensure alignment across areas
Report Preparation: Provide management with reports and collaborate with senior team members on recommendations and outcomes throughout the process
Portfolio Flow: Maintain the systematic flow of projects into the portfolio and manage project closure
Workflow Management: Manage the workflow and updates to JIRA and Workday projects
Financial Coordination: Work with Finance to balance the budget, specifically around professional fees
Forecast Management: Manage professional fee forecasts
Budget Control: Work with teams to enforce exit plans for those running over budget
Issue Escalation: Escalate issues to management and ensure resources are aligned with appropriate funding