Director Lean Portfolio & Agile Transformation

Key Accountabilities:

• Enterprise Agile & Lean Transformation

• Define and drive the Agile and Lean transformation roadmap aligned to IT and business strategy.

• Champion Agile values, principles, and behaviors across leadership, product, and delivery teams.

• Enable the shift from project-centric to value-stream and product-oriented delivery models.

• Agile Coaching & Leadership Enablement

• Act as a senior Agile coach to IT and Business leadership, Product Owners, and Delivery heads.

• Coach leaders on Agile decision-making, empowerment, outcome-based funding, and prioritization.

• Build internal coaching capability and reduce dependency on external consultants over time.

• Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) Ownership

• Own and operationalize Lean Portfolio Management practices across IT.

• Define and run portfolio governance covering:

• Demand intake and prioritization

• Capacity-based planning and funding

• Portfolio Kanban and flow metrics

• Value realization and outcome tracking

• Ensure alignment between strategy, funding, capacity, and execution.

• Lean Centre of Excellence (LCoE)

• Establish and lead the Lean Centre of Excellence as the custodian of Agile and Lean standards.

• Define frameworks, playbooks, templates, and metrics for consistent adoption.

• Drive continuous improvement through maturity assessments, inspections, and learning cycles.

• Operating Model & Ways of Working

• Design and evolve Agile–Hybrid operating models suitable for large-scale telecom IT environments.

• Define clear roles, responsibilities, and governance across Demand, Product, Delivery, and Vendors.

• Enable effective collaboration across Agile squads, Waterfall streams, and external partners.

• Change Management & Culture

• Lead the change and adoption strategy to embed Agile mindset and behaviors.

• Address resistance, legacy behaviors, and structural impediments to agility.

• Foster psychological safety, transparency, and accountability across teams.

• Metrics, Insights & Value Realization

• Define and track Agile and Lean performance metrics (flow, predictability, throughput, quality).

• Measure transformation progress and business outcomes, not just process adoption.

• Provide executive-level insights to CIO, ExCo, and portfolio forums.

• Vendor & Partner Alignment

• Align strategic vendors and system integrators to the target Agile and Lean ways of working.

• Ensure vendor delivery models support portfolio flow, quality, and value outcomes.

• Reduce friction between internal teams and partners through clear operating expectations.

Qualifications, Experience And Skills:

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, IT, or Business (MBA preferred)

Experience

• 15+ years of experience in IT, delivery, or transformation roles

• Proven leadership of large-scale Agile / Lean transformations

• Experience in complex, multi-vendor, telecom or large enterprise environments

• Relevant certifications (SAFe SPC, Agile Coaching, Lean, or equivalent preferred)

Skills

• Strong transformation leadership and influencing skills

• Deep coaching mindset with executive presence

• Ability to operate at strategy, portfolio, and execution levels

• Systems thinking and value-stream orientation

• Deep knowledge of Agile, Lean, and SAFe / scaled Agile frameworks

• Strong experience with Lean Portfolio Management

• Experience running Agile maturity assessments and transformation programs

• Familiarity with Agile tooling (Jira, Confluence, portfolio dashboards)

Success Measures

• Increased Agile adoption and maturity across IT and Business

• Improved portfolio flow, predictability, and time-to-market

• Strong alignment between strategy, funding, and execution

• Sustainable internal Agile capability with reduced external dependency