Manager, IT Portfolio & Services

Role Overview

The Manager, IT Portfolio and Services, oversees Brother America’s IT project and service portfolio. This role drives portfolio visibility, ensures alignment between technology initiatives and business priorities, and enables informed decision-making across the IT organization.

• Work closely with IT stakeholders and business leaders to manage portfolio reporting, monitor project and service performance, and facilitate governance processes.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure transparency into project health, resource capacity, and overall portfolio performance while enabling the successful delivery of high-impact technology initiatives.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Portfolio Management:
• Lead the coordination and oversight of the IT project and program portfolio, ensuring data, project records, and reporting remain accurate and current.
• Manage the project intake process, ensuring new initiatives meet established governance requirements and align with IT business priorities.
• Develop and deliver portfolio dashboards and reporting, providing leadership with insights into portfolio performance, risks, and delivery trends.
• Own and continuously improve IT governance processes, templates, and portfolio management tools to drive consistency and transparency across project delivery.
• Partner with Project Managers, Product Owners, and Business stakeholders to assess cross-team dependencies, risks, and impacts across the portfolio.
• Analyze trends and performance metrics to inform forecasting, prioritization, and investment decisions.
• Resource Management:
• Resource planning and capacity management across the IT portfolio, ensuring alignment between project demand and available resources.
• Monitor resource utilization and identify potential capacity constraints, proactively escalating risks, and recommending mitigation strategies.
• Develop and maintain resource planning processes, tools, and KPIs to improve visibility into workforce allocation and project demand.
• Ensure compliance with reporting requirements, including coordination of weekly submissions from internal teams and vendors.
• Delivery Management:
• Prepare materials for governance forums, track key decisions, and ensure follow-up on action items.
• Monitor and report on key delivery metrics, including project KPIs, risks, issues, and portfolio health indicators.
• Oversee project closure activities, including documentation collection and lessons learned summaries are complete.
• Contribute to business value management activities by gathering cost, benefit, and performance data.
• Build and maintain strong cross-functional relationships with internal stakeholders to support project alignment and communication.
• Budget Management:
• Manage portfolio financial performance by collecting financial data and updating portfolio financial reports.
• Partner with Finance to support financial analysis and forecasting activities.
• Oversee contract status and coordinate with Legal and Procurement on documentation needs.
• Prepare ad hoc data extracts and analyses as requested by IT leadership.
• Contribute to ROI and investment-related reporting by gathering and organizing relevant data.
• Vendor Management:
• Coordinate vendor meetings, including Quarterly Business Reviews.
• Maintain documentation and reporting related to vendor service delivery.
• Monitor vendor performance metrics and contract compliance.

Experience & Qualifications

• Education:
• Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent experience) in Computer Science, Business, Project Management, Business/Administration, Information Technology.
• Master's Degree (or equivalent experience) in Project Management, Business/Administration, Information Technology - Preferred.
• Experience:
• Minimum 5 years a combination of experience spanning the following areas:
• Establishing and managing Portfolio Management practices within IT organization.
• Financial experience with familiarity in budgetary planning and cost reporting.
• Previous industry experience in Project Management, Risk Management, Planning, Financial Management.
• Proven leadership experience including knowledge of approaches, tools, and techniques for gaining the cooperation and support of others.
• Licenses/Certifications:
• PMP - Project Management Professional, PMI - Preferred.
• ITIL, Scrum - Preferred.
• Languages:
• Japanese - Preferred.
• Software/Technical Skills:
• Proficient in Jira and familiar with Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes, including requirements, development, testing, and deployment.
• Knowledge of process modeling, cost-benefit analysis, and supporting capital and operating expense planning for technology initiatives.
• Knowledge of programming concepts and software testing methodologies.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
• Familiarity with IT and software applications.
• Understanding of standard operating systems.
• Knowledge of networks, databases, and other technology.