Project Portfolio Management Consultant

About the role

Providing for loved ones, planning rewarding retirements, saving enough for whatever lies ahead – our policyholders count on us to be there when it matters most. It’s a big ask, but it’s one that we have the power to deliver when we work together. We collaborate and innovate – pushing one another to transform not just Pacific Life, but the entire industry for the better. This hybrid role is based in Newport Beach, CA, empowering employees to work both in and out of the office.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio management rhythms and governance forums that help senior leaders prioritize investments, track health, and make timely trade-off decisions.
• Translate divisional and functional strategies into integrated portfolio roadmaps that connect demand, funding, capacity, dependencies, milestones, risks, and expected outcomes.
• Partner with business, finance, strategy, technology, product, program, and project leaders to ensure project and program work is prioritized, monitored, and executed in support of strategic objectives and business value.
• Develop and continuously improve portfolio management standards, practices, templates, reporting, and operating routines to advance PPM maturity across the organization.
• Analyze portfolio performance, capacity, financials, risks, issues, and dependencies to surface insights, options, and recommendations for decision-makers.
• Drive transparency across portfolio health, value realization, and delivery confidence through concise executive-ready communications, dashboards, summaries, and decision materials.
• Act as a trusted advisor and thought partner to stakeholders, applying broad business perspective and portfolio expertise to solve complex, cross-functional challenges.
• Coach and guide colleagues with less experience, helping teams adopt consistent practices while adapting approaches to business context and delivery needs.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in portfolio management, program management, project management, strategic planning, governance, or related business transformation roles.
• 4-year degree or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in managing or enabling complex portfolios of initiatives across business and technology teams in a matrixed environment.
• Proven ability to interpret internal or external business issues and recommend process, product, service, or operating model improvements with broad business impact.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, prioritization, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence decisions without direct authority.
• Experience with portfolio governance, integrated roadmapping, demand intake, prioritization, capacity planning, dependency management, financial stewardship, risk management, and value tracking.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to synthesize quantitative and qualitative inputs into clear insights, options, and recommendations.
• Experience using portfolio, project, and collaboration tools such as Planview, Smartsheet, Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Project, SharePoint, Teams, OneNote, PowerPoint, or similar platforms.
• Experience in regulated industries such as insurance, financial services, healthcare, or similar environments preferred.

Skills

• Project Management Professional (PMP)®, Program Management Professional (PgMP)®, Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)®, or PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®.
• SAFe® Agilist (SA), Lean Portfolio Management, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), or similar Agile / Lean certification.
• Experience in implementation and rollout of Portfolio Management and Project Portfolio Management tools such as Planview, Clarity, or similar platforms.
• Experience implementing or maturing portfolio governance, cross-portfolio planning, value management, and executive portfolio reporting practices.
• Consulting experience or demonstrated ability to advise leaders, shape ambiguous problems, and build coalitions around pragmatic solutions.
• Advanced executive storytelling, data visualization, and decision support capabilities.

What Success Looks Like

• Portfolio decisions are grounded in clear strategy, capacity, value, risk, dependency, and funding insights.
• Roadmaps and governance routines remain current, useful, and actionable — not theoretical.
• Leaders have timely visibility into portfolio health, trade-offs, and decisions needed to maintain momentum.
• Teams use consistent portfolio practices while adapting execution approaches to business context.
• Risks, issues, and dependencies are surfaced early and managed through transparent ownership and escalation paths.
• Portfolio management maturity advances through practical standards, continuous improvement, and trusted stakeholder partnerships.

Pay

The base pay range noted represents the company’s good faith minimum and maximum range for this role at the time of posting. The actual compensation offered to a candidate will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to experience, qualifications, and geographic location. Most employees are eligible for additional incentive pay.

$167,670.00 - $204,930.00

Benefits

• Prioritization of your health and well-being including Medical, Dental, Vision, and Wellbeing Reimbursement Account that can be used on yourself or your eligible dependents.
• Generous paid time off options including: Paid Time Off, Holiday Schedules, and Financial Planning Time Off.
• Paid Parental Leave as well as an Adoption Assistance Program.
• Competitive 401k savings plan with company match and an additional contribution regardless of participation.