Portfolio Manager

Work Schedule

Environmental Conditions

Job Description

As part of the Thermo Fisher Scientific team, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Join our colleagues in bringing our Mission to life every single day to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We provide our global teams with the resources needed to achieve individual career goals while helping to take science a step beyond by developing solutions for some of the world’s toughest challenges, like protecting the environment, making sure our food is safe or helping find cures for cancer.
DESCRIPTION:
Join Thermo Fisher Scientific as a Portfolio Manager and support cross-functional programs that enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. You will be an accountable executive leader for an assigned portfolio, serving as the single point of end-to-end ownership for strategy, investment planning, delivery performance, financial outcomes, value realization, and assigned savings commitments.

You will act as a strategic partner to divisional leadership and IT executives, translating enterprise strategy into an integrated portfolio roadmap that maximizes value, optimizes cost, and mitigates risk. Ensures portfolio investments drive measurable business outcomes aligned to corporate objectives and financial commitments.

• Own and continuously evolve the multi-year portfolio strategy aligned to divisional and enterprise priorities.

• Translate business strategy into executable investment roadmaps with clear sequencing, value drivers, and dependency management.

• Shape demand through strategic influence, ensuring portfolio composition reflects the highest-value outcomes within risk appetite and capacity constraints.

• Lead quarterly strategic portfolio reviews with senior leadership, recommending reprioritization, investment shifts, or sunset decisions as needed.

• Present portfolio direction, performance, and forward investment strategy to executive governance forums.

• Provide full lifecycle oversight of all programs and projects within the portfolio.

• Establish and enforce portfolio governance standards, decision rights, and escalation frameworks.

• Monitor delivery health across schedule, budget, scope, risk, and benefits realization.

• Lead monthly executive portfolio reviews addressing performance trends, trade-offs, and emerging risks.

• Proactively identify cross-program dependencies and systemic risks; drive mitigation at the portfolio level.

• Escalate material portfolio risks or investment decisions to Sr. Portfolio Lead and PMO Director with clear recommendations.

• Accountable for delivery of assigned portion of the PMO savings target under Sr. Portfolio Lead direction.

• Drive implementation of portfolio-specific savings levers (cost control, intake rigor, value tracking, compliance enforcement, demand discipline).

• Partner with Finance to validate, reconcile, and certify realized savings.

• Conduct structured variance analysis and corrective action planning where savings lag forecast.

• Identify incremental cost optimization opportunities and influence investment reallocation to maximize ROI.

• Hold Program/Project Managers accountable for savings delivery embedded within initiatives.

• Own portfolio-level financial planning, forecasting, and investment allocation (CapEx/OpEx).

• Ensure financial discipline through variance monitoring, quarterly financial reviews, and forecast accuracy management.

• Optimize portfolio investment mix to achieve cost reductions while protecting strategic value delivery.

• Approve or recommend reallocation decisions based on financial trade-offs and enterprise priorities.

• Ensure full compliance with financial governance standards and audit requirements.

• Lead structured intake governance ensuring all proposed initiatives meet strategic, financial, and value criteria before approval.

• Ensure business cases are robust, quantified, and aligned to measurable outcomes.

• Facilitate prioritization forums balancing capacity, risk, ROI, and strategic importance.

• Maintain transparency in pipeline management and communicate prioritization decisions with executive clarity.

• Provide strategic oversight and coaching to Program and Project Managers.

• Ensure adherence to PMO methodologies, quality standards, and reporting rigor.

• Conduct structured health reviews and intervene where delivery risk threatens value realization.

• Lead post-implementation reviews to capture lessons learned and improve portfolio maturity.

• Establish and maintain portfolio-level risk governance and escalation protocols.

• Assess enterprise change capacity and sequencing risk across initiatives.

• Partner with Change & Communications leadership to drive adoption strategies for major initiatives.

• Monitor adoption metrics and benefits realization post-implementation.

• Ensure organizational readiness aligns with delivery velocity.

• Define measurable value targets for major initiatives within the portfolio.

• Ensure benefits tracking plans are established, audited, and actively monitored.

• Conduct structured benefits realization reviews and escalate risks to value delivery.

• Use value data to refine portfolio strategy, investment decisions, and prioritization.

• Report value realization performance to Sr. Portfolio Lead and executive governance.

• Deliver clear, data-driven portfolio dashboards and executive summaries.

• Lead monthly steering forums and governance reviews.

• Provide forward-looking analysis, scenario modeling, and investment trade-off recommendations.

• Ensure transparency in portfolio performance, savings progress, and financial health.

• Oversee portfolio-wide resource planning and capacity balancing.

• Identify systemic bottlenecks and recommend workforce or vendor adjustments.

• Align resource allocation with the highest-value strategic priorities.

• Conduct quarterly capacity and capability reviews to support evolving portfolio needs.
   

• Enterprise strategic thinking and investment prioritization.

• Executive communication and influence across divisional leadership.

• Financial acumen with a strong ROI and cost optimization focus.

• Structured decision-making under competing constraints.

• Coaching and capability building across the PM community.

• Cross-functional influence without direct authority.

• Advanced portfolio management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid).

• Financial modeling and business case evaluation.

• Risk and governance framework expertise.

• Benefits realization and value-based portfolio management.

• Strong understanding of IT landscapes and business drivers.

• Working experience with Planview PPM, Jira, and Monday.com is desired.

• 7+ years in portfolio/program leadership roles.

• Experience in life sciences, pharmaceutical, or regulated environments preferred.

• Demonstrated accountability for financial performance and cost optimization targets.