Project Portfolio Management Consultant
About The Position
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. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Pacific Life is more than a job, it’s a career with purpose. It’s a career where you have the support, balance, and resources to make a positive impact on the future – including your own. We’re actively seeking a talented Project Portfolio Management Consultant to join our Portfolio and Program Management team in Newport Beach, CA. This role is hybrid. We believe in empowering our employees to get work done both in and out of the office. As a Project Portfolio Management Consultant, you’ll move Pacific Life — and your career — forward by leading portfolio management practices that ensure the right initiatives are prioritized, monitored, and executed in alignment with strategic objectives, business value, and capacity. This P5 consultant role is recognized as an expert-level individual contributor within and beyond the function. You will fill a role within the Consumer Markets Division, partnering with project, program, portfolio, product, finance, strategy, business, and technology leaders to strengthen portfolio governance, forecasting, roadmap visibility, and decision-making discipline.
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.
Nice To Haves
- 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.
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.
Benefits
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Wellbeing Reimbursement Account
- Paid Time Off
- Holiday Schedules
- Financial Planning Time Off
- Paid Parental Leave
- Adoption Assistance Program
- Competitive 401k savings plan with company match and an additional contribution regardless of participation
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
Associate degree
