Executive Director, Project Portfolio Governance Lead Greater Singapore Area

Headquartered in Tokyo, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is a leading global financial institution and a core member of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC Group). Built upon our rich Japanese heritage since 1876, we put our customers first and provide seamless access to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. SMBC is one of the largest Japanese banks by assets and maintain strong credit ratings across our global integrated network. We work closely as one SMBC Group to offer personal, corporate and investment banking services to meet the needs of our customers.

With sustainability embedded within our strategy and operations, we are committed to creating a society in which today’s generation can enjoy economic prosperity and well-being, and pass it on to future generations.

Responsibilities

Portfolio Governance & Oversight

• Lead governance of the bank’s strategic transformation portfolio, providing Executive Management and governance committees with a clear, objective and forward-looking view of portfolio performance.
• Establish and maintain the portfolio governance framework covering initiation, prioritisation, funding, mobilisation, execution, stage gates, change control and closure.
• Ensure initiatives have clear outcomes, accountable executives, sponsors, governance, credible plans, resources and success measures; provide constructive challenge where these are insufficient.
• Ensure governance forums are decision- and action-oriented, with clear escalation, ownership and resolution of material issues.

Portfolio Management & Prioritisation

• Maintain an integrated view across strategic, regulatory, technology, operational and business change and support senior management in prioritising investment and organisational capacity.
• Identify competing priorities, resource contention, interdependencies and concentration risks; recommend sequencing, acceleration, remediation, pause or termination where appropriate.

Delivery Standards & Assurance

• Define practical, risk-based minimum standards for business cases, mobilisation, integrated planning, RAID, financials, resources, dependencies, scope/change, vendors, benefits, implementation readiness and closure.
• Establish a consistent project health methodology and conduct or commission targeted health reviews of strategically important or challenged programmes.
• Identify initiatives requiring management intervention and lead or support recovery and stabilisation of critical programmes.

Executive Reporting & Management Information

• Own executive portfolio reporting covering delivery confidence, milestones, financial performance, risks, dependencies, resources, benefits and decisions required.
• Develop forward-looking indicators that expose emerging delivery risk before milestones are missed; ensure reporting provides insight and recommendations rather than aggregated status.

Financial, Investment & Benefits Governance

• Ensure credible investment forecasts, expenditure controls and benefit assumptions; challenge material variances and forecast accuracy with Finance and programme leadership.
• Strengthen accountability for measurable business outcomes and benefits, including post-implementation tracking and transparency where expected outcomes are not realised.

Risk, Controls & Regulatory Alignment

• Ensure transformation activity operates within the bank’s risk and control frameworks and that material programme risks are appropriately identified, governed and evidenced.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Finance, Technology, Operations and Internal Audit; support regulatory and audit reviews relating to transformation execution and governance.

Resource & Capacity Management

• Establish portfolio-level visibility of programme and project resource demand, capacity constraints and critical capability gaps.
• Work with business and functional leadership to resolve resource conflicts and ensure priority initiatives are appropriately staffed.

Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead and develop Programme Management, Project Management and Business Analysis capability, with clear role definitions, competency expectations and career pathways.
• Coach senior delivery leaders in executive communication, planning, risk management, stakeholder management and recovery of challenged programmes.
• Build a culture of ownership, transparency, constructive challenge, early escalation, delivery discipline and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Approximately 15+ years’ experience in banking, financial services, consulting or large-scale transformation environments, including significant senior leadership of complex programmes and portfolios.
• Strong understanding of banking technology, operations, transformation and regulated delivery environments.
• Experience establishing or leading an enterprise Transformation Office, Strategic Change Office, EPMO or equivalent.
• Demonstrated experience with complex multi-year, multi-business and multi-jurisdiction programmes, including financial management, delivery assurance and portfolio governance.
• Credibility presenting to Executive Committees and senior governance forums and the ability to challenge senior stakeholders constructively.
• Demonstrated experience identifying and recovering challenged programmes and building capability across Programme Managers, Project Managers and Business Analysts.
• Formal qualifications such as MSP, PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent are advantageous; demonstrated delivery leadership is more important.