Head of Digital Technology - Strategy, Portfolio and Governance

Welcome to KFC.

Take one man with a big idea, add 11 herbs and
spices, grit, ambition, and buckets of heart – you’ve got KFC.

Since 1939, we’ve been bringing finger lickin’
good chicken to the world, and today we’re proud to be in over 1000 communities
across the UK & Ireland. But without our people, none of it would be
possible. Just like our recipe, they’re all original.

Join us. Bring it. And together, we can be
part of something truly extraordinary.

Bringing it
to the role.

We are
looking for a Head of Digital & Technology Strategy, Portfolio &
Governance to join Team KFC and help turn our Digital & Technology ambition
into clear priorities, investment choices and measurable outcomes.

Working
directly with our Chief Digital & Technology Officer and as a member of the
Digital & Technology Leadership Team, you'll sit at the centre of how we
translate strategy into action – connecting priorities, investment, capacity,
risk and performance across our technology portfolio.

You'll lead
a focused team supporting our strategy, portfolio and governance agenda,
alongside specialist partners, consultants and contractors as required. You'll
also work across the wider Digital & Technology organisation, influencing
and enabling leaders beyond your direct team.

You'll
bring the insight, challenge and structure that helps us make great choices
about where we invest, what we prioritise and where we need to change course.
You'll create the governance, operating discipline and portfolio visibility
that keeps us focused on our highest-value opportunities and ensures decisions
turn into action.

You'll also
help the CDTO and Leadership Team operate with focus and pace – connecting
priorities across Product, Technology and Data, surfacing dependencies and
trade-offs, coordinating key governance and leadership rhythms, and directing
attention to the issues that matter most.

This isn't
a traditional PMO role. You won't own individual product roadmaps or delivery
execution – you'll enable the leaders who do, bringing together the enterprise
view, challenging assumptions and helping the wider Digital & Technology
organisation operate with greater clarity, pace and impact.

What you’ll do

Turn
strategy into action

• Translate our
  Digital & Technology strategy and priorities into clear multi-year and
  annual plans, strategic principles, target outcomes and enterprise
  priorities, connecting plans across Product, Technology and Data.


• Act as a critical
  friend to the CDTO and Digital & Technology Leadership Team, framing
  options, dependencies and trade-offs and ensuring decisions translate into
  action.


• Enable the
  Digital & Technology Leadership Team to operate with focus, pace and
  discipline, bringing together priorities, insight and governance to
  support effective decision-making.


• Connect Digital
  & Technology strategy and governance with wider business priorities,
  ensuring execution remains aligned to agreed strategic direction.

Own
our portfolio and investment choices

• Lead the
  integrated Digital & Technology portfolio and investment process,
  maintaining a clear enterprise view of priorities, investment,
  dependencies, capacity, commitments and portfolio-level roadmaps.


• Assess business
  cases and recommend where we should start, stop, sequence or accelerate
  investment based on value, risk, strategic fit, affordability and
  capacity.


• Ensure scarce
  funding and leadership attention remain focused on the highest-value
  opportunities, while individual product roadmaps remain owned by Product
  and Technology leaders.


• Use portfolio
  insight to identify where priorities, resources or investment need to be
  redirected as circumstances change.

Orchestrate
the leadership agenda and operating rhythm

• Enable the CDTO
  and Leadership Team to operate effectively through strong planning,
  orchestration, governance agendas, decision follow-through and Digital
  & Technology calendar management.


• Connect issues
  across team and functional boundaries and direct leadership attention to
  the most consequential topics.


• Coordinate the
  planning and organisation of franchise days, Digital & Technology
  Leadership Team offsites, wider Digital & Technology offsites, and
  vendor and partner days.


• Create the
  structure and discipline needed to ensure key decisions are followed
  through and commitments remain visible.

Create
strong governance, performance and risk discipline

• Design and run
  the Digital & Technology governance framework, operating cadence,
  decision forums and portfolio controls, with clear decision rights and
  escalation paths.


• Maintain clear
  portfolio KPIs, risk and dependency views, delivery confidence and
  executive reporting, providing leaders with the insight needed to
  intervene early.


• Partner with
  Technology, Information Security, Legal, Risk and other control functions
  to ensure material strategic, operational, supplier and investment risks
  are understood, owned, mitigated and escalated appropriately.


• Surface material
  issues early and maintain governance discipline without duplicating
  day-to-day delivery management.

Lead
financial and commercial insight

• Lead annual
  planning, budget construction, rolling forecasts and in-year financial
  performance for the Digital & Technology portfolio, working closely
  with Finance Business Partners and budget owners.


• Provide clear
  visibility of CapEx and OpEx, commitments, variances and scenarios,
  surfacing corrective actions early.


• Give the CDTO
  Leadership Team a single, decision-ready view of spend, outlook and
  financial choices.


• Own the quality
  of portfolio financial insight, business cases and investment
  recommendations, escalating material variance, control or overspend risks
  early.

Plan
capacity, organisation and strategic partners

• Maintain an
  enterprise view of demand versus capacity across Digital & Technology
  teams and strategic partners.


• Work closely with
  HR / People & Culture and Procurement Business Partners on workforce,
  capability, sourcing and partner choices.


• Ensure portfolio
  commitments are realistic and that resources can be flexed at pace as
  priorities change.


• Bring capacity,
  capability and partner considerations into investment and portfolio
  decisions.

Make
sure our investments deliver

• Establish a
  consistent approach to defining, baselining and tracking the benefits
  expected from Digital & Technology investment.


• Ensure named
  business owners, measures and accountability are in place for major
  investments.


• Compare realised
  value with approved business cases and challenge where expected benefits
  are not materialising.


• Recommend
  corrective action, re-scoping or stopping work where value, risk, capacity
  or strategic fit no longer support continued investment.

What we’d
love from you

About You

• A strategic thinker who can turn complexity and ambiguity into clear
  choices and action.
• Commercially and financially minded, with strong judgement around value,
  affordability, risk, opportunity cost and investment trade-offs.
• Comfortable operating with senior executives and influencing decisions
  without relying on formal authority.
• A confident critical friend who can challenge assumptions, priorities
  and risk while building alignment.
• Highly analytical, but equally able to turn complex information into a
  simple, compelling and decision-ready narrative.
• Able to see across a broad portfolio, connect the dots and focus
  leadership attention on what matters most.
• Comfortable moving between strategic thinking and practical coordination
  and orchestration in a fast-moving environment.
• Collaborative, resilient and highly organised, with the pace, discretion
  and discipline to manage competing priorities and drive effective
  follow-through.
• Able to work effectively across functions outside Digital &
  Technology and build alignment across competing objectives.

Experience

Required

• Typically 10+ years' experience in technology
  / digital strategy, portfolio management, governance, transformation,
  enterprise PMO, technology finance or strategy consulting, including
  substantial experience operating with executive leadership and complex,
  multi-year investment portfolios.
• Proven track record of investment
  prioritisation, business-case challenge, financial planning, governance, risk
  management and performance management, with evidence of redirecting resources
  based on value, risk and capacity.
• Strong experience of working across complex
  Digital & Technology environments and bringing together multiple
  priorities, dependencies and stakeholders into an integrated portfolio view.

Preferred

• Experience in consumer-facing retail,
  restaurants, franchise or other high-volume digital environments.
• Experience working in product-led / agile
  technology operating models.

Knowledge & expertise

• Expert knowledge of technology strategy
  enablement, portfolio and investment management, governance frameworks,
  business cases and benefits realisation, financial management including CapEx /
  OpEx, performance management, capacity planning, strategic risk, controls and
  dependency management.
• Broad understanding of modern Digital &
  Technology environments across Product, Engineering, Architecture, Data, Cyber,
  Infrastructure and vendor ecosystems, with enough breadth to integrate and
  challenge decisions at portfolio and governance level without owning individual
  product roadmaps or delivery execution.

Education /
qualifications

• Degree or equivalent professional experience
  preferred.
• MBA desirable.
• Relevant postgraduate, strategy, portfolio /
  programme, finance, risk or business qualifications advantageous

Buckets of
Benefits

A career with KFC offers much
more than just fantastic earning potential. We reward achievement with amazing
incentives and benefits, including:

with
our Restaurant Support Centre located in Woking, Surrey – a 24-minute train
ride from London Waterloo. Depending on job requirement, travel across the UK
& Ireland may be required.

• Generous pension
  with up to 11% company contribution.
• ‘Fri-Yay’ time
  – finish up at 1pm every Friday, all year round.
• Live Well Days
  - 5 days per year to disconnect from our day-to-day (in addition to 25 days
  annual leave and bank holidays).

o
You can buy or sell up to 5
extra days of your core annual leave allowance each year.

o
After 5 years’ service,
annual holiday allowance increases to 30 days.

• Bonus
  – We work hard and do our best work to succeed together. When the company and
  individual goals are reached, you’ll be rewarded through our bonus scheme.
• Wellness–
  We want you to be your best self, so you’ll have access to lots of wellbeing
  initiatives and programmes, including Telus Health, and 1:1 Mental Health
  coaching sessions with our partner Sanctus.
• Private healthcare,
  including access to Digital GP, with the option to increase to include family
  cover.

o
Flexible and Voluntary
benefits including Dental Insurance, Health Screening and Gym Discounts.

• Insurances
  – All colleagues are covered by our life and income protection insurance which
  provides protection and peace of mind.
• Study Support may be available for job-related qualifications.
• Parental Leave
  – We offer enhanced paid leave and flexible return to work options for those
  important times.
• Colleague Discount
  – If you love KFC as much as we do, you’ll received a 25% discount.
  
  

Ready to apply?

Don’t tick all the boxes? Don’t worry. If you
don’t match all the criteria for the role and still think you’d be a great fit,
we’d love to hear from you.