West Monroe isn’t a start-up firm, but we act like one.

From day one, our people have the opportunity to make a definitive personal impact for their clients and their careers. What does this mean? It means we seek out the best of the best, and then we challenge them to make us better.

West Monroe Partners is building its internal ‘Information and Collaboration Technology’ (ICT) capabilities.  Our aim is to build the team that will enable our consulting practices and shared services operations to achieve the company’s market-leading goals.

We celebrate driven professionals who thrive in a collaborative environment. Sound interesting? Then West Monroe Partners just might be the place for you.

Do you think you're up for the challenge?

West Monroe Partners is seeking a “Portfolio Owner – Talent”.  This role will report into the Talent function and work closely with ICT to deliver value to talent professionals across West Monroe Partners.  (Note: At West Monroe Partners, the “Talent” function incorporates all typical human resources processes.)

The “Portfolio Owner – Talent” will be responsible for enabling the Talent function with market-leading digital technology solutions.  The Portfolio Owner will:

• Identify digital technology requirements based on the emerging needs of the Talent function
• Collaborate with the ICT “Team Lead/ Scrum Master – Talent” to define and maintain a portfolio roadmap – an investment plan to continuously improve talent processes and their enabling digital technology
• Partner with the ICT “Team Lead/ Scrum Master – Talent” to help the team deliver on the sprint goals by removing impediments and escalating issues to management as necessary
• Work with the “Enterprise Program Management Office” (ePMO) and other functional areas to establish roadmap and investment priorities

We are looking for an experienced Product/ Portfolio Owner who possesses a strong attention to detail, enjoys hands-on engagement, and has a successful track record of collaborating with Talent professionals to manage a portfolio of solutions from concept to implementation through continuous improvement.

RESPONSIBILITIES (Portfolio Owner)

Understand customers and users (in Talent)

• Requirements discovery and validation
• Segment customers and users
• Prioritize customer (or user) requirements

Describe purpose and strategy

• Create a portfolio vision
• Define components of a portfolio plan
• Plan portfolio releases

Validate portfolio

• Work with ICT team through scrum process to validate portfolio
• Provide input and feedback into People Team Strategy & Roadmap through the validation process

Work the portfolio backlog

• Differentiate between outcome and output
• Define and measure value (for all stakeholders)
• Refine the portfolio backlog

(Note: adapted from the Scrum Alliance® Certified Scrum Product Owner® (CSPO® ) Learning Objectives)

Execute according to Portfolio Owner best practices; for example:

• Develop and maintain a healthy "trust network" across Talent and ICT
• Ensure transparency and consistency
• Define a clear and simple model for each product in the portfolio and its value to customers
• Build consensus and broker compromises between stakeholders
• Ensure products in the portfolio are designed to allow timely feedback so adjustments can be applied to deliver greater value
• Balance the needs of products in the portfolio and their customers with the wider needs of the organization
• Employ design thinking and hypothesis-driven development techniques to promote innovation
• Consider the whole product life cycle and ‘total cost of ownership’ (TCO), and keep technical debt low
• Be "servant leaders" by defining ‘success’ as the success of customers and the team
• Manage scope to ensure value is delivered and commitments are achieved within time, cost, and quality parameters
• Communicate risks and rewards associated with decisions with all stakeholders and ensure risk mitigations are sustained
• Validate financial forecasts (working with the ICT “Team Lead/ Scrum Master – Talent”)

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

•  BA in business, human resources, engineering, computer science or related disciplines
• Experience designing and improving one or more human resources function processes, including (but not limited to): acquisition, development, management, benefits administration, compensation, etc.
• Overall knowledge of the latest trends in the human resources domain
• Experience working with talent systems (e.g., benefits, performance management, training, etc.)
• Experience working as part of an agile/ scrum team
• Excellent verbal and communications skills
• Proven ability to meet West Monroe Partners’ Key Performance Expectations in:
• People: Grow our people, values, culture and personality
• Internal client delivery: Deliver exceptional client service and satisfaction
• Practice Development: Drive organizational effectiveness, capacity and efficiency
• Leadership: Create competitive advantage through innovation, stewardship and reputation

PREFERRED SKILLS

• MBA or similar degree
• Experience in consulting/ professional services industry
• Certified Scrum Product Owner
• 5+ years of ‘hands on’ Product/ Portfolio Owner experience
• Experience practicing scrum method with SaaS and custom software
• Experience using and/ or managing Cornerstone, ADP (or similar human resource system) implementations