Posting number: 191347
Department: Department of Education
Job classification: IT Manager II
Posting type: Open
Categories: Management
SummaryThe mission of the South Carolina Department of Education is to serve students, support teachers, empower parents, and engage the community so that every student graduates prepared to reach their full potential.
PURPOSE OF POSITION
The Senior Portfolio Manager leads the Platform Management Group, responsible for product definition and strategy, cross-OIT project intake and triage, portfolio documentation and management, and governance facilitation across all OIT functional groups. This role operates the agency’s technology portfolio governance process — defining what the products are, prioritizing what gets built, and ensuring delivery capacity is aligned with agency priorities. The position reports directly to the CIO and supervises the Technical Product Analyst team.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Product Definition and Strategy (30%)
- Define and maintain the agency’s technology product portfolio — identifying what the products are, what they should do, and the strategic direction for each.
- Develop product roadmaps in coordination with functional group leaders, agency program staff, and the CIO.
- Translate agency mission needs and stakeholder requirements into structured product direction.
- Prioritize features, capabilities, and modernization work across the portfolio.
Project Intake and Triage (25%)
- Operate the cross-OIT project intake process — receiving, scoring, and triaging incoming project requests.
- Score requests against weighted criteria (ROI, strategic alignment, complexity, risk, compliance) and check owning-team capacity.
- Produce structured project proposals with recommended dispositions for the project review meeting.
- Maintain the intake system (conversational agent, scoring logic, integration with project tracking).
Portfolio Documentation and Management (25%)
- Maintain current-state documentation of the agency’s entire application portfolio including ownership, technology stack, lifecycle status, and dependencies.
- Track portfolio health metrics across all OIT functional groups.
- Identify portfolio risks, technical debt concentrations, and modernization opportunities.
- Identify portfolio risks, technical debt concentrations, and modernization opportunities.
Governance Facilitation and Team Leadership (20%)
- Facilitate the project review meeting where the CIO and functional group leaders review structured proposals and make disposition decisions.
- Directly supervise two Technical Product Analysts — performance management, professional development, workload prioritization.
- Coordinate with functional group leaders on capacity planning and delivery alignment.
This position is located in the Office of Information Technology.
Examples of dutiesA bachelor's degree in communications, business administration, information technology, mathematics, statistics, management information science or a related field and experience in telecommunications, data processing and/or information technology. Relevant experience may substitute for the bachelor's degree on a year-for-year basis.Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Seven (7) years of progressive experience in project management, product management, or portfolio management, with at least three (3) years in a senior or supervisory capacity.
- Experience managing technology project portfolios across multiple functional groups or teams.
- Demonstrated ability to translate business requirements into structured technology priorities.
- Experience with project management tools and portfolio tracking systems.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to facilitate governance meetings with senior leadership.
- PMP, PgMP, or comparable portfolio/program management certification.
- Experience with product management practices (product road mapping, feature prioritization, stakeholder research).
- Experience in state government, K–12 education, or similarly regulated environments.
- Familiarity with Agile delivery practices and modern project tracking tools (Asana, Jira, Azure DevOps).
- Experience building or operating project intake and scoring systems.
WORKING CONDITIONS
- Primary location: Columbia, SC.
- On-call availability may be required for mission-critical system incidents.
- Background check required.
The South Carolina Department of Education is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
As a part of a competitive compensation package, we offer comprehensive benefits that include generous paid time off, preeminent health care benefits, professional development opportunities, pension, and a 401(k).
The South Carolina Department of Education offers an exceptional benefits package that includes:
- Health, Dental, Vision, Long Term Disability, and Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse, and Children.
- 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year.
- 15 days sick leave per year.
- 13 paid holidays.
- State Retirement Plan and Deferred Compensation Programs (401(k) and 457 options).
ONLY THOSE APPLICANTS CHOSEN FOR AN INTERVIEW WILL BE NOTIFIED BY LETTER THAT THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED.
http://www.ed.sc.gov/jobs/human-resources/title-ix-nondiscrimination/