Production Lead

About Portable

We are Australia’s leading innovation partners for public good – developing technology and design solutions that power the public and the people who serve it. We seek out areas of acute social need and work with government agencies, nonprofit organisations, and socially-minded businesses to make transformational change.

There are currently 65+ of us – researchers, strategists, designers, technologists, and producers – working from our head office in Collingwood and remotely from co-working spaces and homes across Australia.

This role sits within one of our Digital Product teams – a cross-discipline delivery team that operates as its own business unit, focused on end-to-end digital product delivery.

Then there’s you!

You’re an experienced delivery leader who thrives at the intersection of people, partnerships, and pace. You know how to hold the shape of complex digital work – keeping partners engaged, teams focused, and delivery on track – while also lifting your eyes to the horizon to spot what’s coming next.

You’ve led people across a range of levels, and you know that great delivery is fundamentally about great leadership. You’re equally comfortable supporting a junior team member through a tricky moment as you are pushing back constructively with a senior stakeholder. Fast-paced environments energise you rather than exhaust you – and you’ve got the stories to prove it.

You’ll lead a number of team members within a multidisciplinary delivery team, play a meaningful role in winning and shaping engagements, and contribute to a practice that genuinely cares about the impact of what it builds.

What you’ll do

On a normal week, you might:

• Support your team through active project delivery – tracking progress, managing risks, and keeping engagements on time and on budget across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Review scopes and statements of work, identifying dependencies, risks, and delivery timelines before the work kicks off.
• Run one-on-ones and support your team members through the challenges and growth moments that come with doing complex, meaningful work.
• Lead or contribute to scoping and estimating for proposals, bringing delivery rigour to the business development process.
• Attend resourcing and leadership meetings, helping allocate work effectively and advocating for your people.
• Engage directly with partners and stakeholders – managing expectations, building trust, and navigating the tough conversations when needed.
• Ensure project retrospectives happen, and that learnings flow back into how the team works.
• Contribute to Portable’s broader delivery practice – sharing knowledge, helping refine how we work, and making us collectively better at what we do.

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years in digital project or product delivery, with a track record of successful end-to-end delivery.
• Proven people leadership experience across a range of levels – from early-career team members to experienced seniors.
• Strong commercial instincts – comfort with scopes, budgets, estimates, and the relationship between delivery and revenue.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including experience navigating senior or complex partner relationships.
• Comfort with ambiguity and pace – you can create focus and momentum in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience working in agile, multidisciplinary environments.
• Experience in an agency or consultancy setting.
• Product management experience or familiarity with product thinking. 

Key outcomes for this role

You and your team deliver great work

Engagements land on time and on budget. Partners are happy.

You and your team help us win more work

You’re leading your team’s contribution to scoping, estimating, and proposals – and you and your people are making a meaningful, measurable contribution to business development and revenue targets.

Your people are being led well

Your team members are engaged, growing, and appropriately productive. Performance is managed proactively. Every six months, a mini 360 review tells us how people feel – and the results are good.

How we remunerate and support our team

The salary range for this role is $132,000 – $145,000 plus superannuation, depending on experience.

Joining Portable means becoming part of an organisation with an award-winning workplace culture, where your contributions are valued and you're supported by a genuinely multidisciplinary team.

Here's what else you can look forward to:

• Meaningful work with impact: We take on projects that aim to make a positive difference in areas like mental health, social justice, and accessibility
• Flexible work arrangements: We support a flexible working environment—whether it’s from home, the office, or a café—with remote and hybrid options (up to 3 days per week), flexible hours, and personalised start/finish times
• Enhanced leave benefits: Enjoy bonus annual leave based on tenure, the option to purchase additional leave, paid volunteering leave, and paid mental health days as personal leave with no explanation or medical certificate required
• Growth and career development: We offer structured career pathways, an annual professional development allowance of $1,000 and two working days, access to our Emerging Leaders program, annual salary reviews, and ongoing leadership coaching for those ready to step up
• Wellbeing support: Through our Employee Assistance Program with The Mindroom, our team can access up to 4 counselling sessions per year, with support for general wellbeing, career planning, and managing life’s challenges
• Financial incentives: Team members are eligible for a profit-sharing bonus and can explore employee share plan options, as well as salary sacrificing
• Family-friendly policies: We offer enhanced parental leave and support part-time arrangements that work around family commitments, such as school drop-offs and caring for sick loved ones

How to apply

We’re committed to building a diverse and equitable team. People from underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

To be considered, please send us:

1. Your resume.
2. A short (max. one-page) cover letter answering:

• What attracted you to this role, and why do you think it’s a good fit for you?
• Tell us about a time you led a team through a difficult delivery challenge. What happened, what did you do, and what was the outcome?