Head of Transformation & Change

Innovative Service Group
c85,000 plus package

This is an outstanding opportunity to join and become a key part of the future of one of the country’s most innovative business and consumer services groups.

20 years after inception, they continue to lead their unique B2B/B2C market place, delivering an unparalleled and invaluable service whilst working with their clients on a path of continuous improvement.

Differentiating themselves by remaining totally independent and providing bespoke solutions through numerous highly qualified and focussed teams to provide swift solutions and resolutions, whilst creating maximum value for their client & consumer bases underpinned by highly principled humility and passion for what they do.

They adopt a highly collaborative approach to both external and internal operations, constantly innovating and developing their product offering; a true environment of evolution from new initiatives & working practices right up to new business launches. 

Accordingly, the Transformation and Change department is one of the most dynamic functions within this already high-energy, ideation-rich business.

With a strong human-focus, they have created an upbeat, friendly, innovative, and fast-paced environment with, crucially, market-leading opportunity for advancement; this is a source of much of their continuous development, fuelling an environment where every voice is heard, every idea listened to.

This is an energised and ideation-rich culture, which every employee works diligently to foster and continually improve. They are an opportunistic growth company that seeks to deliver long-term prosperity to all employees. Career opportunities are as unlimited as any employees’ aspirations and hunger.

Their unique service has won them huge recognition and an enviable client list within highly regulated environments as well as huge respect amongst the consumer base but all with an underlying reputation for objectivity.  Two decades of achievements and award wins set this ground-breaking business apart from their competitors, and with continued demand for their services and increased capability in their product and service portfolio, their future is as impressive as their history.

A key element of that forward-focus of the Transformation and Change department is the appointment of a Head of Transformation and Change. 

This appointee will take an influential role, leading their team of 12, but working closely with all aspects of the business and leadership team, adopting a delivery-focused approach, helping to progress the business’s activities, ways of working and culture to enable achievement of the transformation strategy and ambitious growth plans.

They will fully engage their strategic thinking and organisational transformation expertise to achieve the continued roll out of the transformation programme that delivers impressive results on time and to budget whilst ensuring governance and reporting are efficient and effective. In addition the appointee will be an experienced change lead who is highly proficient at delivering change and is able to use their experience and knowledge to add value to the business, as this role has overall responsibility for all change projects across the group. 

Requirements 

• The Head of Transformation & Change will have significant exposure to senior leaders within the business so must be able to demonstrate excellent stakeholder management skills for complex and specialist themes with ability to communicate and present across the group effectively, both verbally and written.
• Will have a naturally inclusive style and approach and will work collaboratively with and through others to get results.
• Delivery focused, strategic and forward looking with ability to identify and lead operational delivery risks.
• Exceptional knowledge of Transformation & Change, supporting all teams to deliver change with the ability to build a good network of relationships across the group.
• Ability to manage multiple senior stakeholders to deliver defined programmes of work
• Able to communicate with and bridge the gap between technical, operational and business teams

Key Responsibilities

• Manage and enhance the Transformational Change Office, providing a centre of excellence for project management by sharing knowledge and best practice, ensuring standard project management processes, documents and tools are embedded in ways of working across the business.
• Support the implementation of transformation strategy in order to achieve business value
• Help set the overall strategic direction for the group, including ensuring that change progresses its vision, mission, objectives and plans. 
• Work with business leads to create understanding of strategic priorities
• Drive business-wide initiatives for process improvement, simplification and automation, constantly highlighting and managing efficiency initiatives.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders and work with them to gain consensus on key decisions and actions on risks. 
• Collaborates with the SLT, Heads of departments and other business stakeholders to leverage financial insight, assess affordability to aid executive decision making in respect of the change agenda and roadmap.
• Ensure that planning and execution is embodied by a sense of urgency and accountability, and that these and other characteristics become cultural habits as opposed to rules.
• Provides operational and specialist insight to drive continuous improvement
• Adding value by identifying need to modify policies, programs or services and develop cost-effective proposals 
• Diagnose and develop recommendations to solve complex, ambiguous problems
• Energy, creativity and a collaborative approach are key behaviours that underpin this role. 
• Work with Transformation & Change team, and beyond, to identify & forecast the most appropriate resource required to deliver the project and schedule their involvement.
• Lead, engage and motivate project teams and direct reports to deliver Project objectives & outcomes.
• Ensure business policy, process, standards and required Governance are adhered to
• Responsible for managing all costs within budget parameters & managing reforecasting processes.
• Partner with other teams to provide on-going root cause analysis, supporting the business to drive sustainable and strategic improvements for the benefit of customers and colleagues.
• Maintain and enhance project process documentation, mapping and controls.
• Provide leadership and mentoring for Programme/Project Managers across the business.

Success will be measured by implementing and monitoring a set of KPI’s based around key deliverables for each programme. Delivery of programmes to time & budget will be measured regularly as well indicators around staff and company performance.

The Person

As with all appointments in this highly people-centric business, candidate profile and chemistry fit is critical, but never more so than for this for this collaboration-centred role. Working within a fast-paced, innovative, entrepreneurial environment, attitude is as important as experience. The person is everything. The Head of Transformation and Change will be a central role in driving change across the group; the gravity of success is all about having the right attitude, underpinned with demonstrable experience.

Suitable candidates will already be high achieving Transformation and Change leaders. They will likely have held a number of T&C/project management/leadership roles, as well having close exposure to the project change function of complex organisations. They will already possess a track record of personal success. 

The appointee will possess a strong ethos in delivery through engagement, collaboration, strategic planning, an innovative approach, ideation and a ‘do’ not ‘think’ mindset.

They will be people, results, and delivery focused; hands-on and possess the ability to create a sense of mission and attentiveness to current and future requirements and challenges.

They should embrace, and be able to demonstrate the organisation’s Core Values:

• Courage
• Balance
• Empathy
• Openness

Skills Required:

• Solid Transformation and Change experience with evidence of end-to-end delivery 
• Relevant qualifications (APMP, Prince 2, MSP, etc)
• Experience in Process Improvement/Excellence, Project Management or Operational Control experience
• Proven stakeholder management skills to influence and impact, at both programme and individual project level
• Hands-on people management, establishing new teams in a changing environment
• Strong leadership skills to create and foster a positive team environment, set team and individual objectives, and provide day-to-day guidance to all members of the team
• Influencing / networking – developing internal and external business relationships and using own knowledge, skills and experience to influence others opinions and actions 
• Ability to juggle priorities, multi-task and flawlessly execute at speed
• Ability to demonstrate extensive stakeholder management, communication and presentation skills, with solid and influential personal credibility 
• Ability to quickly switch between different issues or projects with conflicting priorities
• Able to convert requirements or process challenges into solutions (enhancements, simplification, customisations, process redesigns, etc.), deep diving into issues whilst keeping an eye on the big picture
• Flexibility and the ability to work autonomously to achieve in a complex environment
• Proven excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally within a diverse group of executives, managers, and subject matter experts
• Robust experience of implementing and embedding project management principles and approach in a changing environment
• Knowledge of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and an agile approach to Change and Project Management

It will be essential that you have demonstrable experience of transformational leadership and a strong understanding of organisational change theories and techniques alongside expertise in project management systems.

You will have previous hands-on working experience of establishing and managing robust governance arrangements and a proven track record of implementation of key strategic initiatives and operational delivery planning.

You will have demonstrable experience of managing a diverse portfolio of stakeholders and of managing budgets and strategic financial planning.

You will be a credible influencer, able to build relationships with stakeholders and understand organisational sensitivities.

Competencies and Behaviours  

• Leadership Success Factors (Strategic thinking, learning agility, aspiration, resilience, EQ)
• Translates Strategic Direction into impactful realistic operating plans and models – Develops deep and broad understanding of business and market and leverages to define compelling plans for future
• Builds Organisational Alignment – aligns and mobilises resources to deliver results/is organisationally savvy and leverages enterprise relationships and capabilities to deliver on transformation
• Influences with Impact
• Manages operational initiatives and delivers error free quality processes
• Manage through change and demonstrates sound judgment with speed
• Optimises the Balance between Risk and Reward – Explicitly and visibly manages risk and reward tradeoffs.  Delivers on best outcomes for consumers and businesses, clients and stakeholders protecting business reputation 
• Applies Critical Thinking
• Applies Operational and Planning Expertise
• Contracts with Leaders/Business Partners and builds partnerships to achieve swift adoption
• Models and Reinforces our Company Values

The appointee will constantly strive for excellence and demonstrate personal drive and resilience, with a mature and experienced approach to both growth, and set-backs. They will be obviously self-motivated & able to work on own initiative whilst putting team and company needs before own and possess the ability to think flexibly and laterally.

They will be a model team player, as both leader and member, working with, and where necessary, challenging the others for the common good and future performance of the group. Crucially, they will have flexibility and a capacity to adapt to the changing demands of the job.

The successful candidate will have entrepreneurial ability and desire and be hugely excited by a very high paced environment, thick with USPs – their operational leadership strength will be underpinned by a real “Just Do It” attitude, and a sense of humour.

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