Head of Operations

The Head of Operations is responsible for leading and coordinating operational excellence across The Group's multi-jurisdictional business. Reporting to the Group COO, this role owns the Group Operating Model and works across jurisdictions to align core processes, procedures, controls and service standards so that the business operates consistently, efficiently and in a scalable way.

The role acts as the central point of leadership for operational issues and continuous improvement, identifying inefficiencies, coordinating remediation, and ensuring that change is implemented effectively across the Group.

This includes close day-to-day partnership with IT and Transformation on system configuration changes, process redesign, operating model evolution and the landing of transformation initiatives in local businesses.

The Head of Operations will work through and alongside Operations Directors (or similar roles, where they exist) in each jurisdiction, with dotted-line oversight of those local leaders, to create a joined-up operational community.

The role also works closely with Finance, Risk and Compliance to establish meaningful operational metrics, ensure policies and procedures remain fit for purpose and locally compliant, and provide high-quality operational insight to the COO and wider leadership team.

The role requires strong data analytics capability and a proactive engagement with AI, exploring practical ways to improve operational processes, reporting and decision-making. The role will also liaise closely with the Innovation function to provide operational input and ensure the business is leveraging the tools and capabilities being developed.

Key Responsibilities:

• Operating Model Ownership:
• Own, document and maintain the Group Operating Model, ensuring it clearly defines how key operational activities are delivered across jurisdictions and business lines.
• Establish a clear framework for operational governance, including process ownership, decision rights, escalation routes and standards for documentation.
• Ensure the Operating Model evolves in line with strategic priorities, acquisitions, regulatory requirements and technology change.
• Maintain a robust inventory of key operational processes, procedures, controls and service dependencies across the Group.
• Process Alignment & Continuous Improvement:
• Lead Group-wide efforts to align processes and procedures where appropriate, creating greater consistency, efficiency, resilience and service quality across jurisdictions.
• Identify operational inefficiencies, pain points, bottlenecks and duplication, and prioritise opportunities for simplification, standardisation and automation.
• Run structured reviews of key operational processes to improve turnaround times, control effectiveness, colleague experience and client outcomes.
• Promote a continuous improvement culture across the operational community, encouraging local ideas while ensuring change is prioritised and governed effectively.
• Operational Issue Resolution & Change Delivery:
• Act as a senior escalation point for cross-jurisdiction operational issues, coordinating analysis, decision-making and remediation to resolution.
• Work closely with Transformation and IT on system configuration changes, operational support requirements, incident themes and platform enhancements that impact business processes.
• Partner with Transformation teams to shape and coordinate implementation of operational change across jurisdictions, ensuring dependencies, readiness and local adoption are properly managed.
• Provide operational input into transformation initiatives, including practical feedback on process design, sequencing, resourcing, risks and how change is landing in the business.
• Support business readiness activities for change initiatives, including communications, training needs, process updates and post-implementation review.
• Liaise with the Innovation function to provide operational input into the development of new capabilities and ensure relevant tools, ideas and solutions are being adopted where they can improve operational effectiveness.
• Operational Metrics, Reporting & Insight:
• Define, gather and monitor key operational metrics across the Group, working with IT and Finance to develop reliable data sources and reporting.
• Establish meaningful MI and dashboards covering, for example, process performance, service levels, turnaround times, cost to serve, rework, inefficiencies and exception volumes.
• Analyse trends and root causes to provide actionable insight to the COO and leadership teams, supporting prioritisation and operational decision-making.
• Track benefits realisation from operational and transformation initiatives and ensure reporting reflects both Group-wide performance and local nuance.
• Use data analytics to identify trends, inefficiencies and improvement opportunities, and explore how AI can be applied pragmatically to streamline operational processes, enhance reporting and support better operational decision-making.
• Policy, Procedure & Control Coordination:
• Coordinate the implementation and maintenance of Group-wide operational policies and procedures, ensuring the right framework is in place across the business.
• Work closely with Risk and Compliance to ensure policies and procedures are compliant with local jurisdictional requirements and appropriately embedded in day-to-day operations.
• Support consistent control execution by ensuring procedures are clear, current, accessible and aligned to regulatory, risk and client obligations.
• Monitor policy and procedure gaps, ownership and review cycles, escalating where critical documentation is missing, outdated or ineffective.
• Business Continuity Planning:
• Own and coordinate the Group's Business Continuity Planning framework, ensuring BCP procedures and plans are clearly documented, current, accessible and appropriately aligned across jurisdictions.
• Work with local businesses, Risk, Compliance, IT and other central functions to ensure BCP plans reflect critical processes, operational dependencies, regulatory expectations and local business requirements.
• Coordinate regular review, testing and improvement of BCP procedures, tracking actions and ensuring lessons learned are embedded into operational processes and continuity arrangements.
• Provide clear reporting to the COO and relevant governance forums on BCP readiness, testing outcomes, gaps, risks and required remediation.
• Functional Design Authority:
• Support Act as a member of the Functional Design Authority, providing operational input into decisions relating to process design, business requirements, workflow configuration and the practical adoption of change across the Group. Support the preparation of high-quality content for Functional Design Authority meetings, including papers, decision logs, options analysis, recommendations, operational impact assessments and supporting materials.
• Coordinate the administrative process for the Functional Design Authority, ensuring agendas, submissions, actions, decisions and follow-up items are well organised, properly tracked and progressed in line with agreed governance standards.
• Ensure Functional Design Authority outputs are translated into clear operational actions, process updates and implementation requirements for relevant jurisdictions and business teams.
• Leadership, Collaboration & Stakeholder Management: Provide functional leadership to Operations Directors and operational leads in each jurisdiction, building a cohesive Group operations community through a dotted-line reporting model.
• Chair or coordinate regular cross-jurisdiction operations forums to share insight, surface risks, align priorities and track delivery of key initiatives.
• Build trusted relationships with jurisdictional leadership, IT, Transformation, Finance, Risk, Compliance and business teams to ensure operational priorities are understood and progressed.
• Provide clear, concise reporting to the Group COO and support executive discussion on operational risks, performance, investment needs and improvement opportunities.
• Additional Duties:
• Take on other evolving responsibilities as required in support of growth, integration and operational maturity.
• Uphold the values and role model high standards of collaboration, ownership and execution.

Key Competencies & Skills:

• Significant experience in operations leadership, business management, process improvement or operating model design within a multi-site and ideally multi-jurisdictional organisation.
• Strong understanding of how operational processes, controls, systems and service standards interact in a regulated professional or financial services environment.
• Proven ability to document, assess and improve end-to-end operational processes, balancing standardisation with appropriate local flexibility.
• Experience working closely with technology and transformation teams to shape and implement operational change, including system configuration or workflow changes.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to define meaningful operational KPIs, interpret management information and convert insight into practical action.
• Strong data analytics skills, with the ability to interrogate data, derive insight from multiple sources and use evidence to drive operational improvements and better decision-making.
• Engaged with AI developments and able to identify practical opportunities to leverage AI and related technologies to improve operational processes, efficiency, insight and control.
• Ability to work closely with the Innovation function, contributing operational insight to shape new capabilities while ensuring the business benefits from relevant tools and solutions being developed.
• Excellent programme and project management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and stakeholders across jurisdictions.
• Commercially minded, with an appreciation for process cost, efficiency, service delivery and the operational implications of strategic growth.
• Strong understanding of governance, policy and procedure management, and experience partnering with Risk and Compliance to ensure operational frameworks remain locally compliant.
• Credible and influential stakeholder manager, able to work effectively with senior leaders and local operational teams without relying solely on direct line authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce concise executive updates, clear procedural documentation and practical implementation guidance.
• Hands-on, pragmatic and comfortable moving between strategic design and day-to-day operational problem solving.
• Experience of post-acquisition integration, operating model harmonisation or organisational scaling would be advantageous.
• Experience within trust, corporate, fiduciary, fund administration or other regulated services environments is highly desirable.
• Comfortable with occasional travel across Group jurisdictions as required. Committed to high standards, accountability, continuous improvement and collaborative leadership.