Head of Finance Operations Change Delivery

We are undergoing significant & exciting business change across Finance and as a result , we are recruiting a Head of Finance Operations Change Delivery to join us at the Phoenix Group.

Salary: Competitive, 30 - 60% bonus, 38 days holiday, excellent pension and much more
Job Type: Permanent
Location: Midlands
Closing Date: 9 June 2023


Phoenix is undergoing significant & exciting business change across Finance - business integrations, finance transformation, business reorganisations, policy migrations, growth initiatives of the business, IFRS 17, climate reporting & sustainability to name a few, which continue to offer excellent career prospects for those who love working in fast paced & evolving environment. As a result, we are recruiting a Head of Finance Operations Change Delivery.

Who are we?
We want to be the best place that any of our 6,800 colleagues have ever worked.
We're the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business. We offer our 13 million customers products across our market-leading brands, including Standard Life, SunLife and ReAssure, with c.£270 billion of assets under administration. We're a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we're not done yet.

The Role
In this role you will lead a team of finance SMEs and take accountability for Finance Operations' change delivery in a coordinated manner across multiple programmes. This includes full ownership and responsibility for the build with various stakeholders (such as, IT, other teams across FRC & broader finance, external consultants, other change programmes, BAU colleagues, change delivery & embedding partners) ensuring it meets the business requirements and exit criteria, ready for embedding into business as usual.
Key Accountabilities
- Operate as a senior finance change leader - ownership for delivery, oversight over user acceptance testing, support achieving business sign off and driving embedding of changes into business as usual.
- Lead a team of business SMEs across multiple sites for delivery of change working with various other programmes, business as usual colleagues, other business functions, value centres and internal customers.
- Drive development and delivery of impact assessments, plans, activities for achieving outcomes, process design and remediation. Also, lead the implementation of changes to business systems, processes, reporting calendar & controls (including documentation).
- Lead the response to significant complexities, dependencies and drive prioritisation: operate with agility, flexibility and solutions-orientation. The role holder is expected to anticipate internal and/or external business challenges and recommend solutions.
- Support & challenge SMEs and external delivery partners to achieving optimum implementation of the completed solution. Also, manage third parties and internal stakeholders across the business, finance operations & reporting, actuarial teams, tax, technology, sourcing and legal.
- Support achievement of operational readiness through smooth handover and sign off from business as usual.
- Lead, motivate and manage a team of qualified and trainee accountants to deliver high quality and timely finance change delivery/ partnering & embedding.
- Play a key role in the leadership and overall management of the Reporting & Operations (REOP) team, occasionally deputising for the manager on steering committees, working groups and internal/ external meetings.

What We're Looking For
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with extensive (10+ years PQE) experience in business as usual and change capacity in a financial services organisation (preferably, a life insurer)
- Prior experience of driving the implementation of new finance systems and improvements to business processes at large scale
- Experience of leading a portfolio of change workstreams managing multiple finance change programs
- Leadership - leading colleagues to a common goal whilst holding them accountable for delivery
- Stakeholder management, including influencing senior business leaders

We want to hire the whole version of you.
We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we've advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we'd love to hear from you.
If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.
Find out more about #LifeAtPhoenix
* Guide for Candidates: https://thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
* Find or get answers from our colleagues: https://www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us
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We value diversity in our workforce and welcome enquiries from everyone.