Strategy and Operating Model Lead

Overview: An exciting opportunity to join the Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) team in our People and Places function (P&P).

The purpose of our Strategic Workforce Planning team is to deliver material impact for the organisation through SWP by partnering across various areas of P&P and the business. We’ll use SWP to ensure we have the right people in the right place, with the right skills to deliver our strategy. This is a developing area which is key to supporting the Group’s strategic journey and the future of the LBG workforce.

As the Strategy and Operating Model Lead for Strategic Workforce Planning, you will be responsible for designing and developing the Group-wide SWP operating model, identifying, analysing and resolving complex, cross-functional challenges that impact our group wide strategic processes. You will collaborate with various senior stakeholders across the organisation, utilising a problem-solving mindset to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, drive continuous improvement and identify a tooling solution to take our SWP offering to the next level.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and Develop SWP Operating Model: Lead the design and creation of the Strategic Workforce Planning operating model and infrastructure to ensure SWP is an enduring and integrated process within the Group.
• Process Optimization & Continuous Improvement: Evaluating and refining workforce planning processes and tooling to improve effectiveness and scalability. Identifying inefficiencies and implementing process improvements that drive operational excellence.
• Strategic Insight and Planning: Develop a directional view of the 5-year rolling workforce plan, underpinned by data-driven insights into specific areas of the business or specific skills. Refine this view on a cyclical basis to enable specific and tangible interventions.
• External Insights: Stay up to date on external developments in Strategic Workforce Planning models to support the delivery of our strategy.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain excellent relationships with business stakeholders and key partners across the Group to identify and quantify the roles and skills needed for now and the future. Translate this insight into compelling and practical interventions.
• Operationalise Strategic Workforce Planning: Work with business leaders to design and operationalise workforce planning roadmaps, fostering an organisation-wide passion for Strategic Workforce Planning and inspiring others to become part of the journey and vision.
• Team Development: Focus on developing colleagues and processes to build a successful team. Inspire, mentor, and develop team members to achieve a clear vision in an ambiguous and sophisticated environment.

Skills and Knowledge:

Essential:

• Operating Model: Expertise in designing and implementing operating models that support strategic projects. Ability to lead process reengineering efforts to enhance overall effectiveness to ensure SWP is an enduring and effective practice within the organisation.
• Strategic Thinking: See ahead to future possibilities and translate them into breakthrough strategies. Analyse multiple scenarios to equip the organisation to address change, solve challenges, and shape new possibilities.
• Problem Solving: Proven experience in process improvement, problem-solving, or related roles, with a strong understanding of group-wide operations.
• Communication & Storytelling: Present sophisticated data and insights in an accessible manner to different audiences. Create a culture of ongoing constructive dialogue and have a compelling impact on people at all levels, gaining widespread consensus, mobilisation, and commitment to the overall Strategic Workforce Planning agenda.
• Leadership: Experience in leading or supporting cross-functional teams in a large, dynamic organisation. Inspire and empower a team to deliver, adapting style to suit others' needs and motivations. Build trust and regularly check others' feelings and team climate.
• Data Literacy: Ability to digest, interpret, and interrogate highly sophisticated and technical information from multiple sources to extract valid insights for workforce plans and recommendations.
• Relationship Management: Develop and maintain positive relationships with a range of people and business areas using deep commercial understanding, emotional intelligence, and excellent communication skills. Use these insights to improve models and drive action.
• Collaboration: Build partnerships and work collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives. Promote a culture of collaboration and open, confident communication across the organisation.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we’re inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We’re committed to creating a consciously inclusive workplace where our colleagues can be themselves, thrive and perform at their best. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer Initiative.

As an inclusive employer, we offer Workplace Adjustments for colleagues with a disability (which may include long-term health and neurodivergent conditions) where it is reasonable to do so. This could include flexibility with regards to office attendance, location, and working pattern.

We also provide adjustments that are reasonable throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers for applicants with a disability, long-term health condition or neurodivergent condition. If you’d like an adjustment to the recruitment process just let us know

If you have the skills and outlook we're seeking and this opportunity excites you, get in touch—we'd love you to join our team!