Customer Services Major Initiatives – Senior Manager

Job title: Customer Services Major Initiatives – Senior Manager

Location: Edinburgh or Leeds

Salary: Pay Group 3G

Hours: Full time

Working Pattern: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites.

About this opportunity:

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented leader to help build the Customer Services Operation of the future. You would be joining IP&I Customer Services (“CS”) at an exciting time as we embark on a major customer experience transformation journey delivering a market-leading service proposition by driving strategic change across the operation.

The role, suiting someone with a background in delivering operational change at pace, is central to this journey, reporting into the Head of Customer Service Excellence & Operational Optimisation and working closely with IP&I’s CS Director and wider IP&I Leadership to deliver:

• Coordinate on behalf of CS where we need to support the landing of strategic initiatives into operations (e.g. embedding of Schroders Personal Wealth into wider CS landscape). Leading our teams in the day to day delivery of CS’s part in these strategic initiatives, liaising with wider colleagues to ensure the initiatives' land successfully and are fully embedded.

• Monitor emerging trends, technologies, etc, identifying strategic opportunities (greater utilisation of AI, robotics, future tech, etc). Incubating (designing and proving) the top initiatives before rolling out to onshore and offshore partners to scale the benefits.

What you’ll be doing:

There are a series of strategic initiatives IP&I is running that have significant Customer Services (“CS”) components to their delivery. This role will lead the CS teams delivering these components.

• Scoping and Design: Leading the CS delivery teams to define and agree each initiatives’ objectives, converting them into a defined scope, delivery structure, governance and controls, and roadmap to deliver CS’s components of the wider change.

• Interlock: Foster a strong communication network across CS and IP&I’s Platforms (delivery centres) to ensure CS’s activities reaming interlocked throughout delivery.

• Day to day delivery coordination for the delivery of each strategic initiatives, leading each team, setting the direction and prioritisation, monitoring progress, and resolving key issues.

• MI & Reporting: Ensure appropriate monitoring is installed for each initiative, reporting progress and challenges to key forums and IP&I’s Leadership.

Strategic Opportunity Development

• Market & Emerging Trend Scanning: Monitor the market (e.g. competitors, customer needs, and regulatory changes), emerging technologies, and industry trends to 1) ensure CS is making the right operational decisions and 2) identify and drive innovative solutions that drive CS in reaching our TOM.

• Idea Generation: Lead the identification and analysis of new ideas that will help drive better customer service and operational efficiency e.g. utilisation of; AI, technology within wider Lloyds Group, etc.

• Idea Incubation / Development: Select and prove the most promising ideas, completing small-scale proof of concept / prototyping ahead of passing (the successfully proved ideas) to delivery partners to scale-up the delivery.

• Offshore and onshore scaling: Work with the Lloyds offshore development centre (LTC) and IP&I Platforms to deliver and scale the strategic opportunities that will best benefit customer experience and operational efficiency.

What you’ll need:

• Embedding large-scale change within Financial Services Operations / Customer Service

• Managing complex programmes and navigating ambiguity to drive towards a vision

• End-to-end delivery experience from initiation (initial sizing, objective design, etc) to post-go live warranty and closure.

• Working with executive-level leaders on a day-to-day basis (Director/C-Suite)

• Expert at scanning market trends and emerging technologies to inform strategic decisions.

• Skilled in generating and analysing innovative ideas to boost customer service and operational efficiency, especially using AI and automation.

• Proven ability to incubate and prototype new concepts, validating them before scaling up delivery.

It would also be useful if you had...

• Strong communicator, able to translate insights into clear actions and engage executive leaders.

• Agile leader, comfortable driving change and managing priorities in a fast-paced environment

• Deep understanding of Financial Services operational processes and procedures

• Strong knowledge of the UK financial services sector, including industry trends (Fin Tech), Gen AI usage in a servicing environment, regulatory landscape, competitive dynamics, and emerging trends.

• Accomplished at managing multiple priorities and working effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

• Ability to remain resilient and adaptable in a rapidly changing environment.

About working for us:

We’re disability confident. So, if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

If you’re excited by the thought of becoming part of our team, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!