Head of Operational Excellence

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Role Purpose

This is a pivotal leadership role responsible for improving operational performance across the Consumer business. Working closely with the Executive Committee and operational leaders, the role will identify inefficiencies, troubleshoot issues, and deliver initiatives that enhance processes, systems, and both customer and colleague experience.

Combining strategic oversight with hands-on delivery, the role ensures that ideas translate into measurable improvements in performance, efficiency, and scalability. Alongside this, it plays a critical role in strengthening commercial performance—identifying opportunities for revenue growth, improving customer value, and challenging areas where the business may be under-trading or missing income opportunities.

More broadly, the role will help shape the future Consumer operating model, ensuring the business not only runs efficiently today but is also positioned to grow and evolve in line with its longer-term strategic direction.

Key Responsibilities

1. Operational Improvement & Troubleshooting

• Partner with regional / Divisional and branch leadership teams to identify operational challenges and performance gaps
• Diagnose root causes of inefficiencies across people, process, and technology
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, providing practical and commercially focused solutions
• Embed a culture of continuous improvement across the business
• Contribute to the evolution of the Consumer business model by identifying how operations need to adapt to future strategic direction

2. Process Optimisation

• Review and redesign core operational processes to improve efficiency, consistency, and control
• Drive simplification across customer journeys and internal workflows
• Ensure processes align with regulatory and risk requirements (FCA environment)

3. Technology & Systems Improvement

• Work closely with Operations to identify opportunities to leverage technology
• Translate operational needs into clear system and data requirements
• Support optimisation of key platforms (e.g. broking systems, workflow tools, reporting)
• Champion digital adoption across the operational network

4. Change & Project Delivery

• Build robust business cases aligned to strategic priorities
• Support adoption and sustainment of change across a geographically dispersed workforce

5. Performance & Insight

• Define and track KPIs to measure operational performance and improvement outcomes
• Use data and MI to identify trends, risks and opportunities
• Deliver clear, actionable insights to the Executive Committee
• Ensure benefits realisation is tracked and evidenced

6. Stakeholder Management

• Build strong, credible relationships with senior leaders across the business
• Influence decision-making at Exec level
• Communicate priorities, progress, and outcomes effectively

7. Commercial Performance & Revenue Opportunities

• Identify areas where the business can grow revenue, improve conversion, or increase customer lifetime value
• Challenge existing trading approaches and highlight gaps or missed opportunities
• Work with leadership to prioritise and shape commercial initiatives
• Provide insight into underperformance across products, channels, or segments and recommend corrective action

8. Strategic Evolution & Horizon Scanning

• Develop a forward-looking view of the Consumer operating model, identifying how the business needs to evolve over time
• Support the Executive Committee in shaping the future state of Consumer, aligning with broader strategic work (e.g. Oliver Wyman insights)
• Identify emerging trends, risks and opportunities that could impact the operating model
• Ensure operational improvement activity aligns with longer-term transformation goals

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Significant experience in operational improvement, transformation, or business change roles
• Proven track record of delivering measurable improvements in large, complex multi-site organisations
• Strong understanding of operational environments (ideally within insurance, financial services, or regulated sectors)
• Experience of leading cross-functional projects and influencing senior stakeholders
• Analytical mindset with the ability to translate data into actionable insight
• Strong commercial awareness and customer focus

Desirable

• Experience within a broking or distribution-led insurance environment
• Knowledge of FCA regulatory expectations
• Formal continuous improvement qualifications (Lean, Six Sigma, etc.)
• Experience working with core broking or CRM platforms

Leadership & Behavioural Expectations

• Pragmatic and solutions-focused
• High credibility and influencing capability
• Comfortable operating at both strategic and detailed levels
• Resilient, adaptable, and delivery-focused
• Collaborative, with a strong focus on building capability in others

Success Measures

• Improved operational efficiency (e.g. cost-to-serve, turnaround times)
• Increased consistency across branches
• Successful delivery of key transformation initiatives
• Measurable improvements in customer and colleague experience
• Strong engagement and adoption of new processes and systems
• Evidence of improved revenue performance or identified growth opportunities implemented
• Improved conversion, retention, or customer value metrics
• Tangible commercial contribution from improvement initiatives

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs.  Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.