Operational and Business Readiness Manager

Are you ready to chart your own career path? With our refreshed strategy, we're building on our rich heritage and transforming our business to be more scalable and efficient, unlocking the capabilities needed for future success. This includes significantly investing in technology, streamlining the way we work and creating an environment where colleagues feel engaged, empowered and accountable; where they can show up, speak up and perform - because we believe in the difference our work makes.

At a glance:

Location: Cirencester Office

Workplace Type:

Employment Type: 8 month Fixed-Term Contract

Seniority: Mid-Senior Level

Main purpose of the role:

The main purpose of this role is the management and efficient delivery of business readiness activities to support the successful delivery of change activity, including subsidiaries and third parties, and the achievement of business outcomes.

The Business Readiness Manager will be able to assess the impact of change, build plans, manage issues, build relationships with business stakeholders and direct tasks to deliver projects to a required standard.

What you'll be doing:

Business and Operational Readiness:

• You'll work with business areas and third parties to identify business readiness activities required to support the implementation of the change and delivery of business outcomes. Business readiness activities to include, but not limited to, Operational Readiness of suppliers and 3rd parties, training and communications, MI, update of documentation, provisioning, data cleaning and literature.
• To liaise with the business areas and third parties to ensure their readiness for key implementation events, whilst contributing to the shape and scope of their outcomes.
• You'll support, and deputise for, the Head of Business and Operational Readiness.
• Represent business areas and the Partnership (financial advisers) on any corporate projects, where required, escalating items for decisions, and liaising with other business areas that will have technical input.
• Develop a communications and engagement approach to support the delivery of the change.
• Define and manage a business readiness plan which aligns with the development plan, providing regular updates as required by project governance. Support business areas in developing local readiness plans as required.
• To maintain all project documentation as required, including supporting the production of weekly reporting on the status of all projects underway.
• To handle post implementation queries that arise from all sources i.e. clients, Partners, the Administration Centre and/or internal stakeholders
• Support go live activity & help the business to transition to BAU.
• Managing other activities as required by the project. Including, but not limited to; Establishing and managing Pilots, Supporting ELS, managing Data Cleanse activity, supporting run book / migration activity and establishing / managing Business Validation Testing.
• Manage Business Readiness activity for multiple projects / delivery workstreams.

General Project Management:

• To manage or participate on the entire lifecycle of a project ensuring that deliverables meet the requirements agreed and defined business outcomes.
• To ensure that the project approach and outcomes consider the SJP culture and brand.
• To estimate, plan, cost and monitor activities to ensure that pre-agreed project costs are kept within reasonable tolerances, escalating back to relevant committees if overspends are required.
• To own and maintain all project documentation required for operational projects as well as those required for specific committees.
• To represent Client Services on any corporate projects, where required, ensuring our agreed Client Outcomes are always at the fore of decisions being made.

Subject Matter Expertise:

• To additionally contribute to the projects and programmes, where required, as a SME.
• Supporting the design of specific processes and readiness procedures in place for launch.
• Working closely with Business Architects to develop system solutions.
• Using experience and expertise to feed into requirements documentation.
• Following up any business readiness actions for business area and third-party input from Analysts and process owners.
• Manage and update key documentation as required.

What we're looking for:

• A good knowledge of and experience of working within the Financial Services sector, preferably within a change environment.
• Experience of delivering within a similar operational Business readiness role.
• Project / Change / Agile Management experience – ideally in the introduction of new or changes to IT services.
• Experience of operational management / working with 3rd parties, especially back-office operations.
• Methodical, organised and able to prioritise multiple tasks potentially with conflicting timescales, prioritising appropriately, and escalating where there are significant issues.
• The ability to build effective working relationships with the BAU & change teams at the relevant external Administration Centres.
• Able to work positively and collaboratively with all stakeholders, displaying a "can do" attitude to achieve the desired project outcomes.
• Able to disseminate technical information and share this with relevant groups of individuals clearly and concisely.
• Ability to balance and manage conflicting priorities effectively.

What's in it for you?

We reward you for the work you do, whether that's through our discretionary annual bonus scheme that reflects both personal and company performance, competitive annual leave allowance (28 days plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase an additional 5 days), or online rewards platform with a variety of discounts.

We also have benefits to support whatever stage of life you are in, including:

• Competitive parental leave (26 weeks full pay)
• Private medical insurance (optional taxable benefit)
• 10% non-contributory pension (increasing with length of service)

Reasonable Adjustments

We're an equal opportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive for all, if you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stage please let us know by emailing us at

Research tells us that applicants (especially those from underrepresented groups) can be put off from applying for a role if they do not meet all the criteria or have been on an extended career-break. If you think you would be a good match for this role and can demonstrate some transferable experience please apply, regardless of whether you tick every box.

What's next?

If you're excited about this role and believe you have the skills and experience we're looking for, we'd love to hear from you Please submit an application by clicking 'apply' below and our team will be in touch.

As a business regulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with the conduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to an interview with SJP.