Associate Director

**Reports to Head of Operations - Centre of Excellence and Services**

This role is a key leadership role within Process Optimisation and Digitisation Capability Centre (POD). This is an exciting role that plays an integral part in leading the POD to establish and drive a robust approach to process optimisation and best practice that is aligned to Aztec's Design Principles.

To work in an intelligent and unified way with key stakeholders to implement process enhancements that deliver targeted benefits and support continuous improvement and elevate our clients' experience through a High Touch, High Tech service.

This role will work with the members within the POD and wider stakeholders in delivering our Target Operating Model to continue to deliver excellent service to our clients and enhance our people's experience - with a key focus on adoption and benefit realisation.

**Key responsibilities**:
Leadership & Line Management
- Lead a team to work closely with senior stakeholders across the Group to identify improvement opportunities and implement appropriate actions ensuring ongoing adoption and benefit realisation.
- Motivate, encourage and inspire the development of a strong, efficient and effective professional team operating ethically and with a clear focus on delivering outcomes and continual improvement.
- Responsible for ensuring that the right resource is deployed in the right place and at the right time to ensure successful delivery of activities across each aspect of the POD, driving Change Management to promote a culture and mindset of operational excellence.
- Drive the development of process optimisation capabilities and methodologies used in process improvement (such as lean and six sigma) to enable process effectiveness.
- Lead and develop Business Analyst skillset across direct reports to ensure that key deliverables met.

Delivery
- Identify, analyse and implement process optimisation and best practice to improve users' journeys, highlighting the benefits and prioritising continual improvement activities across
workstreams that will support excellent client experience and deliver agreed benefits as part of our automation journey.
- Lead the implementation and roll out of the improvements (including automation) with a key focus on change adoption and benefit realisation.
- Prioritisation for each increment and alignment to the transformation supporting the POD project and programme reporting. Including management of resource allocation and budget.
- Champion a culture of continuous improvement across the Group facilitated through Lean Training, Kaizen, and idea generation.
- Identify possible risks from changing processes through optimisation and drive mitigation of risk management to continually enhance our control framework.
- Driving Change Management to promote a culture and mindset of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
- Provide clear insight to Senior Stakeholders on benefits and adoption of change initiatives against defined KPI's to ensure the initiatives have been delivered and successfully.
- Work closely with Business Process Stakeholders throughout the organisation, help to clarify objectives, identifying strategies, and implement appropriate actions.

**Skills, Experience, Qualifications**:

- Demonstrable and extensive capability and experience to identify and leading process improvement through to successful completion in a global organisation.
- Strong experience in being Customer and Client focused looking through the eyes of the client to enhance the journey and experience.
- Qualification in process improvement methodologies, i.e., Lean Six Sigma or Kaizen methodology.
- Project management experience and / or qualifications to ensure that Projects are delivered in line with Project Management Framework.
- Proven strong Change Management skillset to ensure adoption of Change is at the forefront of all team deliverables.
- Solution-orientated and Strategic thinker with the ability to drive effective operational changes and create unified ways of working across all offices within the Aztec Group.
- Excellent leadership, interpersonal and communication skills, with a strong understanding of the human side of change management and the alignment of this to the company's culture, values, and people.
- Experience delivering cost effective business solutions, strategic and tactical projects.
- Strong communication, partnering and stakeholder management skills will all levels or stakeholders.
- Experience in delivering alternative fund servicing solutions in multiple jurisdictions, is advantageous.
- Strong experience in identifying, controlling and managing risk.
- Demonstrable skills in developing and delivering automation and digitisation solutions.