JIRA Expert & Business Owner | Chief Operating Office | S3 | Milton Keynes

Country: United Kingdom

IT STARTS HERE. Santander is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organisation, and our people are at the heart of this journey. Together, we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation, and the courage to challenge what’s possible. This is more than a strategic shift. It’s a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference. Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper. We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.

THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE

Within the Chief Operating Office of Santander UK we are looking for a JIRA Expert & Business Owner based out of Milton Keynes. This role is a 12 month fixed term contract. We have created an Agile Centre of Excellence within our Chief Operating Office and are seeking a JIRA Expert that will serve as the business owner and strategic lead for the organisation’s JIRA platform. This role will be responsible for defining, designing, and implementing a standardised operating model for JIRA across the enterprise, ensuring consistent governance, optimal user experience, and alignment with business delivery needs. The JIRA Expert will establish JIRA as a robust enterprise-wide tool that enables greater collaboration, transparency, and effective portfolio management.

We’re shaping the way we work through innovation, cutting-edge technology, collaboration and the freedom to explore new ideas. To succeed in this role, you will be responsible for:

• Governance & Business Ownership: Act as the business owner for the JIRA platform, accountable for its strategy, design, and ongoing business alignment. Define and maintain JIRA governance structures, ensuring the tool aligns with organizational priorities and compliance requirements.
• Design & Implementation of Standard Operating Model: Define and implement a Standard JIRA Hierarchy (epics, features, stories, tasks, etc.) and workflow to ensure clarity and consistency. Develop and maintain a Standard Taxonomy to support reporting, traceability, and portfolio-level transparency. Establish a Standard Prioritisation Methodology to align prioritisation across teams, portfolios, and executives, supported by a Standard Interlock/Dependency Management Process to enable visibility and management of cross-team dependencies.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Enablement: Partner with senior stakeholders (Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance) to align JIRA processes with business needs. Translate business requirements into JIRA configurations and solutions that are practical, scalable, and easy to adopt.
• Analytics & Reporting: Define standard reporting and dashboards for leadership, Domain Leads, and delivery teams. Ensure consistent metrics, KPIs, and performance tracking are enabled through JIRA.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Our people are our greatest strength. Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organisation. We’re enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring. The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Professional Experience (Required): Deep expertise in Atlassian JIRA (admin and business configuration) including large-scale enterprise implementations. Proven experience in owning and governing enterprise-level JIRA platforms. Excellent knowledge of Agile delivery frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban, LeSS) and how to enable them in JIRA. Demonstrable experience in designing taxonomies, workflows, controls, and governance models. Excellent ability to translate business needs into technical configurations in JIRA. Skilled in dependency management and portfolio-level planning within JIRA (incl. Advanced Roadmaps/Portfolio for JIRA).
• Professional Experience (Preferred): JIRA Administrator Certification or equivalent. Agile certifications (e.g., SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), Scrum Master, or PMI-ACP). Experience in enterprise change management and tool adoption. Experience in financial services, regulatory environments, or other large-scale corporate contexts (preferred).

WE VALUE YOUR IMPACT

At Santander, your contribution matters. We recognise the difference you make every day, and we make sure you feel valued, supported and rewarded in return. Here, recognition goes beyond pay. It’s about the pride you feel in your work, the impact you have on customers and communities, and the opportunities you have to grow and thrive — personally and professionally.

• 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, which increases to 31 days after 5 years service, with the option to purchase up to 5 contractual days per year.
• £6,000 car allowance per year.
• Company funded individual private medical insurance.
• Protection for you and your family, with company-funded death-in-service benefit and income protection insurance, and the option to take advantage of discounted rates for additional life assurance and critical illness cover.
• Share in Santander’s success by saving or investing in our share plans.
• As a Santander UK employee, you are able to request staff versions of our products like our Edge Current Accounts and Credit Cards with no fees, as well as apply to many other deals and discounts in Santander products and services.
• Competitive rewards that reflect the real impact you make and the value you bring.
• Wellbeing that goes beyond work — we work with a range of wellbeing partners across our 4 pillars of wellbeing (physical, mental, social and financial) to give you access to a suite of apps, discounted gym and fitness access, weekly online classes, flexible healthcare and mental health support.
• Support for every life stage — from menopause and pregnancy to parenthood and beyond, with enhanced family leave, childcare options and tailored wellbeing support.
• Time to give back through volunteering opportunities that let you make a difference in the communities we serve.
• Global growth opportunities to shape your career, learn new skills and explore what’s possible across our international network.

LOCAL COMPLIANCE

At Santander, we’re proud to be an inclusive organisation that provides equal opportunities for everyone — regardless of age, gender, disability, civil status, race, religion or sexual orientation. We’re committed to creating a recruitment experience that’s accessible, fair and welcoming for all candidates. We want our people to thrive — at work and at home — while delivering the best outcomes for our customers and supporting each other to grow. To make this possible, our roles are site-based with a hybrid working pattern, where colleagues are expected to attend the office at least 12 days per month (pro-rata for part-time roles). When applying, please consider the travel distance, time and cost to your chosen office location(s).

Right to work in the UK: Every individual must have the right to work in the UK to commence employment with Santander either by way of nationality, visa or work permit. If you do require a working visa/permit this will not influence our decision on whether to progress your application. However, if you do not have a right to work, or an application for a working visa/permit is unsuccessful, Santander will not proceed with your application and will withdraw any conditional offer previously made.