Head of Workforce Planning & Analytics in London

At Close Brothers we look to recruit individuals from all different backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if you don’t tick every box. We celebrate diversity, promote inclusivity and are open to discuss flexible work options to help you balance your work and home life. Join the Close Brothers Motor & Premium Finance Team where you take ownership of the strategy, development and long-term success of the Resource Planning and M. I. team across Retail Operations.

As a key role in the business, it is essential the role holder is a dynamic self-starter and a highly credible leader and communicator both at executive level and across the wider leadership team. There are two key elements to the role:

• The role is to deliver forecasting, scheduling and manage resource levels while maximising performance to meet our customer expectations. This will involve building effective working relationships with functions across the business, for example: Finance, Sales, any change originators, H.R. and operational teams.
• To provide both the operation and wider business with truly effective reporting and insightful analysis accurately and effectively. This insight will facilitate timely, clear and insightful reporting on operational performance and enable effective, data driven decisioning in both the operation and wider business.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Leadership of the demand planning function. Build and develop on the existing teams, identify gaps and plan to create a fit for purpose function.
• Design and implementation of accurate forecasting models identifying key demand drivers into operational teams.
• Medium- and long-term strategic headcount planning identifying headcount requirements by skill set, future service challenges and levers to protect service.
• Rolling 12 month forecast with a ‘Lock’ aligned to the recruitment timeline.
• Provision of transparent input into Finance for budgeting process for Operational teams.
• Create clarity around inputs, assumptions and variables within the plans.
• Effective impact assessment and modelling of change/projects. Shape delivery and track benefit realisation.
• Effective scheduling of resource across operational teams to provide the right people to meet our customer demand by interval.
• Eye in the sky centralised Real Time Management to balance performance across our operational estate (where Real Time is relevant to the specific team).
• Own and develop the relationship with our key outsource partners from a W.F.M. perspective.
• Definition and ownership of balanced scorecard KPIs across operational performance, providing BAU reporting on performance and the ‘Key Levers’ driving it.
• Key areas of focus: KPI performance, productivity and commercial.
• Provision of BAU reporting and dashboarding with RAG rating enabling rapid and effective operational decision making and identification of issues.
• Coach, mentor, and develop operational management teams to ensure they have the capability to execute against resource plans and opportunities.
• Provide oversight and direction to our management teams to set policies, procedures, standards and the behaviours required to meet SLAs.
• Working with the Operations Manager and HR Business Partner, support the development of a culture of performance management and improvement as a foundation for excellent organisational performance.

Developing Our People: as a line manager, you will be responsible for inspiring and motivating your team, as well as developing performance through coaching. You will encourage your team to take responsibility for their own personal development and provide support through regular feedback.

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU IF YOU HAVE/ARE:

• Leadership experience in an analytical demand and supply role.
• Demonstrable analytical skills within a complex multichannel operational environment.
• Proven communication & influencing skills from Senior level leaders through to operational managers.
• Record of building an effective network of contacts at different levels in an organisation.
• Excellent planning & organisational skills with experience of planning & prioritising multiple key objectives.
• Experience of leading teams through transformational change.
• Experience of contributing to complex cross functional or divisional projects.
• Able to collect, analyse large quantities of data, provide meaningful information that will answer questions and solve problems.
• Track record of using data to demonstrate performance and drive business decision making.
• Exposure to flexible planning resourcing models and differing planning methodologies.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We recognise that candidates may have specific needs that require adjustments to ensure they have a fair and equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities. Candidates who require the job description or application form in an alternative format, or any other adjustments, are encouraged to email us or request a call back.

ABOUT US

At Close Brothers we support employees to balance their work life priorities and in this role you will be able to enjoy a mixture of hybrid working. Close Brothers is a leading UK merchant banking group providing lending, deposit taking and securities trading. We employ approximately 3,000 people, principally in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Close Brothers Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250.