Head of Strategic Planning

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Head of Strategic Planning

Contract: 24m FTC with chance of permanency

Working hours: 35 hours per week is full time. Where possible, we are open to considering part time/flexible working patterns. Please let us know in your application your desired working pattern.

Salary: from £95,325 (London) or regional hub £91,225 (Coventry/ Manchester/Edinburgh/Cardiff)

Reporting to: COO

O ur permanent hybrid policy sees us all working at least four days across a fortnight in the office. Candidates should note that if they are looking to work in a regional hub, there will be a need for travel to our London office on a regular basis.

As Head of Strategic Planning, you’ll be passionate about our strategic direction and what we need to achieve to be a world class Ombudsman service. Not only will you be helping to define and shape our strategic goals and driving their success through others, you’ll also be involved in our wider transformation portfolio.

There is lots to do, at pace and we are looking for a candidate that has strong credentials in engaging colleagues and a good understanding of different approaches to strategy implementation. You will be comfortable with ambiguity and work with agility so that we focus our time on the work that matters most, ensuring proportionate governance across the portfolio.

Having oversight of all key strategic change activities and being able to ensure they all work towards achieving our strategy means this role will be pivotal to our success and you’ll be responsible for ensuring our strategy is truly embedded in everything we do. You’ll be focused on tracking the impact of our strategy.

This varied role will see you present to and work alongside our Executive Team, as well as rolling your sleeves up to help engage colleagues in embracing change on the ground. So, you will need to be a self-starter with a solid track record of delivery.

Key responsibilities

• Design, implement and embed, a framework for translating our strategy both now and in the longer term into business plans and objectives so that it meets the needs of the organisation and supports the delivery of our strategic goals.

• Lead the day-to day management of the annual planning process across all business areas and facilitation of strategic activity prioritisation through effective planning across all business areas, including facilitation of related governance, ensuring all inputs and outputs are fit for purpose and that asks, options, recommendations are clear

• Working collaboratively with our senior managers and key stakeholders across the service to make sure teams are engaged with our strategy and it is translated into departmental plans, and team and individual objectives.

• Creating a clear articulation of delivery plans, reporting on key strategic KPIs associated with the outputs and ensuring that strategic activity is prioritised through effective planning and governance.

• Provide representation on behalf of COO at relevant governance forums

• Lead on COO group capability and capacity planning by working with HR on resource retention and future pipeline. Working with HR&OD team to ensure the strategy framework aligns with our performance management policies and tools.

To be considered for this role, you’ll need to show us that you’ve got the skills and capabilities. You’ll have to meet the following minimum criteria:

Minimum Criteria

• Significant delivery experience involving complex business workstreams across the whole customer lifecycle

• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing frameworks to support strategy delivery and facilitate the development of solutions and projects through which strategy can be delivered.

• Considerable experience of delivering business change including planning, stakeholder management, risk analysis, reporting and communications.

• Experience of working with all levels of stakeholders, including executive level

• Ability to problem solve ‘in the moment’ and also demonstrate a continuous improvement mindset and using own initiative to devise new and more effective ways of working.

• Ability to prioritise a large workload and adapt according to changing business needs.

Why Financial Ombudsman Service?

We are a values led organisation. Our values define our culture, influence our decisions, and underpin our vision and strategy. They set out how we play our PART through Purpose, Ambition, Respect and Trust. You can learn more about our values here:

We also offer an attractive, competitive salary and flexible benefits to suit our people. Here’s a list of some of the many benefits and perks you can get for working with us:

• 25 days holiday entitlement, with the option to buy extra or sell days

• Generous pension

• Various Family Friendly Policies, including enhanced maternity pay, carers and dependants leave

• Employer provided benefits such as Private medical insurance, virtual GP, Critical illness cover, Life assurance cover, to name a few

• Choice of voluntary benefits including Technology scheme, Cycle to work scheme, Will-writing service amongst others

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Extensive opportunities for personal and career development

• Nationwide gym membership discounts, and a fully equipped on-site gym open 24/7 in London

• Extensive Well-being resources including on-site therapists (London office only)

• Beautiful and bright London office looking over the Thames and near to mainline stations

• Our Coventry office is 2 minutes’ walk from the main station

• Our employee led networks (a couple of examples being our Women\’s Network, Carers network, and Neurodiverse Network) do fantastic work in educating and raising awareness across a range of experiences and support us in being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. You can get involved, too!

How do I apply?

• Please submit your updated CV.

Applications need to be submitted by 20th July 2025 with interviews to take place week commencing 28th July.

Due to high application numbers this advert may end earlier than the date specified, so please don\’t delay and apply now!

A full job profile is available on request and will be provided to candidates shortlisted to the first stage of the assessment process.

We’re proud to be an inclusive employer

We view diversity as fundamental to our success and welcome applications from underrepresented groups across all communities.

We’re committed to being a great place to work– attracting and developing people from the widest possible range of backgrounds. We want everyone to perform at their best and feel able to be themselves. We understand that if we’re diverse and inclusive, we’ll better understand different perspectives, which is fundamental to our job resolving financial complaints.

We welcome applications from Black and other ethnic minority candidates, and female candidates, for all positions and particularly so for senior leader positions as they are under-represented within the Financial Ombudsman Service at this level.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. This means that we will put disabled candidates entering under the scheme through to the next stage of the recruitment process should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. A minimum criterion needs to be measurable from reviewing a candidate’s CV/supporting statement. Exceptions may apply if due to the volume of applications we are not able to interview all eligible candidates who qualify under the scheme. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about any reasonable adjustments you need, please email and let us know your preferred method of contact.

Find out more

Check out below channels to find out more about everyday life at the Financial Ombudsman Service – and don’t forget to follow us while you’re there!

• LinkedIn: Financial Ombudsman Service
• Our careers page:

Good luck with your application!

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