Pensions Operations Manager

Salary: Circa £90,000 depending on skills, knowledge and experience. Hybrid working within this role enables a balance of 50% of time split between the office and home over a 4‑week period. Hybrid working arrangements can evolve subject to business requirements.

Job Overview

Responsible for leading the service delivery team in the delivery of day‑to‑day operations of the TfL Pension Fund in line with SLAs agreed with the Trustees. Responsible for ensuring that the service delivered is cost effective, current in terms of industry practice, compliant with legislation, while at the same time ensuring that the service offered is effective and efficient with high levels of accuracy and good member outcomes. Responsible for the development of quality assurance standards to ensure procedures are adhered to through monitoring and reporting. Responsible for the development of long‑term service delivery plan, to ensure that the service delivered is achievable and cost effective, considering industry practice and service resilience.

Key Accountabilities

• Senior technical expert and point of regular contact for key stakeholders; providing advice on complex matters relating to the provision of pensions and related benefits as directed by the Head of Pensions.
• Leads on driving necessary changes to operating model, whilst interpreting policy, regulation and legal changes and how they should be implemented across the service.
• Lead on overseeing complaints and disputes are handled appropriately and in accordance with agreed SLAs and legal requirements.
• Ensure all pension benefits are calculated and delivered in accordance with the Fund Rules and legislation.
• Develop and implement a compliance framework with a focus on internal controls and assurance reporting.
• Drive continuous improvement of policy and processes to ensure high levels of accuracy and good member outcomes.
• Lead and support the performance and development of the team; including providing complex pensions guidance and support, setting performance to ensure all administrative tasks are delivered accurately and on time and ensuring rolling development training programmes are in place.
• Build network with the system provider to develop greater functionality and drive any system changes, or upgrades needed across the service.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Skills

• Applying pensions policies and procedures [ESSENTIAL]
• Analysing and interpreting complex data [ESSENTIAL]
• Pensions risk management [DESIRABLE]
• Excel [DESIRABLE]

Knowledge

• External developments and best practice in pensions [ESSENTIAL]
• The legal and tax law regarding pensions [ESSENTIAL]
• Excellent knowledge of UK defined benefit pension schemes [ESSENTIAL]

Experience

• Proven experience of managing and developing experienced service delivery team [ESSENTIAL]
• Significant experience of pensions systems and best practice [DESIRABLE]
• Experience of working with pensions administration systems [ESSENTIAL]

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation. Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantees an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria. We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.

Benefits

• Final salary pension scheme
• Free travel for you on the TfL network
• Reimbursement of 75% of the cost of a standard class Ticket for National Rail travel from home or 75% reimbursement on a 28‑day flexi ticket
• 30 days annual leave plus public and bank holidays
• Hybrid working approach where business and role requirements allow
• Private healthcare discounted scheme (optional)
• Tax‑efficient cycle‑to‑work programme
• Retail, health, leisure and travel offers
• Discounted Eurostar travel