Standard Excellence Manager in London

Key Responsibilities

• Standards
  • Own the end-to-end enterprise standards framework, including definition, governance, risk classification, lifecycle control, and continuous improvement of operational and quality standards.
  • Translate regulatory, corporate, and business strategy requirements into clear, practical, and actionable standards that enable consistent execution across all EU manufacturing sites and operations.
  • Establish and maintain robust governance mechanisms to control the development, approval, deployment, and change of standards, ensuring clear accountability.
  • Ensure standards are inspection-ready by design, risk-based in structure, and fully integrated into SOPs, training programmes, and site processes rather than existing as standalone documentation.
  • Act as the single point of accountability for interpretation of enterprise standards, providing authoritative guidance to sites and operating units to prevent ambiguity, local deviation, and unintended variability.
• Quality Excellence & Continuous Improvement
  • Lead enterprise quality excellence initiatives focused on loss elimination, defect prevention, variability reduction, and right-first-time performance, aligned to QSCP and business objectives.
  • Embed standard work, root-cause problem solving, and continuous improvement disciplines as everyday behaviours, not one-off initiatives.
  • Proactively identify systemic quality risks and recurring failure modes through structured analysis of deviations, CAPAs, complaints, audit findings, and performance data.
  • Drive cross-site learning by identifying repeat issues and translating lessons learned into standard updates, governance improvements, or targeted interventions.
  • Actively support progression of site quality maturity, balancing compliance, efficiency, and operational effectiveness.
• Capability & Change Management
  • Build sustainable organisational capability by defining clear deployment models for standards, supported by training, coaching, and effectiveness checks.
  • Operate as a trusted subject-matter expert across sites, regions, and global functions, providing hands-on support for implementation challenges and complex interpretation topics.
  • Lead and support enterprise-level change activity, ensuring new or updated standards are adopted consistently and effectively, with appropriate stakeholder engagement and readiness.
  • Ensure change is measured and sustained through clear success criteria, post-implementation review, and feedback loops into governance processes.
• Performance, Metrics & Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
  • Define and own enterprise-level KPIs for standardisation, quality maturity, and governance effectiveness, ensuring alignment between site performance and enterprise expectations.
  • Use performance data to challenge inconsistencies, identify losses, and prioritise improvement actions across sites.
  • Drive tangible reductions in Cost of Poor Quality by linking standards compliance to loss elimination, defect reduction, and prevention of repeat failures.
  • Provide clear, insight-driven reporting to Management Review and Quality Council forums, enabling senior leaders to make informed decisions on risk, prioritisation, and investment.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Partner closely with Operations, Quality, EHS, Supply Chain, and other functions to ensure standards are operationally practical, risk-appropriate, and value-adding.
  • Actively support audit readiness and regulatory inspections by ensuring standards are not only compliant on paper but demonstrably effective in practice.
  • Use audit outcomes, inspection observations, and external benchmarks to continuously strengthen enterprise standards and governance maturity.
• Education & Skills
  • Bachelor’s degree in a scientific, quality, or related technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience in related environments.
  • 5–8 years’ progressive experience in quality systems, operational excellence, and enterprise standards governance within regulated or complex manufacturing and operational environments.
  • Proven experience defining, governing, and deploying enterprise standards and standard work across multi-site organisations, ensuring consistency while accommodating risk-based differentiation where appropriate.
  • Experience translating regulatory, corporate, and business strategy requirements into practical, usable standards that enable compliant, efficient, and sustainable site execution.
  • Strong track record in continuous improvement, variability reduction, and loss elimination, including practical application of structured problem-solving methodologies across operational settings.
  • Demonstrated ability to balance compliance, operational effectiveness, and business performance, avoiding unnecessary complexity, over-documentation, or “tick-box” compliance.
  • Experience identifying and addressing systemic quality and operational risks through the structured analysis of deviations, CAPAs, audit findings, complaints, and performance data.
  • Proven experience working in matrixed, cross-functional environments, partnering with Operations, Quality, EHS, Supply Chain, and other functions to embed standards effectively.
  • Strong stakeholder management and facilitation experience, with the ability to influence outcomes, align behaviours, and drive change without direct line authority, including engagement with senior leaders and governance forums.

Equal Opportunities

Haleon are committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands every day. It guides us in creating an inclusive culture, where different backgrounds and views are valued and respected – all in support of understanding and best serving the needs of our consumers and unleashing the full potential of our people. It’s important to us that Haleon is a place where all our employees feel they truly belong.

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