Transformation Manager - Retail Operations in Leicester

Location: Leicester or Bexhill (both hybrid) with an excellent degree of flexibility.

Welcome to Hastings Direct. We’re a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become The Best and Biggest in the UK market. We’ve made huge investments in our data and tech capabilities over the past few years, along with nurturing our 4Cs culture. We’re proud of the journey we’re on as a company and know that our continued success will rely on the contribution of our talented colleagues.

We provide insurance for over four million customers, but we know there’s even bigger opportunity out there. The fact you’re now reading this job advert means we’ve tempted you to find out more about #lifeatHD – we really hope you like what you see, and you’ll join us to share in the success of the exciting chapter that lies ahead.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they feel they tick every box. If you’re excited about joining us and think you have some of what we’re looking for, even if you’re not 100% sure we would love to hear from you.

Role overview:

As our Transformation Manager, you’ll lead and deliver strategic change across Retail Operations and cross-functional programmes of work; driving opportunities across growth, customer experience, operational efficiency, commercial performance, regulatory compliance and colleague engagement. By working closely with wider teams and stakeholders, you’ll identify opportunities, design solutions and embed sustainable improvements and changes that support the wider retail strategy. You’ll be converting strategic big bets into clear, actionable transformation plans and coordinating end-to-end delivery of change initiatives, as well as supporting the development of our Transformation Analysts and Business Readiness Executives, ensuring consistent delivery capability across the team.

Job details – you’ll need to have demonstrable experience in:

• Shaping and Prioritising Transformation Strategy – partnering with senior stakeholders across Operations and key business functions to identify, assess and prioritise strategic transformation opportunities, translating business objectives, customer insights, operational performance, regulatory requirements and market trends into a sequenced portfolio of change, with clear roadmaps and measurable outcomes.
• Leading End to End Transformation Delivery – owning the delivery of transformation initiatives from discovery and business case development through to implementation and benefits realisation, managing scope, plans, budgets, risk, dependencies and quality standards to ensure successful customer, colleague and commercial outcomes.
• Driving Continuous Improvement and Insight Led Change – using data, operational KPI’s, customer feedback and colleague insight to identify improvement opportunities, applying structured transformation, change and process improvement methodologies to redesign processes, validate solutions and deliver sustainable operational efficiencies.
• Ensuring Business Readiness and Adoption – leading operational readiness activities to support successful implementation, ensuring people, processes, systems, controls, training, communications and performance measures are in place, with changes effectively embedded into BAU and benefits are tracked through post-implementation reviews.
• Building Stakeholder Engagement and Change Capability – developing strong cross-functional relationships across Operations, Technology, Compliance and enabling functions, influencing decision making, managing change impacts, communicating progress and risks and supporting the development of transformation capability across the team.
• Maintaining Robust Governance, Risk and Regulatory Compliance – ensuring all initiatives comply with governance frameworks, regulatory obligations and internal controls, maintaining effective reporting, documentation, benefit tracking and risk management while safeguarding delivery quality and operational integrity.

Essential skills/experience:

• Proven transformation and change leadership – experience in delivering complex, multi-channel transformation, change and continuous improvement programmes (ideally within a regulated environment), with a proven track record of leading end to end change.
• Strategic planning and portfolio management – demonstrable experience in translating complex strategic objectives into actionable transformation plans, shaping portfolios of work through prioritisation and sequencing, and aligning initiatives to commercial, customer and cost/control outcomes.
• Commercial and business case expertise – strong commercial acumen with the ability to independently develop and present compelling business cases, benefits realisation plans and ROI models, ensuring investment decisions are supported by robust analysis and clear value propositions.
• Delivery, process improvement and risk management – proven capability in programme delivery, operating model design, process mapping, requirements definition and continuous improvement methodologies, alongside structured risk management, RAID governance and benefits realisation controls.
• Stakeholder management, influence and communication – exceptional stakeholder engagement, facilitation, negotiation and communication skills, with experience of managing stakeholders and SME’s across multiple functions, simplifying complex concepts and influencing decision making at all levels.
• Analytical thinking and independent working – strong analytical, problem-solving and organisational skills, including root cause analysis, ambiguity management and confident decision making, able to work independently with strategic direction, manage multiple priorities and deliver high quality results.

The interview process:

• Recruiter intro/screening call
• 1st stage interview with hiring leader (Teams)
• 2nd interview with hiring leaders leader (Teams)

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are fully inclusive – what this means to you is if you’re applying for a job with us, you’ll have fair access to support and adjustments throughout your recruitment journey. We also welcome applications through the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS).

For more information on the DCS, please visit our inclusive business page on our careers website.

Regrettably we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Benefits: in addition to a competitive salary and £5k car allowance you will also receive…

• Flexible working – we champion a flexible hybrid working approach – please speak to your recruiter to discuss in more detail.
• Competitive bonus scheme - all colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus.
• Physical wellbeing – as a Band 4 colleague, Hastings pay for you to receive private medical Insurance (also known as PMI). This gives you flexibility and convenience to see a specialist or consultant and allows you to decide when and where you will be seen.
• Financial wellbeing – as well as providing you with 4x your salary with our life assurance cover, income protection at no extra cost, and matched pension contributions up to 10%, we are proud to provide you with an award winning package which includes – discounts, cashback, free independent mortgage advice and free access to financial wellbeing support.
• Mental wellbeing programme – we have the thrive mental health app, our colleague assistance programme available 24/7, our own in-house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to make sure we are covering your needs.
• There's more! – 27 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your weeks, access to our health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, Cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more...

Join us and you’ll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company and community. As one of our colleagues, you’ll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we’ll give you all the support, training and development you need. Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we’ll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. Please also note that we have a thorough referencing process, which includes credit and criminal record checks.

At Hastings Direct, we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, we encourage you to be open with us. Our recruitment team is here to provide the support you need to ensure a fair and accessible experience for all.