IT Change Manager in London

Who are we?

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart.

We are united by a shared passion and no‑limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team of 24,000 employees across more than 56 countries.

Our culture attracts people who value work/life balance, career progression, sustainability and volunteering.

Role Overview

The Change Manager is responsible for governing, controlling and continuously improving the end‑to‑end IT Change Management process within a regulated, global insurance environment.

The role ensures that all technology changes across Infrastructure & Operations are assessed, authorised, prioritised and implemented in a controlled manner to minimise risk, disruption and client impact.

Operating within a global, outsourced delivery model, the Change Manager provides oversight of both internal teams and third‑party vendors, ensuring adherence to change standards, regulatory expectations and best practice frameworks.

Key Responsibilities

• Change Management Governance
• Own and operate the IT Change Management framework, policies and procedures.
• Ensure consistent application of standard, normal and emergency change processes.
• Chair the Change Advisory Boards (CAB) and Emergency CABs (ECAB) as required.
• Ensure changes are properly assessed for risk, impact, dependencies and regulatory implications before approval.
• Change Control & Risk Management
• Ensure changes do not introduce unacceptable risk to production services, operational resilience or regulatory compliance.
• Challenge poor‑quality change submissions and drive improvements in impact assessment, testing and rollback planning.
• Monitor emergency and failed changes, ensuring root cause analysis and corrective actions are completed.
• Maintain strong controls over high‑risk, business‑critical and customer‑impacting changes.
• Third‑Party & Internal Change Oversight
• Govern change activity delivered by outsourced or Group infrastructure and application service providers.
• Ensure technical resources comply with internal change processes, lead times and documentation standards.
• Monitor vendor change quality, success rates and compliance with contractual obligations.
• Work with regional entity change resources to ensure a consistent approach and resolve conflicts.
• Operational Resilience & Compliance
• Ensure Change Management supports operational resilience principles and aligns with regulatory expectations.
• Provide evidence, reporting and support for internal audits, regulatory reviews and assurance activities.
• Identify and mitigate change‑related risks and control gaps.
• Configuration & Release Alignment
• Work closely with Configuration Management to ensure changes are accurately reflected in configuration records and CMDB.
• Coordinate with Release Management to ensure changes are deployed in structured, controlled release cycles where appropriate.
• Maintain visibility of the forward change schedule and manage change conflicts.
• Reporting & Continuous Improvement
• Produce regular change performance reporting, including success rates, failed changes, emergency changes and trends.
• Analyse change data to drive continual improvement in process maturity, quality and efficiency.
• Implement improvements to reduce service disruption and improve predictability of change.
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Act as the central point of coordination for change across Infrastructure & Operations.
• Build strong relationships with Service Managers, Architecture, Security, Risk, Compliance and delivery teams.
• Provide clear communication on change status, governance decisions and emerging risks.
• Projects

Howden is evolving quickly and is in the midst of several large projects. The Change Manager will need to support projects as Sponsor, Owner, SME or adviser as required.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in an IT Change Management role within a complex, regulated organisation.
• Strong understanding of ITIL Change Enablement / Change Management processes.
• Experience operating formal CAB and ECAB governance forums.
• Demonstrable experience managing change in outsourced and multi‑vendor environments.
• Strong risk assessment, decision‑making and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience supporting audits and regulatory reviews related to technology change.

Desirable

• Experience within insurance or broader financial services.
• ITIL v4 certification (or equivalent).
• Familiarity with operational resilience, outsourcing regulations and technology risk frameworks.
• Experience working across global, distributed teams and multiple time zones.
• Experience working with Service Now ITSM platform.
• Demonstrate technical knowledge across a wide range of IT disciplines.

What do we offer in return?

• A career that you define, with the flexibility to shape your own path.
• We value diversity and encourage people who share our values of bravery, collaboration and positive impact.
• Reasonable adjustments: We provide accommodations such as software, IT, office setups, flexible hours and hybrid working where possible.

Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations; discuss specifics with your Recruitment Partner.

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