Chief Operating Officer in London

The brand with the brolly is choosing today to change tomorrow. Since 1836, we’ve grown to become one of the world's largest asset managers, homebuilders, pension providers and insurance brands. We’re all here to improve the lives of our customers, build a better society for the long term, and create value for our shareholders - helping to shape a better future for society and the planet. We need people who share our ambitions, agility and entrepreneurial spirit to help us do it. At L&G, you’ll find a balance that helps you be your best. Empowered by hybrid working, we’re supported by technology and workplaces that enable us to work effectively wherever we are. We come together in offices to collaborate and connect, and use time at home for individual, focused activities. And, when we achieve great things, we celebrate our success and reward strong performance. Today, there’s over 10,000 of us, working towards our mission, with plenty of opportunities to grow your career as we grow L&G. Will you join us?

Job Description

• Relationships: Establish highly effective, aligned, and collaborative relationships with key stakeholders and business partners across all business divisions, geographies, and functional teams across the Group.
• Finance & Planning: Lead the delivery of value by Group Technology, ensuring affordability and efficiency. Manage cost management and budgeting of Group Technology across business divisions and ongoing cost optimisation activities. Manage the annual financial planning and budgeting process and work with cost centre owners to ensure delivery to the annual budget of c£90m run an c£40m change. Create and manage a multi-year financial plan, driving improvements to value and affordability. Lead the development of the Group Technology annual business plan, developing a plan and portfolio that supports the needs of business divisions and the Group. Provide transparency and insight of financial costs and their relationship to services and performance, ensuring that the Group cost recharge methodology is sound. Ensure that the appropriate Finance MI, process, and systems are in place to provide support to Group Technology so that customers are treated fairly in line with Legal & General’s Customer Experience and TCF policy.
• Performance: Oversee the delivery of objectives, across Group Technology, including KPIs, OKRs and SLAs and ensure a regime of performance management, continuous improvement, and delivery excellence. Oversee the Group Technology Portfolio of change and delivery to time, cost, and quality. Oversee the performance of PMO processes. Manage the risk and controls environment for group technology, ensuring a strong controls-based performance and culture, with effective management of risk. Support the Group CTO regulatory obligations and controls. Own the Group-wide IT controls framework and undertake line 1.5 assurance of the performance of the control environment and compliance regime, across all group entities.
• Transformation & People (Group Technology): Create and deliver the transformation roadmap needed to evolve Group Technology to meet new and emerging business needs. Own the Group Technology Operating Model and steer its transformation and implementation, modernising the model and underlying processes for changing needs. Own the Group Technology Service Catalogue and steer its transformation and implementation, modernising the model for changing customer needs. Working with Group HR, co-ordinate the development and execution of the Group Technology people plan – including talent development, engagement, inclusion, and diversity. To take the lead in all matters regarding the management of employees, ensuring that management discretion is used in a consistent manner and that the area follows the Group’s policies and procedures including the Partnership Agreement to maximize business performance.
• Organisational Leadership & Strategy (Group Wide): Facilitate the group wide Technology Leadership Team framework and work with all business divisions to develop and support a holistic overarching Technology strategy for the Group, working with IT Directors, Board Advisors and COOs/CEOs to ensure coherence of direction and exploitation of business needs and opportunities. Agree and co-ordinate the implementation of a set / portfolio of shared technology outcomes for the group. Lead Group Technology’s contribution to key strategic initiatives across the Group. Foster and accelerate innovation across Group and its partners, promoting methods such as Alphas, Hackathons, User research, building a pipeline of trials, research, and experiments. Review all investment cases for Technology and ensure appropriate alignment and business value realisation is in place.
• Strategic Supplier Management: Collaboratively working with the Group Chief Procurement Officer establish the Technology Sourcing Strategy. Ensure group technology compliance with Group Procurement and Outsourcing Policy. Own and manage the performance and relationship development of strategic technology and outsourced partners, increasing joint value. Establish and execute on joint plans with each strategic partner to increase value.

Qualifications

• No specific qualifications required, although ideally Information Technology, Commercial, Finance or Strategy-based qualifications would be beneficial.

Knowledge

• Experience of working in a regulated environment.
• Significant knowledge of leading IT management activities and an IT function in a large complex Group organisation, ideally with experience of optimising IT costs and increasing value.
• Knowledge of IT supplier management best practice, methods and approaches.
• Knowledge of strategic planning and portfolio management.
• Excellent awareness of people and organisational design.

Experience

• Significant experience of IT Management and managing an IT function, either as a Head of IT / IT Director / CIO or as a senior Commercial / Finance Leader in IT.
• Experience of leading within a large complex global organisation and working collaboratively with other peers.

Skills

• Demonstrable leadership ability; sound business judgement.
• Strategic thinking and planning.
• Financial skills, ideally with significant budget management experience.
• Supplier relationship management and shaping commercial arrangements at executive level.
• Strong communication and relationship building skills.
• Collaborative, inclusive, and engaging style.
• Ability to influence as well as exert authority.
• Ability to learn and quickly interpret/apply.
• Ability to deliver under pressure, manage complex situations and provide informed responses in short timeframes.

Additional Information

When you commit to Legal & General, we’ll commit to you too. That means we’ll recognise and reward your hard work, your performance and your contribution. If you join us, you’ll get access to some great benefits, including private medical insurance, 27 days holiday (excluding bank holidays), a generous pension scheme, life assurance, and Income Protection. You can participate in our electric car scheme, which offers employees the option to hire a brand new electric car through tax efficient salary sacrifice. We’re also proud to offer competitive family leave. You’ll have the opportunity to participate in our annual, performance-related bonus plan and valuable share schemes. And then there are the many discounts we offer that you can take advantage of – both for our own products and at a range of high street stores and online offerings.

Our commitment to equal opportunities: Great minds don’t have to think alike, so we welcome voices from all backgrounds. Bringing together people with different life experiences helps us build empathy with our customers and drive innovation. We don’t just talk about it, we actively promote diversity and equitable opportunities for all. That means our employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability or protected veteran status. In fact, we embrace every dimension of diversity to reflect the customers and communities we serve. We think it’s important to create an inclusive environment where we can all belong, contribute and drive progress, where you can develop and grow, and be empowered. We want you to use your voice to help us build a better tomorrow. We all work differently, and have different needs, which is why we’re always open to discussing flexible working arrangements. Likewise, we’re committed to finding reasonable accommodations for candidates with specific needs during our recruiting process. So whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever your story, we'd love to hear from you.

Job Location: London