At a Glance
- Tasks: Map, plan, and test resilience strategies for critical business services.
- Company: Join Standard Life, a leader in retirement savings with over 200 years of experience.
- Benefits: Up to £65,000 salary, generous leave, private medical cover, and flexible working options.
- Other info: Inclusive workplace that values diverse backgrounds and offers excellent career growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by strengthening service resilience and solving complex problems.
- Qualifications: Experience in operational resilience and strong analytical skills required.
The predicted salary is between 58500 - 71500 £ per year.
If you’re someone who enjoys solving complex problems and cares about building things that last, Standard Life could be the place for you. We’re looking for an Operational Resilience Manager – Map, Plan & Test to join our Operational Resilience Crisis & Response team.
Job Type: Fixed Term Contract 12 months
Location: Edinburgh, Birmingham, and London. Hybrid working
Flexible working: All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process.
Closing Date: 10/11/26
Salary and benefits: Up to £65,000 (dependant upon skills/experience) plus an indicative bonus range of 16-32%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.
Who are we?
We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.
The role
This is a hands-on opportunity to strengthen the resilience of Standard Life’s Important and Critical Business Services. You’ll build a deep understanding of how our services and their dependencies work, help shape how we prepare for disruption, and design challenging scenarios, stress tests and simulations that put their resilience to the test.
You’ll get a unique view across the organisation, working across business, technology and third parties to understand complex services, identify vulnerabilities, challenge assumptions and drive improvements in service resilience.
You’ll get underneath our services and their dependencies, translate mapping into practical resilience plans, and design testing that explores vulnerabilities and provides evidence of how services perform under disruption.
This isn’t about testing to get a pass. You’ll design testing that challenges assumptions, explores breaking points and uncovers vulnerabilities before a real disruption does.
Key responsibilities
- Map our Important and Critical Business Services end to end, understanding how they operate, what they depend on and where vulnerabilities, concentrations or potential points of failure exist.
- Translate mapping into practical resilience plans, working with service owners to strengthen recovery strategies, contingencies and workarounds.
- Design and deliver deep resilience testing, using challenging scenarios, stress testing, exercises and simulations to explore how services and their dependencies perform under disruption.
- Push beyond the obvious, testing individual and combined dependency failures, challenging assumptions and assessing outcomes against impact tolerances and recovery objectives.
- Turn insight into action, using evidence from testing to identify vulnerabilities, drive improvements and strengthen future mapping, planning and testing.
What are we looking for?
- We’re looking for a tester and problem-solver: someone who is curious about how things work and how they fail, enjoys challenging assumptions and can design testing that explores vulnerabilities and provides real insight into service resilience.
- Operational Resilience experience, with a strong understanding of Important and Critical Business Services, impact tolerances and the role of mapping, planning and testing in building service resilience.
- Strong testing capability, with experience designing, executing and assessing complex scenarios, stress tests, simulations or exercises, including severe but plausible scenarios.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to understand complex end-to-end services, dependencies and failure modes, interpret evidence and identify vulnerabilities or weaknesses.
- Experience of service and dependency testing, ideally spanning technology, third parties and other critical dependencies, and the ability to turn findings into clear remediation and resilience improvements.
- Strong stakeholder, facilitation and delivery skills, with the confidence to challenge business and technical SMEs and manage testing from design through to assessment and reporting.
We want to hire the whole version of you. We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.
If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.
Operational Resilience Manager employer: Standard Life
Standard Life is an exceptional employer located in the vibrant City of Westminster, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. Employees benefit from comprehensive growth opportunities, including hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies like Azure, while enjoying a supportive environment that prioritises work-life balance and professional development. Join us to be part of a forward-thinking team dedicated to delivering impactful solutions in the digital landscape.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Operational Resilience Manager
✨Tap into Consulting Networks
Get active in local management consulting networks and organisations. Attend meetups, workshops, or webinars specific to consulting where you can connect with professionals who may know of temporary roles opening up at places like Standard Life. Don’t underestimate word-of-mouth – it’s massive in our field!
✨Show Off Your Skills in Real-Time
As a temporary hire, you need to demonstrate your value quickly. Consider creating a mini-case study or analysis relevant to the industry and share it on platforms like LinkedIn or even during networking events. This can be an impressive way to showcase your analytical skills and problem-solving prowess – just what consulting firms are looking for!
✨Check for Temporary Roles on Niche Job Boards
Look for temporary roles on specialised job boards for consulting gigs rather than just generic platforms. Websites like Consultancy.uk or even the Careers pages of major firms could have short-term projects or roles that are perfect for you to jump in at Standard Life.
✨Leverage University and Alumni Resources
If you’re fresh out of uni or connected with a local institution, take advantage of their career services and alumni networks. Many universities have exclusive connections to consulting firms seeking temporary help. Plus, it’s a great way to meet other aspiring consultants who might share leads about opportunities at Standard Life.
We think you need these skills to ace Operational Resilience Manager
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Analytical Skills:In management consulting, employers love to see your problem-solving abilities right from the get-go. Be sure to highlight any relevant analytical projects you've worked on, particularly those that show how you tackled complex problems. If you’ve done any case studies or analysis during your studies, throw those in your CV!
Tailor Your Experience for the Role:Since this is a temporary position, your application should reflect your adaptability and relevant experience quite clearly. Focus on showcasing experiences that demonstrate your ability to hit the ground running, like previous projects, internships, or freelance gigs in consulting or project management.
Craft a Targeted Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to sparkle! Use it to explain why you're interested in this temporary role at Standard Life and how your skills suit the specific project needs. Remember to mention how you can provide immediate value based on your past experiences.
Include Certifications or Relevant Training:If you've got any certifications like PMP, Six Sigma, or even coursework that’s super relevant, make sure to list those in your application. Management consulting can be competitive, and these extra qualifications can help you stand out in the recruitment process.
How to prepare for a job interview at Standard Life
✨Prepare for Case Studies
In management consulting, case study interviews are a big deal. Expect to tackle real-world business problems on the spot. We should practise structuring our thoughts, developing hypotheses, and presenting our solutions clearly, as this is what firms like Standard Life will want to see.
✨Show Off Your Problem-Solving Skills
You’ll need to demonstrate strong analytical skills and logical reasoning. Brush up on frameworks like SWOT or Porter's Five Forces, as these can come in handy. Think of instances from your experience where you tackled a complex issue—this could set you apart when speaking to Standard Life.
✨Highlight Your Adaptability
Since this is a temporary role, it's crucial we showcase our ability to hit the ground running. Have examples ready that illustrate how we've adapted quickly in past positions or projects. This shows that we can contribute effectively from day one at Standard Life.
✨Be Ready to Discuss Cultural Fit
Temporary roles often come with a focus on team dynamics. Prepare to discuss how we align with the values and culture at Standard Life. We want to highlight our teamwork experiences and how we can mesh with their consulting teams, making it clear that we're not just looking to fill a spot but to add value.
