Head Business Architecture L&H Operations (Hybrid; m/f/x/d; 80-100%) in Dymchurch

High‑impact leadership opportunity at the heart of Swiss Re's L&H Operations. The role sets the standard for how we execute across the full treaty life cycle – from onboarding to claims payments – driving operational excellence with pace and discipline.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the bar for operational rigor and accountability – create a sustainable, trusted, and resilient Operations function that is built to perform at the highest level.
• Drive process alignment, simplification, and continuous improvement – maintain a relentless focus on execution, measurable outcomes, and delivery against Operations KPIs.
• Identify, prioritise and execute operational excellence opportunities – remove friction, accelerate delivery, and make it easier for teams to do their best work.
• Define standard Operations processes – lead the design, testing, execution, and rollout of end‑to‑end process and system enhancements.
• Own the Operations governance and quality assurance framework – embed consistent risk appetite, strong controls, and a proactive risk culture across global Operations teams.
• Build frameworks and operational discipline – ensure portfolio data is trusted, usable, and actionable for analytics and decision‑making.
• Turn standardisation and automation opportunities into delivered improvements – enable scalable growth and stronger business performance.
• Build and energise a global community of Operations experts – establish clear roles, responsibilities, deliverables, and shared standards of excellence.
• Create compelling expert career paths – attract, develop, and retain outstanding Operations talent across the globe.
• Lead and deliver strategic projects and initiatives – drive clear ownership, strong stakeholder engagement, and close collaboration with regional teams, Market Units, COO, CUO, and other key partners.

About the Team

You will lead a global team of 20+ talented colleagues across key Swiss Re locations, working at the very heart of L&H Operations. The team operates in close partnership with Market Units, Operational Excellence, Risk Management, COO, CUO, and wider Operations teams worldwide.

About You

Inspirational, hands‑on leader who combines strategic thinking with a bias for action. You bring the courage to challenge constructively, the judgement to make pragmatic trade‑offs, and the resilience to push important work through to completion. You communicate with impact, build credibility through delivery, and motivate diverse global teams to move with purpose, confidence, and urgency.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading large, diverse global teams with clarity, energy, and accountability.
• Strong project and change management expertise – translating strategy into clear plans, decisive action, and delivering results that land with impact.
• Demonstrated success in operational excellence and process improvement – simplifying complexity, raising operational standards, and delivering tangible, measurable improvements at pace.
• Deep experience in governance and quality assurance frameworks, including risk management, controls design, and embedding a proactive risk culture across large, distributed teams.
• Excellent communication and senior stakeholder influencing skills – building followership through transparency, credibility, and delivery across complex, matrixed organisations.
• College degree or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant discipline.
• Multilingual capabilities – excellent spoken and written English is essential; additional languages are a plus.
• Track record of building expert communities and creating career development frameworks that attract and retain top talent.

Nice to Haves

• Experience in Life & Health reinsurance or insurance operations, with familiarity of the treaty life cycle from onboarding through to claims.
• Exposure to data strategy, portfolio data management, or analytics enablement within an operations context.
• Experience designing and executing automation or digitalisation initiatives within an operations environment.
• Familiarity with COO/CUO operating models and working across Market Units in a global reinsurance or financial services setting.

Compensation & Benefits

In the situation where you do not meet all the requirements or you significantly exceed these, the offered salary may be below or above the advertised range. In addition to your base salary you may be eligible for additional rewards and benefits, including an attractive performance‑based annual bonus. Base salary range: GBP 108,000 – GBP 162,000 for a full‑time role. The specific salary offered considers the requirements, scope, complexity and responsibilities of the role, the applicant's profile including education, qualifications, expertise, specialisation, skills and experience.

Work Model

Our company has a hybrid work model where the expectation is that you will be in the office at least three days per week.

EEO Statement

We embrace a workplace where everyone has equal opportunities to thrive and develop professionally regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, skillset, thought or other characteristics.