Head of Technology Strategy and Operating Model in Welwyn Garden City

As Head of Technology Strategy & Operating Model, I drive the definition, socialisation & implementation of an overarching technology strategy, and the associated core end-to-end technology operating model. My team and I work across a broad set of senior stakeholders within Technology and the broader business to ensure a strategic balance between centralised governance and decentralised strategy development and execution. Beyond shaping compelling content for diverse audiences, I focus on driving measurable improvements in Technology's overall effectiveness, ensuring our strategy and operating model deliver tangible business value.

Technology Strategy: Lead the development of the Technology Strategy framework, collaborating with the extended leadership team to ensure a federated approach, with strategic topics owned by the most relevant teams. Partner with Business Strategy & Planning to align and evolve the Technology Strategy alongside the business strategy, ensuring both iterate cohesively. Drive the ongoing creation and maintenance of strategic content, ensuring alignment with the agreed framework and balancing centrally versus locally-owned strategy. Foster relationships across teams to embed strategic guidance into processes, decisions, and communications, ensuring the strategy's relevance is understood.

Operating Model: Define and maintain a high-level framework for how Technology describes and understands its end-to-end ways of working, ensuring alignment with our Technology Strategy. Emphasise aspects expected to be consistent across Technology teams, including mandatory elements and established 'best practices.' Lead the continuous development and refinement of the operating model to meet evolving organisational needs, fostering adaptability and scalability as the business grows and transforms. Manage materials, education, and governance using a federated approach, balancing centrally defined elements, contributions from other teams, and local flexibility, ensuring the model remains relevant and impactful. Lead overarching operating model related initiatives, including those related to improving colleague & stakeholder understanding, as well as significant change activity.

Leadership: Lead the two cross-cutting practices of Technology Strategy and OpModel, ensuring their operations and development drive maximum transformational impact. Align practices with adjacent functions, both within Directorate (e.g. Enterprise Architecture, Change & Comms) and beyond (e.g. Portfolio, Service Management, etc.) Continuously track and review value delivered by the practices, and ensure priorities, investments & activities are optimised based on business needs & expected benefits.

Operational skills relevant for this job:

• Strong relationship-building skills, with the ability to collaborate and influence effectively across functions and locations.
• Exceptional communication skills, capable of simplifying complex concepts for diverse audiences.
• Adaptability and agility to switch seamlessly between contexts, reflecting the breadth of Technology's strategy and operating model.
• Proficiency in adopting a coaching and consultative approach to support teams and stakeholders.
• Critical thinking skills to challenge ideas constructively and appropriately.
• Strategic vision and the ability to maintain a big-picture perspective while understanding organisational priorities.
• Value-driven leadership with a focus on delivering impactful outcomes through scalable partnership and practice models.
• Deep interest and expertise in current and emerging Technology strategies, operating models, and related frameworks.

Experience relevant for this job:

• Extensive experience in owning, driving, and delivering Technology Strategy through its full lifecycle, including the development and leadership of strategic plans over 3-5-year timescales.
• Experience in defining Technology operating models and successfully delivering operating model transformation, working across a broad range of colleagues, across many countries and cultures.
• Proven expertise in leveraging quantitative and qualitative data to design, implement, and evaluate the impact of complex strategies and operating models at an organisational level.
• Demonstrated success in delivering a diverse and complex agenda, with a proven ability to manage a broad remit with resilience and adaptability.
• Extensive experience in leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
• Experience of Group delivery would be an advantage (i.e. multiple markets, business units).

We champion a balance that lets you thrive both in and out of work. Spend 60% of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely. We always welcome a conversation about flexible working, so talk to us throughout your application about how we can support. We're proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Leader, where everyone's welcome. That’s why we commit to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you need support with your application, click here for more information. And if you're interested in joining our team but don't tick every box, don't let that hold you back from applying.