Ashton Recruitment is recruiting on behalf of our client for an experienced Director of Insurance Operations - Life & Pensions to provide strategic and operational leadership across a large-scale regulated financial services operation.
Director of Insurance Operations - Life & Pensions
Location: Romford, Essex
Job Type: Full-time, Permanent
Reporting to the COO, the successful candidate will be accountable for the effective, compliant and customer-focused delivery of Life & Pensions operations across onshore and offshore locations.
This is a senior leadership position with responsibility spanning customer servicing, policy administration, claims, complaints, client relationships, operational governance, commercial performance, transformation and business growth.
Key Responsibilities
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Provide strategic leadership across end-to-end Life & Pensions operations
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Lead large operational teams across multiple locations
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Oversee customer servicing, policy administration, claims, annuities, maturities, transfers, bereavement services and complaints
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Ensure contractual SLAs, quality standards, productivity targets and customer experience objectives are achieved
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Monitor operational performance, capacity, workload distribution and service quality
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Drive continuous improvement and operational efficiency
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Lead annual and long-term transformation and improvement programmes
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Maintain strong operational governance and control frameworks
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Ensure regulatory requirements are embedded throughout operational processes
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Oversee operational incidents, breaches, customer detriment and regulatory reporting
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Maintain effective audit trails and evidence of operational controls
Regulatory & Customer Outcomes
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Ensure compliance with FCA, PRA, Consumer Duty, DISP, GDPR, Operational Resilience and SM&CR requirements
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Champion fair and positive customer outcomes across the operation
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Ensure appropriate support is provided to vulnerable customers
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Monitor service failures, customer harm indicators and operational risks
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Ensure customer communications are fair, clear and not misleading
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Provide executive oversight of complaint handling operations
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Monitor complaint volumes, root causes, uphold rates and remediation activity
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Ensure complaints are handled in line with FCA DISP requirements and Financial Ombudsman Service expectations
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Lead corrective actions arising from complaint trends and customer insight
Client & Commercial Leadership
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Build and maintain strategic relationships with key clients
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Act as the senior operational representative at client governance and business review meetings
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Identify opportunities to expand services and strengthen client relationships
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Support revenue growth through new solutions and service development
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Deliver against agreed client satisfaction, retention and growth objectives
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Take accountability for revenue, profitability and margin performance
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Develop operational forecasts and business plans
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Lead cost optimisation programmes while protecting service quality
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Support commercial negotiations and new business opportunities
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Monitor account profitability and implement corrective action where required
Operational Risk & Resilience
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Act as first-line owner for operational risks within the business area
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Ensure risks are identified, assessed, controlled and escalated appropriately
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Maintain effective controls covering customer protection, regulatory compliance and data security
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Lead responses to audits, risk reviews and regulatory assessments
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Ensure control weaknesses and risk actions are resolved promptly
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Maintain robust business continuity and operational resilience arrangements
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Lead responses to significant incidents, technology failures and supplier disruption
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Ensure lessons learned from operational incidents are implemented
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Maintain oversight of outsourced providers, suppliers and third-party operational partners
People Leadership
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Lead and develop large operational teams across multiple locations
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Create a high-performance culture focused on accountability, integrity and customer outcomes
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Drive succession planning and leadership development
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Oversee workforce and capacity planning
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Build employee engagement and organisational capability
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Ensure appropriate training and competency standards are maintained
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Develop and mentor senior operational leaders
Transformation & Change
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Sponsor and lead major operational transformation programmes
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Drive digital transformation, automation and process optimisation
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Ensure operational changes are appropriately governed and risk assessed
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Ensure transformation delivers measurable customer, commercial and operational benefits
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Lead remediation programmes arising from regulatory, audit or operational findings
Management Information & Executive Reporting
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Deliver comprehensive MI covering operational performance, complaints, customer outcomes, financial performance, risk and transformation
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Present performance updates to executive leadership, clients and governance forums
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Use data and insight to identify risks, trends and improvement opportunities
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Produce accurate weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual performance reporting
Essential Criteria
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Degree or equivalent professional qualification
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Minimum 15 years' experience within Insurance, Financial Services or another regulated operational environment
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Significant senior leadership experience within Life & Pensions operations
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Experience managing large-scale operational teams
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Strong understanding of FCA regulation and Consumer Duty
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Good knowledge of DISP, operational resilience, GDPR and operational risk
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Proven experience leading major transformation and operational improvement programmes
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Strong commercial and financial management experience
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Proven track record managing senior client relationships
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Experience delivering commercial growth and improving account profitability
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Strong governance, risk and stakeholder management experience
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Strong people leadership capability
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Experience presenting at executive and client governance level
Desirable
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Experience within a BPO, outsourced financial services or third-party administration environment
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Professional qualification in insurance, operations, risk management or business leadership
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Experience leading combined onshore and offshore operations
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Previous responsibility for approximately 300 direct and indirect employees
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Experience working across multiple Life & Pensions clients
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Experience supporting new business bids and commercial negotiations
The Ideal Candidate
You will be a senior operations leader with extensive experience within Life & Pensions, insurance operations or outsourced financial services.
You will be comfortable operating at executive level while retaining responsibility for operational performance, regulatory compliance, customer outcomes and commercial delivery.
The role would particularly suit candidates currently working as an Operations Director, Director of Operations, Head of Insurance Operations, Head of Life & Pensions Operations, Customer Operations Director or BPO Operations Director.
You will need a proven track record of leading large teams, managing senior client relationships, delivering transformation and maintaining strong operational performance within a highly regulated environment.
If you have significant senior leadership experience within UK Life & Pensions operations and are looking for a high-impact operational leadership opportunity, we would be keen to hear from you.
Ashton Recruitment is acting as a Recruitment Agency.
