Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.
People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.
Role Summary
This senior lead delivery role forms part of a distributed, global IT team that is responsible for the continued availability and support of an international on-premise and cloud infrastructure.
Accountable for programme delivery and resource management.
On-boarding of new technology aligning with organisational and technology strategies.
Although London based, the role will be expected to work in a fast-pace environment as a globally expanding business, with regular interaction across international time zones, spanning 50 countries with over 16,000 employees.
Managing delivery of Infrastructure capital investment portfolio ensuring successful delivery to both time and budget.
As a senior role, it is expected that more complex, commercially significant and therefore more extensive projects will be managed within this role.
Job Specific Skills Profile
At least 5 years’ experience as an IT infrastructure and operational change Programme Manager.
Demonstrable C-level governance and commercial management.
Significant experience as a hands-on Project Manager to show demonstrable understanding of delivery process.
Although this is a programme management role the Programme Manager will at times need to be hands-on in part to coach and mature the wider team on best practice.
Effective prioritisation across the delivery programmes to ensure that resource is utilised on the highest priority projects.
Demonstrable experience of leading across mixed stakeholder groups communicating between non-technical and technical people.
Demonstrable experience of mixed lifecycle projects and the ability to mature to waterfall or agile practices where applicable.
Demonstrable experience of building & leading a programme community based on collaboration between internal business stakeholders and multiple vendors.
Experience demonstrating ability to manage across parallel implementation projects and dependent workstreams controlling scope, schedule and cost.
Management of dependencies of varying complexity, planning and feeding into other programmes and portfolios.
Ability to remove blockers and manage risks, commercials, budgets and people.
Build and maintain programme momentum through a multi-year schedule across parallel projects and workstreams.
Ability to support the programme sponsors by overseeing the delivery of their vision for the programme.
Technical Skills Required:
Must have demonstrable experience:
Programme Management of large IT Infrastructure implementations within the insurance industry.
Programme Governance and delivery Frameworks that support management across multiple related projects and workstreams.
Programme & Project Manager skills, with either MSP, PRINCE2 Practitioner or PMP.
Delivery and management of programme budgets, often in excess of £5m.
Delivery of large company rollout of Microsoft core technologies.
Programme planning tools and techniques across scope, schedule and resources.
Identification and management of programme assumptions, dependencies, risks and issues.
Support & coach the programme team across a globally & culturally diverse community.
Vendor management across a globally & culturally diverse community.
Desirable experience:
Insurance industry experience, preferably London Market.
In-depth knowledge and experience of Waterfall, Agile and other methods.
In-depth knowledge of Microsoft core technologies.
In-depth knowledge of IT networking and other infrastructure concepts and technologies i.e. Azure, WAN, LAN, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi, VMware, SAN, SQL etc.
Core Responsibilities for all Staff
Achieve Results through Relationships with All Parties
Deliver a personal performance that contributes towards Group and/or Company achieving their objectives.
Achieve lasting relationships with all parties (internal clients, suppliers, third parties and other staff).
Delivery of Service
Consistently deliver an excellent and comprehensive service, on-time, within budget and to, or exceeding quality expectations.
Conduct and Integrity
Ensure all dealings are carried out with integrity and professionalism.
Act in utmost good faith, in accordance with Group and/or Company policies and never risk the Company’s or the Group’s reputation.
General Responsibilities
Clients
Develop strong relationships with the Business Units.
Respond to the Business Units’ requirements as appropriate.
Support the business units with their use of the IT systems.
Behave with all clients (both internal and external) fairly and ethically with excellent customer service.
Take ownership of issues and provide updates to users on outstanding issues.
Management
Ensure team members are competent to carry out their responsibilities.
Motivate team to deliver high performance and achieve objectives.
Administration
Ensure up to date records are maintained at all times on the Group and Company systems.
Interpret instructions and issues arising, and then implement actions according to policies and procedures.
Compliance
Ensure compliance with all applicable Group and /or Company policies and procedures.
Ensure correct authorisation is obtained and processes followed when required by the Group and/or Company policies and procedures.
Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Maintain accurate records and deal with correspondence appropriately.
Ensure compliance with Anti Bribery and Corruption policy and procedures.
Reporting
Monitor and report on Business Units’ issues.
Provide relevant management information to senior management.
Any other reasonable duties, as required.
A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:
Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new
We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges
We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond
We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.
If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.
*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.
Permanent
