Group Head of Colleague Services

Who are we?

Howden is a collective – a group of talented and passionate people all around the world. 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 18,000 employees spanning over 100 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.

What is the role?

We are looking for a Group Head of Colleague Services to architect and lead the next evolution of our enterprise Corporate Service's delivery model. This is a great opportunity for a transformational leader who thrives at the intersection of operational excellence, digital innovation, and data intelligence. In this role, you will oversee the strategic delivery of shared services across key existing functions, own the enablement of global capabilities (platforms, tools, governance), and embed intelligent analytics and automation into our service DNA. You’ll be entrusted with redefining how we serve the business, enhance colleague experience, and create measurable value at scale.

What will you be doing?

Strategic Leadership of Global Services

• Translate enterprise goals into a coherent colleague services strategy with clearly defined outcomes, performance metrics, and transformation milestones.

• Build an agile, scalable, and customer-centric colleague services organisation that meets evolving business demands.

• Establish governance models, service catalogues, and operating rhythms that promote accountability, visibility, and continuous alignment with internal stakeholders.

• Help define the mid to long-term vision for Corporate Services operations, transforming traditional service delivery into a competitive advantage through intelligent operations, automation, and human-centred design.

• Engage directly with the C-suite and global business unit leaders to shape enterprise-wide operational strategies, secure sponsorship for key initiatives, and ensure services are tightly aligned with evolving business priorities.

Enterprise Service Delivery Excellence

• Lead the global delivery and performance of services across Finance Operations (P2P, T&E), People Operations (H2R), Procurement Services (S2P), ensuring efficiency, resilience, and quality across regions.

• Champion customer satisfaction through outcome-based KPIs, service level agreements (SLAs), and continuous feedback loops.

• Actively manage demand, capacity, cost-to-serve, and workload distribution across global teams and eventually delivery centres.

• Establish and manage performance frameworks (KPIs, SLAs, customer satisfaction) that promote transparency, accountability, and continuous service improvement.

• Orchestrate cross-functional service models that eliminate silos, enable end-to-end visibility, and foster seamless internal customer experiences.

• Support Corporate Services' integration to support future M&A and growth.

• Drive large scale change initiatives to support the organisation.

Digital Enablement & Automation

• Spearhead the adoption of enabling technologies (workflow platforms, RPA, chatbots, self-service portals) to improve process speed, accuracy, and user experience.

• Partner with IT and transformation teams to create an integrated digital services ecosystem across all shared services touch points.

• Identify and scale automation opportunities to reduce repetitive effort, improve service resilience, and free up capacity for higher-value work.

• Drive standardisation and simplification of global processes using industry best practice methodologies and Design Thinking.

• Build a resilient, scalable infrastructure that supports automation, knowledge management, and proactive issue resolution.

Colleague Experience & Services

• Reimagine employee-facing processes (for example but not limited to, onboarding, case resolution, benefits management, workforce support) with a human-first, tech-enabled approach.

• Establish a service culture that is empathetic, responsive, and measurable — turning administrative interactions into meaningful moments of support.

• Ensure global compliance with labour laws, policies, data privacy, and ethical HR operations.

• Redesign colleague services with empathy, inclusion, and personalisation at the core—transforming them into seamless, empowering interactions.

• Act as the voice of the employee within Corporate Services, continuously surfacing pain points and opportunities through feedback loops, design sprints, and sentiment analysis.

Data Science, Insights & Analytics

• Enable advanced analytics and machine learning use cases within shared services to forecast volumes, optimise costs, and support strategic decision-making.

• Collaborate with internal data science teams to embed AI into processes (e.g., predictive resource planning, intelligent ticket routing, exception detection) —enabling data-backed decisions, performance forecasting, and demand prediction.

• Develop and maintain real-time dashboards and reporting tools for service visibility, executive insights, and operational transparency.

• Accelerate the use of AI/ML for process automation, risk detection, capacity modelling, and operational optimisation.

Talent Leadership & Organisational Growth

• Lead and develop high-performing global teams, balancing operational excellence with innovation and experimentation.

• Foster a culture of empowerment, inclusion, and accountability, where ideas are encouraged, and outcomes are shared.

• Lead, inspire, and grow a diverse team of global professionals, including service leads, process owners, digital enablers, and operational analysts.

• Cultivate a high-performance, agile, and psychologically safe team culture that thrives on accountability, innovation, and mutual respect.

What are we looking for?

• Minimum 10 years of experience in global shared services, enterprise operations, GBS transformation, or intelligent automation programs.

• Deep domain knowledge in at least two of the following: Finance Operations (P2P), HR Services, Procurement, IT Support, Data/AI Enablement.

• Proven experience managing large-scale global teams and transformation programs in a matrixed or multi-region enterprise environment.

• Strong technical fluency in enterprise platforms (e.g., SAP, Oracle, Workday), workflow tools (e.g., ServiceNow), RPA (e.g., UiPath, Blue Prism), and analytics (Power BI, Tableau, Python a plus).

• Bachelor’s degree required (Business, Technology, Operations, or equivalent); MBA or relevant advanced degree highly desirable.

What do we offer in return?

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

Reasonable adjustments

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