Head of Business and Transformation

This role will be working for Places Leisure part of Places for People. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing.

People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do.

We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other.

Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More about your role

As our newly created Head of Business Change & Transformation, you'll lead the long-term transformation agenda across Commercial Operations, creating a clear strategy for process improvement, data, reporting, digital tools and future ways of working.

Working closely with technology teams, central support functions, Regional Directors and leisure centre operations, you'll review end-to-end processes, simplify ways of working and identify opportunities to reduce duplication and manual activity. You'll set standards and governance for operating procedures and ensure new systems, tools and dashboards are designed around operational needs.

You'll own the transformation roadmap and help shape our future operating model, connecting people, processes, data and technology. You'll ensure programmes are prioritised around measurable business outcomes, with the right plans in place for operational readiness, communication, training and adoption.

Please note that this role involves frequent travel to our Leisure sites, typically 2 to 3 days per week.

Essential criteria

To be considered for this role, your CV will need to demonstrate:

• Experience of leading business change, transformation, continuous improvement or operating model development within a complex, multi-site or operational organisation.
• Evidence of using recognised process improvement tools or methodologies, such as Lean or Six Sigma, to improve efficiency and reduce waste.
• Experience of owning or developing data, reporting or business intelligence roadmaps, including data definitions, reporting governance and source-of-truth design.
• Experience of partnering with technology teams to define business requirements, shape system roadmaps and manage the sequencing and adoption of change.
• Evidence of developing transformation roadmaps that connect processes, systems, data and colleague or customer experience to measurable business outcomes.

Desirable Criteria

• Ideally you will come from a leisure, retail or hospitality background.

More about you

You'll be an experienced transformation leader who can turn complex operational challenges into clear, practical plans. You'll understand how process, data, technology and colleague experience fit together, and you'll be confident challenging existing ways of working to achieve better outcomes.

You'll bring strong commercial and operational awareness, with the ability to balance different priorities and provide credible recommendations to senior leaders. You'll be comfortable working across central functions, field leadership, operational teams and technology partners, building support for change while keeping business readiness and adoption at the heart of your approach.

You'll understand the communication,…