Head of Business Management

Location: Greater London

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 23,000 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.
** The Opportunity
** Business Services has built a strong operational foundation supporting Howden’s broking and insurance transaction activity across divisions and geographies. As the Group continues to scale, the function now has the opportunity to evolve into a mature, disciplined and visibly high-performing Group capability.

We are seeking a Head of Business Management to partner with Business Services leadership and pillar leads to strengthen the operating architecture that enables this next phase.

This is not a coordination or PMO role. It is a senior leadership position responsible for professionalising governance, service frameworks, workforce strategy, performance infrastructure and executive standards — in partnership with the existing leadership team.

The role will help maintain Business Services as scalable, commercially disciplined, respected by divisions and equipped for increased regulatory and external scrutiny.
** What You Will Be Responsible For
**** Operating Discipline & Governance Architecture
*** Develop and integrate the governance model for Business Services as a Group function
* Establish leadership cadence, Q  structures and executive-ready board materials
* Ensure packs, reporting and communications are consistently of outstanding standard and always prepared ahead of schedule
* Build and maintain enterprise-grade management information and performance transparency
* Embed financial principles, cost management principles, and allocation charging support within the field
* Ensure documentation, controls and reporting standards meet regulatory expectations
** Executive Rhythm, Standards & Infrastructure
*** Set and uphold outstanding standards for presentations, leadership documents, and internal communications
* Oversee documentation hygiene, SharePoint environments and process repositories
* Ensure Business Services is professionally and consistently represented across Howden World and internal channels
* Strategically coordinate conference presence, travel and external visibility
* Line manage and elevate Executive Assistant capability, ensuring seamless and high-quality support across the leadership team
** Enterprise Service Delivery Framework
*** Partner with pillar leads to build and embed a formal shared service delivery framework
* Define and ope rationalise:  + Service catalogue  + SLAs, KPIs and OKRs  + Demand triage and workflow governance  + Capacity and utilisation modelling
* Develop dashboards and performance infrastructure that drive accountability and transparency
* Support the function in becoming a service provider that divisions actively choose to use
** Workforce, Location & Capability Strategy
*** Partner with leadership to develop multi-year workforce plans aligned to growth
* Build location strategy (regional, offshore and captive considerations as appropriate)
* Support succession planning and capability uplift
* Proactively identify scaling constraints and capability gaps before they impact performance
** Controls & Risk Maturity
*** Strengthen first-line control environment within Business Services
* Improve audit readiness and documentation discipline
* Elevate regulatory alignment in partnership with Risk & Compliance
* Ensure the function is structurally prepared for increased external scrutiny
** Culture & Identity
*** Support the development of a cohesive, high-performing Business Services identity
* Champion professional standards, engagement routines and leadership development
* Drive recognition,…