Senior Manager Discovery & Solution Readiness

Senior Manager Discovery & Solution Readiness

Our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now, and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and also offer work place accommodations to ensure you have what you need to effectively deliver in your role.

M&G Life in its current form was created in October 2024 with the merger of what was formerly the closed book operation and the M&G Wealth Business (open book). M&G Life now covers over 5 million customers with more than £300 Bn invested across all of its products and wrappers and has an ambitious growth plan for 2025 and beyond. M&G Life operations work with a number of partners including Equiniti, Diligenta, Waystone, Paragon, Willis Towers Watson, as well as M&G Global Services supporting our in-house operation.

M&G Life also has international presence with teams in Ireland and Poland, using a mix of in sourcing and outsourcing service operations to sell to domestic and international markets.

In this role, you will lead a team of operational change professionals, acting as a senior operational representative in shaping and delivering change across the organisation. You will be accountable for business discovery, gap analysis, operational readiness and defining solution requirements in collaboration with operational teams, ensuring that all change initiatives are aligned with customer needs, regulatory expectations, and operational excellence.

You will also provide strategic oversight of outsourced continuous improvement and business readiness functions, ensuring they deliver value, mitigate risk, and support seamless implementation of change. This role is critical in ensuring that operational readiness is embedded into the change lifecycle and that the business is fully prepared to adopt and sustain change.

This is an exciting and significant role where we will be delivering significant transformation for our customers, advisers and operational colleagues as we strive to improve our customer experience and adopt emerging technologies including AI. You will need to understand our processes and strategic intent to a significant level to ensure output is of the highest standard.

• Leadership & People Management - Lead, coach and develop a team of analysts and readiness professionals. Foster a high-performance culture that supports inclusion, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Operational Analysis & Solution Design - Lead discovery and gap analysis activities to identify operational impacts and opportunities. Define and document solution requirements in partnership with operational teams and change delivery functions. Represent the voice of operations in cross-functional design forums and governance.
• Operational Readiness & Change Delivery - Oversee business readiness planning and execution for change initiatives, including regulatory, strategic, and incident-driven change. Ensure outsourced readiness partners deliver to agreed standards and timelines. Lead operational elements of UAT and post-implementation reviews.
• Continuous Improvement Oversight - Provide governance and strategic direction to outsourced continuous improvement teams. Ensure improvement initiatives are aligned to business priorities and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Governance - act as a senior liaison between operations, transformation, technology, and third-party providers. Provide regular updates to senior leadership on readiness status, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Risk & Compliance - ensure all change and readiness activities are compliant with internal policies and external regulations. Identify and mitigate operational risks associated with change delivery.

• Proven experience in leading operational analysis and readiness in a regulated financial services environment.
• Strong people leadership skills with a track record of developing high-performing teams.
• Deep understanding of operational processes and customer service delivery.
• Experience managing outsourced service providers and holding them to account.
• Skilled in strategic thinking, problem-solving, and influencing at senior levels.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with Agile delivery methodologies and tools.
• Strong stakeholder engagement across all levels, including external partners.
• Effective leadership and team development capabilities.
• Excellent organisation and project…