Head of Value Stream

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!

We’re on the hunt for a Head of Value Stream to join our Technology and Data team.

The Head of Value Stream will be responsible for the shaping and delivery of the Value Stream strategy, roadmap and the planning and governance of all business change on behalf of the relevant business area Directors, ensuring the alignment of capabilities to the Enterprise and Value Stream strategic visions. The role requires intrinsic understanding of each relevant Business Area’s subject matter; this will include continuously developing awareness and knowledge of our competitors and industry trends; identifying new or upgraded technologies to support the delivery of our strategic outcomes and ambitions to become market leading.

The Head of Value Stream will own the maintenance of the Value Stream roadmap, including regular prioritisation of change effort (both BAU and initiative based), mandatory/regulatory change and technical debt and will be required to facilitate the continuous iteration between the Senior Stakeholders, SMEs, Product Owners and members of the technology teams.

You’ll work with the Head of Enterprise Change to feed into the wider Enterprise Portfolio roadmap and support the prioritisation of enterprise-wide change and strategic imperatives and will co-ordinate all technical and non-technical change required to achieve the Value Stream vision and objectives and ensure appropriate management/oversight of any risks, audit and control commitments relevant to the products and technology owned within the Value Stream.

We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.

Core skills were looking for to succeed in the role:

• Exceptional leadership skills with evidence of managing teams across a range of disciplines and locations

• Strategic and benefits leadership – ensuring the focus is on delivery of the strategy, desired business outcomes and benefits

• Senior stakeholder management – ability to constructively challenge, win the respect of and negotiate effectively with senior management up to and including ExCo level

• Leadership – the ability to look ahead and understand/mitigate risks, and the ability to see the few key issues in a situation, problem or delivery and, working with others, cut through to the solution, with the ability to take reasoned decisions confidently and quickly

• Strong communication skills – both in writing and verbally – ability to articulate an argument and persuade senior stakeholders with robust and comprehensive communication

• Effective organisation, planning and understanding the key components of all plans

• Financial management – the ability to estimate and budget effectively, allowing for suitable contingency, and the ability to put together a robust and achievable business case in conjunction with Finance and business leaders

• Ability to work effectively with others collaboratively and as a team for optimal results

• Ability to proactively contribute to the capability development of change capabilities within the wider business

• Ability to engage key stakeholders and communicate complex information simply and persuasively, driving data informed decision making and action.

• Ability to manage multiple projects efficiently and effectively

What’s involved:

• You'll lead the design and delivery of the Value Stream strategy and roadmap in alignment with the Enterprise strategy

• You’ll own and maintain the Value Stream roadmap of strategic outcomes and regularly engage with the business SMEs to gain an understanding of their desired outcomes and facilitate the Product Owner(s) & technical teams in translating business requirements into delivery roadmaps

• You’ll work with the Head of Enterprise Change to align with the Portfolio Roadmap and feeding in the requirements of the Value Stream into enterprise prioritisation

• You’ll ensure outcomes are in place for all Value Stream investments and track progress within required timescales to agreed standards

• You'll ensure effective communication and reporting on progress against committed delivery plans and budget(s)

• You'll lead strategic initiatives and value proposition analysis for the highest priority outcomes, as appropriate

• You'll research, develop and present option appraisals for how we improve our current core capabilities and embed new capabilities (e.g. Machine Learning)

• You’ll ensure continued optimization of Value Stream technology and related core platforms

• You’ll maximise opportunities arising from contract renewals, current and new suppliers, and data insight

• You’ll maintain and develop knowledge of business functions contributing to the Value Stream

• You’ll maintain and develop relationships with key strategic partnerships, competitors and industry thought leaders

• You’ll support decisions on the best solutions including proposed features

• You'll work collaboratively with the Head of Enterprise Change, Senior Stakeholders and Product Owners to proactively manage the Value Stream RAID ensuring effective mitigation is in place and under active management

• You’ll fully understand and plan for the business impact of change ensuring that all areas of the business are ready to accept the change

• The administration of change management systems to support the creation of work to support the funnel with the appropriate benefits

• You’ll coach, mentor and facilitate the learning and development of fellow colleagues in the agile mindsets, practices and strategies to help embed lean agile portfolio management and change delivery, support colleagues and their broader professional development

• You’ll ensure that centralised resources including project managers, business insight, OpEx and others are appropriately deployed in support of scoping prioritised initiatives.

• You’ll input and support the QBR process including communication to business Pillars on delivery roadmap commitments and trade-offs, performance metrics and outcomes

• You’ll comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with, the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times

• You’ll ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards/ regulations at all times

Experience and knowledge

• Demonstrable experience in strategic development with a proven ability to translate complex concepts and outcomes into actionable delivery roadmaps

• Demonstrable experience in portfolio mobilisation, initiation, planning and management

• Demonstrable record of managing multi-million-pound portfolio budgets effectively, and delivering within budgetary constraints

• Experience of estimating and controlling substantial project/programme/portfolio budgets

• Significant understanding of Claims, Fraud and Customer business areas

• Understanding of Insurance businesses, the industry, and its drivers

• Experience of researching new markets and identifying / quantifying opportunities

• Strong stakeholder management experience within a fast paced, cross-functional environment

• Proven understanding of Project and Programme Management techniques in different change environments (Waterfall, RAD, SCRUM etc.) 

• Proven understanding and experience in working within SAFe or other agile frameworks

• Significant understanding of IT systems and how successful IT change is affected including experience of all stages of project delivery and software development lifecycle 

• Ability to construct a realistic and achievable business case in conjunction with business leaders and Finance

• Experience of engaging and managing third parties

• Experience of working within an FCA regulated industry, ideally within Financial Services or Insurance 

• Experience in using tools such as MS Office / MS project / SharePoint / TFS / Gemini / Atlas / ADO

• Deep and extensive understanding of change delivery and management processes and the keys to successful delivery of change

Skills

• Exceptional leadership skills with evidence of managing teams across a range of disciplines and locations

• Strategic and benefits leadership – ensuring the focus is on delivery of the strategy, desired business outcomes and benefits

• Senior stakeholder management – ability to constructively challenge, win the respect of and negotiate effectively with senior management up to and including ExCo level

• Leadership – the ability to look ahead and understand/mitigate risks, and the ability to see the few key issues in a situation, problem or delivery and, working with others, cut through to the solution, with the ability to take reasoned decisions confidently and quickly

• Strong communication skills – both in writing and verbally – ability to articulate an argument and persuade senior stakeholders with robust and comprehensive communication

• Effective organisation, planning and understanding the key components of all plans

• Financial management – the ability to estimate and budget effectively, allowing for suitable contingency, and the ability to put together a robust and achievable business case in conjunction with Finance and business leaders

• Ability to work effectively with others collaboratively and as a team for optimal results

• Ability to proactively contribute to the capability development of change capabilities within the wider business

• Ability to engage key stakeholders and communicate complex information simply and persuasively, driving data informed decision making and action.

• Ability to manage multiple projects efficiently and effectively

Qualifications

• Formal Project and Programme Management qualifications such as APMP, PRINCE2, Agile Project Management or equivalent is desirable

Behaviours

• Customer centric approach to decision making, ensuring our customers are central to the prioritisation and decision-making process

• Role model and leader of people – ability to guide, steer and coach team members to enable them to deliver effectively and develop professionally

• Highly analytical and structured thinker able to develop pragmatic solutions to complex problems and communicate them simply

So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today.

What can we do for you?

People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.

Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.

Originally posted on Himalayas