Front Office Team Lead

Openwork Limited; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary £50k–£60k

On-target bonus 10%

Pension scheme 5% matched

Critical illness cover

Income protection

Death in service 4x salary

27 days holiday + bank holidays + buy

Private medical insurance & dental

Job summary

The Openwork Partnership in Swindon is seeking a Front Office Team Lead to manage day-to-day leadership and delivery of the platform front office function, ensuring advisers, clients and internal stakeholders receive a responsive, high-quality service.

Reporting to the Platform Director, you will coach the team, drive continuous improvement, manage performance via MI and KPIs, and collaborate with Change/Project teams and platform suppliers to deliver excellent client outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in adviser-facing support role, ideally with knowledge of investment platforms, wealth products and the regulated financial advice environment.
• Leadership or supervisory experience within front‑office, client servicing or platform operations.
• Strong understanding of platform servicing journeys, adviser queries and third‑party supplier/administrator management.
• Experience managing service performance using MI, dashboards and KPIs, including root‑cause analysis and action tracking.
• Strong operational leadership and control mindset, with a focus on Consumer Duty, fair value, quality assurance and good client outcomes.
• Experience supporting operational change and continuous improvement, including process updates, system releases, training and embedding change into BAU.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, using data to identify trends, resolve issues and drive process improvements.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and prioritisation skills, with the ability to influence, work independently and deliver under pressure

Responsibilities

• + Lead the Front Office team to deliver consistently high service standards, coaching performance and embedding a customer‑first culture.
• + Own day-to-day operational oversight for front office work, ensuring work is prioritised and completed within agreed SLAs.
• + Act as the front office escalation point for complex cases.
• + Monitor and improve service performance using MI (volumes, call waiting times, adviser satisfaction) and take corrective action to maintain stability during peaks and change.
• + Maintain effective front office controls (checklists, call/email standards, quality checks) and support Risk/Compliance activity by evidencing adherence to procedures.
• + Support the Platform Director with operational inputs to budgeting and supplier/service discussions (capacity, training needs, tooling, process efficiency).
• + Build capability across the team through structured onboarding, knowledge management and cross‑skilling to improve resilience and reduce single points of failure.
• + Partner with Change/Project teams to shape front‑office impacts of change, support UAT/operational readiness, and ensure smooth handover into BAU.
• + Work closely with Advice, Network and platform suppliers to resolve recurring issues, simplify journeys and reduce avoidable contact.

Skills

Adviser-facing support

Leadership experience

Platform servicing journeys

MI dashboards KPIs

Regulatory/compliance focus

Change management

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• The Front Office Team Lead is responsible for the day-to-day leadership and delivery of the platform front office function, ensuring advisers, clients and internal stakeholders receive a responsive, high-quality service. Reporting to the Platform Director, they manage operational performance, coach the team, and drive continuous improvement across key front‑office processes while maintaining strong controls and good customer outcomes.
• + Lead and develop the Front Office team to deliver consistently high service standards, coaching performance and embedding a customer‑first culture.
• + Own day-to-day operational oversight for front office work, ensuring work is prioritised and completed within agreed SLAs.
• + Act as the front office escalation point for complex cases.
• + Monitor and improve service performance using MI (volumes, call waiting times, adviser satisfaction) and take corrective action to maintain stability during peaks and change.
• + Maintain effective front office controls (checklists, call/email standards, quality checks) and support Risk/Compliance activity by evidencing adherence to procedures.
• + Support the Platform Director with operational inputs to budgeting and supplier/service discussions (capacity, training needs, tooling, process efficiency).
• + Build capability across the team through structured onboarding, knowledge management and cross‑skilling to improve resilience and reduce single points of failure.
• + Partner with Change/Project teams to shape front‑office impacts of change, support UAT/operational readiness, and ensure smooth handover into BAU.
• + Work closely with Advice, Network and platform suppliers to resolve recurring issues, simplify journeys and reduce avoidable contact.

Requirements

• + Experience in an adviser-facing support role, ideally with knowledge of investment platforms, wealth products and the regulated financial advice environment
• + Leadership or supervisory experience within front‑office, client servicing or platform operations.
• + Strong understanding of platform servicing journeys, adviser queries and third‑party supplier/administrator management.
• + Experience managing service performance using MI, dashboards and KPIs, including root‑cause analysis and action tracking.
• + Strong operational leadership and control mindset, with a focus on Consumer Duty, fair value, quality assurance and good client outcomes.
• + Experience supporting operational change and continuous improvement, including process updates, system releases, training and embedding change into BAU.
• + Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, using data to identify trends, resolve issues and drive process improvements.
• + Excellent communication, stakeholder management and prioritisation skills, with the ability to influence, work independently and deliver under pressure

About the Company

At The Openwork Partnership, we're a dynamic, fast paced, and growing business with huge ambition. This is all made possible by the brilliant people who are part of The Openwork Partnership family. We're investing heavily in our colleagues, continuously striving to give them the platform to develop personally and professionally and reach their full potential. We're also very proud of our culture, as one of the Best 100 Large Companies to work for in 2022. The Openwork Partnership values, and respects individuality and we are committed to building an inclusive culture and environment which truly recognises and celebrates our colleague's individual differences and identities - just like our financial advice, for us, it's personal. We believe everyone can make a difference and your race, religion, disability, and gender will never be a barrier. At Openwork, we have a strong ethic of care for each other where you can balance a successful career with your commitments and interests outside of work. We believe that you will bring your best self to work if you are trusted to choose when, where and how you do it.

Working Location

This is a hybrid role, 3 days a week from the Swindon office.

Benefits

• + Salary - £50,000 to £60,000
• + Bonus scheme - on target bonus - 10%
• + Pension scheme - contribute up to 5% of your salary and Openwork will match you and put in an extra 5%
• + Critical illness cover
• + Income protection
• + Death in service - 4x salary
• + 27 days holiday + bank holidays, with the opportunity to buy up to an additional 10 days
• + A range of other flexible benefits to include private medical insurance, dental insurance and much more.