GBS Operating Model Lead (Senior Manager)

Accenture PLC; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture seeks a senior GBS strategist and operating-model architect to work with C-suite leaders to define and deliver enterprise services across retained and external delivery models.

You will shape target operating models, scope decisions, and roadmaps, while overseeing technology, data, and automation enablement to improve performance, resilience and value realization.

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ relevant experience across GBS, shared services, outsourcing or management consulting.
• Captive, outsourced and hybrid delivery-model experience.
• Multi-tower GBS depth across Finance, HR, Procurement, IT, Data & Analytics.
• Service scope and activity-placement judgement within GBS ecosystems.
• Strong business-case and value-realisation capabilities using baselines and benchmarks.
• Technology and data fluency with ERP, workflow, data platforms, AI & automation.

Responsibilities

• Lead the current-state GBS diagnostic and establish evidence-based portfolio view.
• Define enterprise GBS ambition, design principles and success measures.
• Develop target service scope and activity-placement across retained and external delivery.
• Design overarching GBS target operating model and governance framework.
• Evaluate delivery-models and sourcing options with feasibility assessments.
• Articulate how technology, data, automation and AI enable the model.
• Develop economic and value case with cost-to-serve and benefits.
• Establish governance architecture and performance metrics.
• Shape implementation roadmap and transformation sequencing.
• Lead client relationships and multidisciplinary teams on engagements.

Skills

GBS strategy

Operating model

Executive leadership

Cross-functional depth

Automation & AI

Risk & control

Job description

About Finance Reinvention Partner

Accenture’s Finance Reinvention Partner helps CFOs and finance leaders reinvent how finance creates and protects enterprise value—bringing together strategy, operating model, data, AI and technology to improve performance, insight, control and execution. In the UK and Ireland, the practice combines finance strategy and transformation capabilities with the enterprise platforms that enable them, including SAP, Oracle, Workday and enterprise performance management solutions.

Our GBS and Operating Model team helps clients design and implement how finance and other enterprise services should be organised and delivered across retained functions, Global Business Services, Global Capability Centres, Centres of Excellence and external service providers. We support the full transformation journey—from strategy, value case and target operating model through detailed design, mobilisation, implementation, service management and continuous improvement—embedding data, automation and AI to create scalable, resilient and value-led operations.

Why this role

This is a senior role for an experienced GBS strategist and operating-model architect who can work directly with C-suite and functional leaders to define how enterprise services should be organised and delivered across retained teams, Global Business Services, Global Capability Centres, Centres of Excellence, outsourcing partners and digitally enabled workforces.

You will lead clients from current-state diagnosis and strategic ambition through service-scope decisions, target operating-model design, business case and implementation roadmap. You will make and defend the major choices: what belongs in GBS, what must remain close to the business, how global process ownership should operate, where services should be delivered, when captive or outsourced models are appropriate, and how people, technology, data, automation and AI should work together.

The expertise you'll bring

End-to-end GBS strategy and operating-model experience. At least 10 years’ relevant experience across GBS, shared services, enterprise operating-model transformation, outsourcing or management consulting.

Captive, outsourced and hybrid delivery-model experience. A balanced understanding of captive GCC, BPO, managed-service and hybrid environments, with the ability to assess options objectively.

Multi-tower GBS depth. Strong understanding of how enterprise services operate across functions such as Finance, HR, Procurement, IT, Data & Analytics, Customer Operations or other corporate services.

Service scope and activity-placement judgement. Demonstrated experience analysing activity taxonomies and determining what should remain in retained functions, move to GBS or GCC delivery, sit within a Centre of Excellence, be delivered by an external provider, or be enabled through automation and AI.

Target operating-model design. Deep experience designing service portfolios, retained organisations, Global Process Owner and service-owner roles, organisation structures, decision rights, governance, location and delivery footprints, sourcing models, capability requirements, service-management principles and performance frameworks.

Business-case and value-realisation capability. Strong experience using operational baselines, benchmarks, cost-to-serve analysis, investment modelling and benefits cases to support executive decisions.

Technology and data fluency. You understand how ERP, workflow and case-management platforms, service portals, data platforms, analytics, process mining, automation and AI shape the GBS operating model.

AI-enabled operating-model judgement. Assess how work should be divided across people, automation and AI agents, where human judgement and accountability must remain, and how orchestration, decision rights, exception handling, monitoring, controls, auditability and human oversight should operate. Current GBS thinking increasingly positions AI as a change to work design and governance, with agents combined with human oversight, rather than as a bolt-on automation layer.

Risk, control and resilience understanding. Understand the operating-model implications of regulatory requirements, data privacy and security, segregation of duties, third-party risk, service continuity, location concentration, operational resilience and clear fiduciary or functional accountability.

Executive and commercial leadership. Establish credibility quickly with C-suite and functional leaders, facilitate difficult enterprise decisions, challenge constructively and communicate complex options in clear commercial terms.

Relevant industry experience. Strong experience in at least one of Consumer Goods & Services, Utilities or Energy—or similar sectors—with evidence that industry economics, regulation, operating complexity or service requirements materially influenced your GBS recommendations.

What you'll be accountable for

• Lead the current-state GBS diagnostic, establishing an evidence-based view of the existing service portfolio, functional scope, activity locations, delivery channels, organisation, capacity, costs, performance, customer experience, process variation, technology, data, controls, provider arrangements and root causes of operational pain.
• Define the enterprise GBS ambition and design principles, aligning executive stakeholders on the strategic purpose of GBS, priority value pools, intended business outcomes, scope boundaries and measures of success.
• Develop the target service scope and activity-placement model, determining how work should be distributed across retained functions, GBS/GCC delivery teams, Global Process Owners, Centres of Excellence, external providers, automation and AI. Ensure decisions reflect scalability, business proximity, judgement, control, capability and service-experience requirements—not labour cost alone.
• Design the overarching GBS target operating model, covering the service portfolio, retained organisation, global process and service ownership, organisation structure, roles and decision rights, governance, delivery footprint, sourcing model, workforce capabilities, service-management principles, funding approach and performance framework.
• Evaluate delivery-model, location and sourcing options, including captive, outsourced, managed-service and hybrid approaches. Develop clear recommendations based on strategic fit, access to skills, service quality, resilience, risk, control, scalability, cost and implementation feasibility.
• Define how technology, data, automation and AI enable the operating model. Establish the implications for service scope, work allocation, roles, capacity, data ownership, decision rights, controls, exception management and human oversight. Translate the model into clear business and operating requirements for technology, data, architecture, risk and control specialists without owning platform configuration.
• Develop the economic and value case, including the current-state baseline, benchmarks, cost-to-serve, investment requirements, benefit profile, implementation costs, value-realisation measures and, where relevant, service costing, showback or chargeback principles.
• Establish the overarching governance and performance architecture, including executive and functional governance, process and service ownership, escalation and decision forums, outcome measures, service and experience measures, risk and control accountability, and the relationship between retained functions, GBS delivery and external providers.
• Shape the implementation roadmap and transformation sequencing, identifying dependencies across organisation, processes, technology, data, sourcing, locations, workforce, controls and change. Remain the operating-model design authority through detailed design and implementation, resolving cross-workstream decisions and protecting the coherence of the target model.
• Lead senior client relationships and complex engagements, taking responsibility for engagement scope, quality, economics, risk and outcomes. Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams, originate and shape new work, contribute to proposals and account growth, and develop reusable GBS propositions, assets and points of view.