Head of Operational Excellence (Process Improvement and Automation)

Equals; Greater London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Contributory pension

Life assurance

Health insurance (BUPA)

Employee Assistance Programme

25 days holiday + birthday off

Cycle to work scheme

Season Ticket Loans

Onsite gym & pool (London)

Discounted gym membership

Interbank currency rates

Opportunities for progression

Job summary

Equals is seeking a Head of Operational Excellence, Process Improvement and Automation to drive a cross-functional transformation across Operations and Commercial. You will triage issues, recommend solutions and lead the automation program to deliver significant efficiency gains while embedding change.

The role requires building SOPs, scaling automation, and coordinating with executive stakeholders to align improvement with strategic priorities.

Responsibilities

• Cross-functional role spanning Operations and Commercial.
• Act as trusted operator for the senior team—triage, resolve or drive to resolution with a clear recommendation.
• Own automation and process-improvement agenda across the operational funnel; target ~20% efficiency gain by year-end.
• Identify where manual effort concentrates; build documentation foundations automation depends on.
• Drive initiatives from idea through to embedded change.
• Progress the one front door customer contact model; route customers to the right team.
• Lead documentation programme: capture process knowledge into SOPs across operations and commercial for AI/automation tooling.
• Support de-risking of schemes/banking relationships; establish QBR/MBR cadence with partners.
• Manage and develop one direct report (analyst).
• Work with operations, commercial, product and fin crime leadership to align improvement with priorities.
• Track and report progress on automation and efficiency initiatives to the senior team.

Job description

• The Head of Operational Excellence, Process Improvement and Automation is a cross-functional role spanning Operations and Commercial
• You will act as a trusted operator for the senior team — someone who can jump into any situation across the business, assess the problem accurately, triage it, and either resolve it directly or drive it to resolution with a clear recommendation
• Alongside the triage mandate, you own the automation and process-improvement agenda across the operational funnel, supporting the business target of ~20% efficiency gain by year-end
• That means identifying where manual effort is concentrated, building the documentation foundations automation depends on, and driving initiatives from idea through to embedded change
• This is a permanent role designed to grow. As the operational agenda matures, the scope will extend organically into commercial work — transformation is the entry point, not the ceiling
• Act as first point of escalation for cross-team issues spanning operations and commercial; investigate, triage and resolve directly, or route with a recommended solution
• Own and drive the automation initiative portfolio tied to the ~20% efficiency goal — current priorities include payments administration (beneficiary adds, callbacks), complaints handling, and onboarding straight-through processing
• Lead the documentation programme: get process knowledge out of people’s heads and into SOPs across operations and commercial, creating the foundation for AI and automation tooling
• Progress the “one front door” customer contact model — a single triage point routing customers to the right team — including enabling the CCI team on payments queries post-Connect migration
• Support the de-risking of scheme and bank relationships: help distribute relationship ownership across leads and establish a regular QBR/MBR cadence with banking partners
• Manage and develop one direct report (analyst)
• Work day-to-day with operations, commercial, product and fin crime leadership to keep improvement work aligned with business priorities
• Track and report progress on automation and efficiency initiatives to the senior team

Benefits

• Contributory pension
• Life assurance
• Health insurance through BUPA
• Our Employee Assistance Programme offers a 24/7 confidential advice line for health, bereavement and other areas of support
• 25 days holiday per year + your birthday off
• We are members of the cycle to work scheme
• We offer Season Ticket Loans
• Free onsite Nuffield Health gym & pool (London) and discounted gym membership elsewhere
• Interbank currency rates on travel money and international transfers
• Opportunities for progression, development and learning new skills

A natural bridge between teams: you translate between operational detail and commercial priorities

Curious about automation and AI tooling, and pragmatic about where it genuinely removes work

Deeply contextual: you know how the organisation fits together and hold strong existing relationships across commercial, product and operations

Comfortable operating without a playbook — and disciplined about writing the playbook (SOPs, processes) as you go

Resilient and diplomatic — able to operate through periods of organisational change

A trusted pair of hands: you assess messy, ambiguous situations quickly and land on a workable recommendation

Solid experience in payments / fintech operations, with hands-on knowledge of support, onboarding, fraud/disputes and payments processes

Experience managing or coaching others

Demonstrated track record of process improvement or automation delivery — from identifying the opportunity through to embedded change

Familiarity with support and workflow tooling (e.g. Freshdesk, Amazon Connect) and an understanding of how AI/automation applies to operational work

Strong stakeholder management up to exec level; confident presenting recommendations and MI