Head of Organisation Design

Standard Life plc; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 99,000 - 121,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension

12x salary life assurance

Career breaks

Income protection

Volunteering days

Job summary

Standard Life plc is seeking two Heads of Organisation Design on a fixed‑term contract to support major business transformation across the Group. Hybrid work bases include London, Edinburgh or Birmingham, with a closing date of 22/09/2026.

The roles offer up to £110,000 DOE plus a 30–60% bonus and a comprehensive benefits package. Reporting to the People Team, you will shape and govern organisational structures, partner with HR leaders, and drive efficiencies through operating model redesigns

Qualifications

• Senior HR leadership or organisation design role with impact.
• Broad people strategy understanding.
• Experience leading large-scale organisation design and operating model changes.
• Experience with restructures, integrations, or mergers.
• Experience with executive leadership teams and senior stakeholders.
• Proven governance and decision‑making framework design.

Responsibilities

• Shape and govern organisational structures to enable strategy.
• Provide strategic organisation design for major change initiatives.
• Support operating model redesigns, integrations, and workforce transformation.
• Ensure design decisions create clear accountabilities and growth.
• Enable the organisation to respond to changing customer and regulatory requirements.

Skills

Senior HR leadership

Organisation design

Workforce transformation

Executive stakeholder mgmt

Governance design

Education

Organisation design qualification

Job description

Job Description

We’re searching for two Heads of Organisation Design who share our commitment to putting customers first, aiming high and working together to join the People Team.

Job Type: Fixed Term Contract - until end of 2027

Location: Hybrid role that be based out of our London, Edinburgh or Birmingham office.

Flexible working: All roles are open to part‑time, job‑share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about flexible working here.

Closing Date: 22/09/2026

Salary and benefits: Up to £110,000 DOE plus an indicative bonus range of 30-60%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Who are we?

We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain and unpredictable. People move through different careers, face unexpected moments and navigate important choices. We offer our colleagues flexibility, trust and benefits that work for whatever life brings. In return we expect curiosity, connection, accountability and high standards. We make room for what matters - so you can bring your best, every day.

The role

The Head of Organisation Design is responsible for shaping and governing organisational structures that enable the successful delivery of business strategy, workforce transformation, and organisational effectiveness across the Group.

Working closely with Heads of HR, Executive Leadership Teams and transformation leaders, the role provides strategic organisation design expertise for major business change initiatives, operating model redesign, mergers and acquisitions, integrations, and large-scale workforce transformation programmes.

The role ensures organisational design decisions create clear accountabilities, support career development and capability growth, optimise spans and layers, and enable the organisation to respond quickly to changing customer, commercial and regulatory requirements.

What are we looking for?

Essential

• Significant experience in a senior HR leadership, organisation design or organisational effectiveness role.
• Strong generalist HR background with broad understanding of people strategy and HR disciplines.
• Proven experience leading large-scale organisation design, operating model and workforce transformation initiatives.
• Experience supporting significant business change programmes, restructures, integrations or mergers and acquisitions.
• Experience working with executive leadership teams and senior stakeholders in complex organisations.
• Demonstrable success implementing organisation design solutions that improve performance, agility and organisational effectiveness.
• Experience designing governance frameworks and managing complex organisational decision‑making processes.

Desirable

• Experience within large, complex and regulated organisations.
• Financial services or professional services experience.
• Consulting or transformation experience.
• Qualification in organisation design, organisational psychology, business transformation or related discipline.

We Want To Hire The Whole Version Of You.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

Find out more about working at Standard Life

• Guide for Candidates: standardlifeplc.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.standardlifeplc.com/careers/talk-to-us