Head of Strategy and Governance

First Group; London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dynamic leader to drive business planning and strategy within their organization. This role involves collaborating with executive leadership to ensure compliance with DfT requirements and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. The successful candidate will manage the annual business planning process, engage with various departments to align projects with strategic priorities, and lead a team dedicated to achieving organizational goals. With a focus on inclusivity and collaboration, this position offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact in enhancing quality of life through effective mobility solutions.

Benefits

Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services

Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants

75% discount on other train operating companies

Full training and support

Exclusive retail offers

Excellent pension scheme

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of business change and ability to implement processes.
• Proven leadership skills and experience in managing teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement business planning processes for DfT compliance.
• Provide leadership and management to the Strategy and Business Management team.
• Monitor and review governance structures to align with strategic objectives.

Skills

Business Change Understanding

Contract Management

Risk Assessment

Change Management

Interpersonal Skills

Strategic Thinking

Team Leadership

IT Skills

Job description

Who are we?

South Western Railway (SWR) operates over 1,500 services each weekday across the network and employs more than 5,000 people. We provide easy and convenient mobility, connecting people and communities in South West London, southern counties of England, and the Isle of Wight.

Join our team and help us continue to improve quality of life, by bringing people together to get the most out of life.

About the job

• Annual Business Planning, including submission to DfT, and ongoing adherence to BPCs.
• Manage thesubmission of high-quality reports to the DfT each period to support achieving the budgeted Performance based Fee.
• Setup, monitor and continually review the organisational governance structures ensuring alignment steering groups to the business planning focus areas and the strategic objectives of the organisation.
• Lead Strategy for the Business, supporting and influencing Exec in all areas

Your main responsibilities will be:

Business Planning, Strategy & Leadership

• Design and implement a business planning process that meets DfT requirements and engages the executive leadership team and other managers
• Manage the overall annual business planning process and ultimate submission of a compliant ABP to DfT
• Work with departments across the business to develop new ideas and projects aligned to business strategy and priorities
• Ensure business planning processes are regularly evaluated and refined to fit business needs
• Work closely with the DfT and other external stakeholders as part of ongoing collaboration on the form and content of the Business Plan
• Work closely with internal stakeholders
• Provide leadership and management to the Strategy and Business Management team, and to the organisation, that aligns with the company's overall strategic vision and business plans
• Ensure there is a year long focus on Strategy and business planning within SWR, not just as part of the DfT ABP process.
• Monitor and review Steering Group strategies or initiatives for timescales beyond the current business plan year. Ensure appropriate programmes to deliver these are in place and progress is being monitored and reported.
• Working with the Commercial Finance Team support the Business to undertake horizon scanning exercises and to regularly review the items that have been identifed.
• Provide support, constructive challenge and facilitate engagement at Exec across all areas
• Working closely with the Finance Director, drive improvements in areas of governance, strategy, reporting, and relevant business priority areas
• Provide a naturally inclusive and collaborative approach to stakeholder management, with the ability to build strong and lasting relationships
• Ensure the FirstGroup Innovation Strategy, processes and reporting systems are effectively utilised

Governance

• Setup, monitor and continually review the businesses governance structures ensuring alignment steering groups to the business planning focus areas and the strategic objectives of the organisation.
• Management of the steering groups to ensure that the Steering Groups have appropriate leads, Terms of Reference, Strategies on a page and the correct attendees. Ensure actions are noted and followed up to close.
• Monitor and review that appropriate decision making authority is delegated to empower these working groups and ensure that decisions that are beyond the authority of the working groups are escalated to the Executive for consideration.

Other

• Work collaboratively with SWR teams
• Where appropriate, undertake other reasonable duties not specifically stated, which from time to time may be necessary, without altering the nature or level of responsibility
• Supplemental reports and ad-hoc analysis requests.

You'll need to be:

• A self-starter
• Solid understanding of business change
• Good understanding of contracts and bid processes
• Ability to design and implement policies and processes
• Risk assessment and change management skills
• Strong interpersonal, influencing and verbal and written communication skills
• Communication, engagement and presentation skills
• Ability to lead and develop a team
• Strategic thinker
• Commercially aware
• Ability to manage workloads to tight deadlines
• Good standard of IT skills

Working pattern

You will be working an average of 37 hours per week across 5 days. Typically, you will be working Monday to Friday, however,flexibility will be required.

The Reward

In return we offer a competitive salary and a variety of valuable benefits, including:

• Free duty and leisure travel on SWR services for employees
• Free leisure travel for spouse/partner and dependants (criteria dependent)
• 75% discount on many other train operating companies
• Full training and support with development
• Large range of exclusive retail offers
• Excellent pension scheme

We all belong at SWR. Our vision is to provide an inclusive environment for all colleagues, across its group of businesses, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to access meaningful employment.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.

If you require additional support to complete your application due to a disability or neurodivergent condition, for example, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, please follow the links below. We encourage you to share any additional needs you may require so we can provide a fair and equal process for all who apply.

https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/

https://www.healthassured.org/blog/neurodiversity/