Innovation Chief of Staff & Operations Lead

Capgemini; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A global business transformation partner is seeking a Chief of Staff in London to enhance operational efficiency and drive strategic initiatives. This role requires a proactive leader with strong problem-solving skills and a strategic mindset to influence decision-making and improve business performance. Candidates should possess experience in financial management and resource allocation, and demonstrate a capability to lead special projects effectively. Hybrid working arrangements available.

Benefits

Employee wellbeing programs

Training and development opportunities

Flexible work locations

Qualifications

• Natural problem solver and innovator, seeking opportunities for improvement.
• Ability to anticipate needs and implement changes proactively.
• Experience in financial forecasting and resource management.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute special projects set by leadership.
• Manage strategic growth initiatives to enhance business performance.
• Drive operational efficiency improvements and automate processes.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Problem-solving

Leadership

Financial acumen

Tools

Dashboarding tools

Process automation software

Job description

The Chief of Staff plays a critical leadership role within the AIE, ensuring operational excellence, driving strategic initiatives, and proactively identifying efficiencies and opportunities that enhance decision‑making and business performance. This is not just a reporting and compliance role—it is about driving us to move faster, smarter, and more effectively deliver growth and impact.

This role acts as the operational backbone of the AIE, ensuring smooth internal operations while coordinating a small but essential support function that includes:

• 1 x Marketing Lead
• 1 x Events & Tech Lead
• 1 x Offshore Operations Resource (Part‑time)

This role is proactive — beyond ensuring operational and financial reporting, the Chief of Staff is for someone who can balance big‑picture thinking with flawless execution. You’ll have the opportunity to influence strategy, unlock efficiencies, and enable the team to do their best work.

Hybrid working: The places that you work from day to day will vary according to your role, your needs, and those of the business; it will be a blend of Company offices, client sites, and your home; noting that you will be unable to work at home 100% of the time.

If you are successfully offered this position, you will go through a series of pre‑employment checks, including: identity, nationality (single or dual) or immigration status, employment history going back 3 continuous years, and unspent criminal record check (Disclosures and Barring Service).

Your role

Special Projects & Strategic Initiatives

• Lead and execute special projects set by the AIE leadership team.
• Manage strategic growth initiatives that enhance business performance, operational efficiency, or team capability.
• Drive business case development for new initiatives, investments, or strategic shifts.
• Critically think and create executable missions that shift the way the AIE operates, e.g. new business models that unlock greater value with less operational overhead.
• Be creative and outcome‑oriented – passionate about driving impact with innovation and clearing roadblocks along that path. You’ll have agency to contribute and innovate the operating model of our team, identifying and executing opportunities to level‑up our impact and velocity.
• Establish focus and attention on critical collaborations the AIE should be creating/maintaining (e.g., Invent, CC, Frog).
• Serve as a trusted advisor in discovery sessions, acting as an Innovation coach, sector advisor and trusted hands.

Operational & Strategic Leadership + Resource Management

• Oversee and enhance financial and delivery forecasting, compliance, and operational strategy. Partner with finance teams where needed.
• Enable better resource planning and allocation, ensuring the right people are focused on the highest‑value work.
• Own and deliver actionable insights that drive better decision‑making across the leadership team.
• Drive efficiency improvements, automation, and dashboarding to provide real‑time insights that improve strategic decision‑making and maximise impact.
• Continuously identify and implement process and tool improvements to reduce time spent on manual tasks and reporting.
• Monitor data for accuracy, completeness, and adherence to financial and time‑tracking processes.
• Identify opportunities to reduce the burden of non‑billable operational tasks from the core innovation team and delegate to offshore resources or establish growth roles as needed.
• Drive continuous improvements in tracking, reporting, and business analytics to unlock growth opportunities.

You can bring your whole self to work. At Capgemini building an inclusive future is part of everyday life and will be part of your working reality. We have built a representative and welcoming environment for everyone.

Your skills and experience

Strategic & Proactive Mindset

• A natural problem solver and innovator, always seeking opportunities for improvement.
• Ability to anticipate needs and proactively implement changes before issues arise.
• Strong commercial acumen, ensuring operational decisions support business growth.

Operational & Financial Acumen

• Experience in financial forecasting, resource management, and budget oversight.
• Ability to synthesize data into insights that drive action – reporting is just table stakes.
• Skilled in process automation, dashboarding, and workflow optimization – pushing the tooling we should be using.

Leadership & Influence

• Proven ability to lead and develop teams, including innovation support functions.
• Strong stakeholder management, able to influence leadership and drive change.
• Adept at managing multiple priorities, balancing strategic work with operational execution.

Execution & Delivery

• Highly organized and detail‑oriented, ensuring execution at a high level.
• Experience leading special projects with tight timelines and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to translate insights into clear recommendations and actions.

Your security clearance

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)
To be successfully appointed to this role you will need to undergo BPSS checks. There are no nationality or residency restrictions, although if you have resided outside of the UK within the last 3 years, further checks may be required. There are other criteria and checks required for BPSS, and throughout the recruitment process you will be asked questions about your security clearance eligibility such as country of residence and nationality.

What does ‘Get The Future you Want’ mean for you?

You will reimagine what’s possible: creating value for the world’s leading organisations through technology to build a sustainable, more inclusive future. You will work with a range of clients, each with a unique set of business, technological and societal ambitions, which will make a real impact across the UK.

You’d be joining an accredited Great Place to Work for Wellbeing in 2024. Employee wellbeing is vitally important to us as an organisation. We see a healthy and happy workforce as a critical component to achieving our organisational ambitions. We have trained ‘Mental Health Champions’ across each of our business areas, and we have invested in wellbeing apps such as Thrive and Peppy.

Why you should consider Capgemini

Growing clients’ businesses while building a more sustainable, more inclusive future is a tough ask. When you join Capgemini, you’ll join a thriving company and become part of a collective of free‑thinkers, entrepreneurs and industry experts. We find new ways technology can help us reimagine what’s possible. It’s why, together, we seek out opportunities that will transform the world’s leading businesses. You’ll gain experiences and connections to shape your future by learning from each other, sharing knowledge, and always pushing yourself to do better. You’ll use your skills to help our clients leverage technology to innovate and grow their business. It may not always be easy, but making the world a better place rarely is.

About Capgemini

Capgemini is a global business and technology transformation partner, helping organisations accelerate their dual transition to a digital and sustainable world, while creating tangible impact for enterprises and society. It is a responsible and diverse group of 340,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its 55+ year heritage, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to unlock the value of technology to address the full breadth of their business needs. It delivers end‑to‑end services and solutions leveraging strengths from strategy and design to engineering, all fueled by capabilities in AI, generative AI, cloud and data, combined with deep industry expertise and partner ecosystem. The Group reported 2024 global revenues of €22.1 billion.