Operational Excellence Manager

Saga; Folkestone; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days leave per year

Pension up to 10%

Car allowance

Private medical insurance

Colleague discounts

Saga Academy access

Job summary

Saga in Folkestone is seeking an Operational Excellence Manager to drive continuous improvement across its Insurance operations. You will use data, insight and structured problem-solving to understand opportunities, redesign processes and deliver meaningful improvements that reduce cost and risk for customers and colleagues.

Reporting to the Head of Data, AI & Operational Excellence, you will bring people, data and technology together to turn ideas into practical change and embed new processes

Qualifications

• Experience of change management and leading an agile programme.
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or higher.
• Strategic thinking and planning abilities.
• Strong communication skills and stakeholder management.
• Proven practical problem-solving capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Implement and govern continuous improvement frameworks across Saga Insurance.
• Drive reduction of waste and costs while improving customer and colleague experience.
• Lead structured problem-solving workshops to identify root causes and solutions.
• Line manage analysts and ensure clarity on roles and priorities.
• Own operational readiness for changes and measure outcomes.
• Act as supplier relationship manager for key operational suppliers.
• Coordinate with Operations and Technology to prioritise issues and opportunities.

Skills

Change management

Agile

Lean six sigma

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Problem solving

Job description

The following content displays a map of the jobs location - Folkestone Hybrid

Working Hours:

35

Location:

Folkestone Hybrid

Closing Date:

11/10/2026

Job Category:

Insurance Operations

Community:

Business Unit:

Package Description

At Saga, we recognise that our people make us special. We believe our colleagues deserve rewards for the excellence they demonstrate every single day, that's why we have put together an amazing benefits package for all colleagues.

BENEFITS AVAILABLE FOR THIS ROLE:

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional leave - 5 extra days
• Pension scheme matched up to 10%
• Company performance related annual bonus - Up to 15%
• Car allowance £4,800 per annum
• Private medical insurance after 1 years' service
• Colleague discounts including family discounts on cruises, holidays and insurance
• Range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Grandparents leave
• Income protection
• Access to Saga Academy, our bespoke learning platform

Job Introduction

Operational Excellence Manager

Salary – £40,000 - £45,000 per annum, dependent on experience

Folkestone Hybrid

As our Operational Excellence Manager, you'll play a key role in helping Saga become simpler, smarter and more efficient. You'll use data, insight and structured problem-solving to understand opportunities, redesign processes and deliver meaningful improvements across our Insurance business, reducing cost and risk while making things better for both our customers and colleagues.

Reporting to our Head of Data, AI & Operational Excellence, you'll bring people, data and technology together to turn ideas into practical change. From challenging how we work today to making sure new processes are embedded and delivering the right outcomes, you'll be pivotal to our continuous improvement agenda.

If you enjoy getting to the root of a problem, bringing people together and turning complexity into better ways of working, this could be the role for you.

We work in a hybrid way at Saga both at home and in the office. This role requires you to be working from our Folkestone office at least once a month allowing us to collaborate and share success as a business.

Main Responsibilities

As our Operational Excellence Manager, you will be responsible for implementing and governing continuous improvement frameworks across Saga Insurance.

Other accountabilities will include:

• Driving continuous improvement across operational processes and practices, reducing waste and cost whilst improving customer and colleague experience
• Partnering with the customer experience and data teams to ensure all change is joined up, understood, measured, and embedded effectively
• Lead structured problem-solving workshops to deep dive into issues, identify root causes and propose robust future solutions
• Line managing analysts ensuring they have clarity on their role, responsibilities, priorities and performance.
• Owning operational readiness for changes affecting operational processes ensuring changes land well and are appropriately measured
• Act as the supplier relationship manager for key operational suppliers ensuring the relationship is managed within Saga's supplier relationship framework and maximised to drive the most value for Saga
• Act as a key conduit between operations and technology to ensure technology issues or opportunities are commonly understood and prioritised

The Ideal Candidate

As our Operational Excellence Manager, you will have strong process and data analytical skills, coupled with proven stakeholder and supplier management experience.

Previous experience in the Insurance industry is essential to understand the regulated areas of the operation.

Other skills and experience include:

• Experience of change management and leading an agile programme
• Lean six sigma to at least green belt
• Strategic thinking
• Communications skills
• Practical problem solving

Saga Values: Make it Happen, Do the Right Thing, Customer First, Excellence Every Day, Our People Make Us Special

About The Company

Over the past 75 years we have become the UK's specialist provider of products and services to people aged over 50 in the UK. We're the most trusted brand amongst UK consumers in this demographic, recognised for high-quality products and exceptional standards of service. Our product portfolio includes cruises, holidays, insurance, personal finance products andour Saga Magazine.

Our focus on delivering exceptional products and service empowers our colleagues to create moments that are personal and special for our customers and for each other and our values underpin our approach and help guide us to deliver our purpose.

We're committed to making sure that colleagues can be their best, be themselves and make a difference – more than anywhere else. We have done this by creating a truly inclusive culture, where all colleagues can bring their full and authentic selves to work and be treated with dignityand respect in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

Thanks to our people, Saga was awarded with a Gold for Best Customer Centric Culture in 2025. This is testament to the great culture we've built together. This award belongs to all our colleagues who collectively make Saga a fantastic place to work.

We are champions of age inclusivity and signatories of the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge, we are proud of our multigenerational teams we have in place. We're also a committed Disability Confident employer and ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Your application will have fair consideration, and you'll receive personal communication throughout your applicant journey when you apply to join Saga.