Operations & Client Services Team Lead

Utmost International; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Death in Service benefit – 4 x basic salary

Income Protection

Private Healthcare

Discretionary bonus scheme

Internal training opportunities

Job summary

Utmost International seeks an Operations & Client Services Team Lead in the United Kingdom. This role involves leading the day-to-day delivery of operations and ensuring client services are provided to the highest standards.

The ideal candidate will possess strong operational experience in the finance industry, displaying exceptional leadership skills and the ability to manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Comprehensive benefits are included, along with opportunities for professional development and training.

Qualifications

• Proven experience within the finance industry.
• Previous experience in a supervisory or leadership role.
• Strong IT skills with Microsoft applications.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day Operations and Client Services activities.
• Provide leadership and support to the team.
• Oversee client servicing and operational controls.
• Monitor workflow, quality, and service outcomes.
• Build relationships with customers and stakeholders.

Skills

Operational and client servicing knowledge

Leadership and supervisory experience

Strong IT skills (Excel, Word)

Understanding of regulatory requirements

Strong communication skills

Job description

Job Details: Operations & Client Services Team Lead

Full details of the job.

Vacancy Name Operations & Client Services Team Lead

Vacancy No VN895

Work Location

Role Purpose

• Lead the day-to-day delivery of Operations and Client Services activity, ensuring work is completed accurately, efficiently and in line with agreed service standards.
• Provide effective leadership, direction and support to the team, promoting accountability, collaboration and a high-performance culture.
• Oversee client servicing, transaction processing and operational controls to ensure compliance with internal procedures, regulatory requirements and local process documentation.
• Monitor workflow, quality and service outcomes, identifying trends, resolving issues and implementing improvements to enhance team performance.
• Act as a key point of escalation for complex operational, servicing and risk matters, ensuring issues are managed appropriately and escalated where required.
• Build strong relationships with customers, intermediaries and internal stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and a consistently high standard of service.
• Support wider business objectives by contributing to change initiatives, process improvements and other reasonable duties aligned to the role.

Leadership, Teamwork & Collaboration

• Hold line management responsibility for the Operations and Client Services team, ensuring workloads, priorities and service standards are effectively managed.
• Lead, motivate and develop team members through clear direction, constructive feedback and ongoing coaching, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Support the achievement of individual and team objectives, ensuring performance expectations are clear and development needs are identified and addressed.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders, ensuring collaboration, alignment and timely delivery of customer and business requirements.
• Promote high service standards across all activities, seeking feedback where appropriate and using insights to drive improvements in quality and efficiency.
• Represent the team professionally in internal and external interactions, acting as a credible point of contact for operational and service-related matters.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across Guernsey and other jurisdictions to support consistent service delivery, effective controls and strong cross-functional working.

Customer Operations

• Oversee customer operations activity, ensuring transactions, servicing requests and administrative tasks are completed accurately and in line with procedures, regulatory requirements and service level agreements.
• Support the team in managing complex cases, approvals and escalations, providing guidance to ensure timely and appropriate resolution.
• Maintain oversight of customer records, operational data and servicing activity to ensure accuracy, completeness and strong control standards.
• Ensure appropriate due diligence and servicing checks are completed for key customer transactions, including premium top-ups, increases, reinstatements and other servicing events.
• Act as a point of escalation for clients, intermediaries and internal stakeholders, ensuring communication is clear, professional and customer-focused.
• Oversee the completion of security calls, validation activity and other servicing controls where required.
• Support the effective delivery of operational outputs including payment activity, commission processes, tax-related administration and associated customer queries.

Administration & File Reviews

• Oversee the completion of AML file reviews for onboarding, trigger events, servicing events and scheduled reviews, ensuring work is completed in line with internal procedures and local process documentation.
• Provide support and guidance on more complex customer, corporate structure and due diligence matters, ensuring appropriate research, rationale and record keeping are maintained.
• Maintain oversight of customer risk assessments and risk profiling activity, ensuring decisions, evidence and escalation points are clearly documented.
• Ensure appropriate CDD and, where applicable, EDD measures are completed in line with customer risk ratings and internal AML requirements.
• Monitor completion of legal, audit and AML requirements within required timescales, maintaining a robust control environment and appropriate audit trail.
• Ensure gaps, issues and exceptions are escalated appropriately, tracked to resolution and used to inform quality improvements and team development.

Projects

• Lead or contribute to projects, change initiatives and system developments, ensuring operational impacts are understood and procedures are updated accordingly.
• Communicate effectively with project sponsors, stakeholders and team members on progress, dependencies, risks and any issues affecting delivery.

Training & Development

• Create a positive, inclusive and ethical team environment that supports engagement, accountability and performance.
• Coach and support team members in developing their technical knowledge, operational capability and understanding of good practice.
• Support performance management, objective setting and ongoing development conversations in line with business requirements.
• Ensure mandatory training is completed within required timescales and that learning needs are identified and addressed proactively.

Risk & Audit

• Maintain oversight of operational risks within the team’s activities, ensuring appropriate controls are in place and operating effectively.
• Ensure risk events, incidents and control weaknesses are identified, reported promptly and followed through to resolution within agreed timelines.
• Promote a culture of strong governance, risk awareness and control discipline across the team.

Culture

• Act as a role model by demonstrating the expected behaviours, values and leadership standards across the organisation.
• Promote company strategy, business priorities and change initiatives in a proactive and positive manner.
• Lead by example, motivating others, encouraging accountability and supporting continuous improvement across the team.

Eligibility

In order to qualify for this role you must have a provision and maintenance of a current and valid Population Management Permit or Certificate in Guernsey.

Benefits

• Death in Service benefit – 4 x basic salary
• Income Protection
• Secondary Pension at 10% of basic salary
• Private Healthcare for you and this can extend to a partner/dependent children, including a free EAP service.
• Discretionary bonus scheme based on personal and business performance
• Optional benefits at the employee’s cost include an investment and savings plan and dental insurance
• Payment of up to two professional memberships
• Internal and external training opportunities
• Sports and Social event programme
• Community & Volunteering programme
• Annual flu jab

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience within the finance industry, with strong operational and client servicing knowledge.
• Previous experience in a supervisory, senior or team leadership role would be advantageous.
• Strong IT skills, with good experience using Microsoft applications, particularly Excel and Word.
• Good understanding of relevant regulatory and operational control requirements.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and deliver clear, constructive feedback.