People, Operations & Capability Manager

NFU Mutual; Stratford-upon-Avon; Hybrid; GBP 63,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary up to £70,000

Annual bonus up to 25%

Pension scheme up to 20%

28 days annual leave

Private medical insurance

Employee discounts

Gym membership contribution

Job summary

NFU Mutual, based at Head Office in Stratford-upon-Avon, seeks a People, Operations & Capability Manager to lead workforce planning, capability development and delivery across underwriting. The role combines leadership of a small team with strategic planning, reporting to the Head of Underwriting, and a strong focus on future skills and engagement.

This is a full-time, hybrid role with 20% office presence in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in strategic workforce planning and capacity forecasting.
• Practical experience translating plans into delivery across multiple teams.
• Experience with talent and succession planning and capability frameworks.
• Strong leadership and ability to coach and develop others.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate workforce and operational planning across underwriting.
• Lead a small team and coach colleagues.
• Translate priorities into clear delivery plans with senior stakeholders.
• Drive capability development aligned to business objectives.

Skills

Strategic workforce planning

Resource and capacity forecasting

Workflow planning

Talent and succession planning

People leadership

Project or change planning

Stakeholder management

Job description

People, Operations & Capability Manager Lead workforce and capability planning through growth and modernisation Shape workflow, people plans and leadership support across underwriting Hybrid 80% homeworking and 20% from Stratford Upon Avon

About the role

At NFU Mutual, you'll join the Head Office underwriting function at a significant point in its growth and modernisation journey. With the department expanding rapidly and investing in new capabilities, data driven decision making and emerging technology, you'll play a key role in helping the function deliver its strategic ambitions. Reporting to the Head of Underwriting, you'll lead the coordination of workforce planning, operational planning and capability development activities across the department. Working closely with senior leaders, you'll ensure priorities, resources and future capability requirements are aligned to business objectives and translated into clear delivery plans. You’ll be responsible for proactively planning how the team develops, grows and builds the skills it needs for the future. This includes coordinating people and engagement plans, talent and succession planning, learning activity and the skills and competency requirements for underwriting roles. Leading a small team, you’ll coach and develop colleagues, create clear accountability for delivery and help bring connected workstreams together. You’ll contribute to leadership discussions, offer constructive challenge and take ownership of additional projects where coordinated support is needed. This is a full time role based in Stratford Upon Avon, with 80% homeworking and 20% from the office.

About you

You’re a confident and credible leader who builds strong relationships across functions and works effectively with senior stakeholders. Comfortable influencing and constructively challenging others, you balance strategic thinking with a pragmatic approach to delivery. You communicate clearly, bring people together around shared goals and remain resilient when managing competing priorities. Organised and accountable, you use insight to solve problems, make informed decisions and turn plans into action. You also have a proven track record of coaching, mentoring and developing others, creating engagement and supporting high performance across teams. To join NFU Mutual, you’ll also bring (essentials) Proven experience of strategic workforce planning, resource and capacity forecasting, including demand prioritisation Practical experience of workflow, dependency and implementation planning, with evidence of translating plans into delivery across multiple teams or functions Experience of creating or coordinating people and engagement plans, talent and succession planning, and capability or competency frameworks Project or change planning experience, together with strong people leadership and the ability to develop others Financial services experience, with underwriting experience highly desirable At NFU Mutual, we support an inclusive workplace and value all the differences that make us unique. We celebrate the creativity and innovation that comes from diverse perspectives and experiences and share a common vision of doing the right thing for our customers and employees. We recognise that some candidates may experience barriers during the recruitment process. So, we encourage candidates to discuss any adjustments or accommodations they need to be the best they can be throughout our recruitment process. We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Race at Work and Women in Finance Charter signatory and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.

Benefits and Rewards

When you join our team,you can expecta supportive cultureandanattractive range ofrewards and benefitsincluding: Salary – Up to £70,000 depending on experience Annual bonus (up to 25% of salary) Contributory pension scheme, up to 20%, including your 8% contribution 28 days annual leave + bank holidays + buy/sell/save holiday trading scheme A Family Friendly policy that helps you balance your work and family responsibilities Private medical insurance + options to add family members Access to savings at High Street brands, travel and supermarkets £20 contribution to a monthly gym membership – subject to T&Cs Health and wellbeing plan- cashback for dentist, opticians, physio and more Employee Volunteering - volunteerin the community for one day each year Unlimited access to Refer a Friend £500 bonus scheme Life Assurance coverof 4 x salary Employee discounts of 15% on a range of NFU Mutual insurance policies. Salary sacrifice employee car scheme - subject to eligibility

Working at NFU MutualWe’re one of the UK’s leading general insurance and financial services organisations, and for over 110 years we’ve put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Our people are just as important to us, so we’re proud to be recognised as “a great place to work”. Our Gallup Exceptional Workplace 2026 award was not only awarded with Distinction, but it also marked us as the first UK based company to earn a Gallup Exceptional Workplace award for eleven consecutive years. We’ve also been consistently recognised by Glassdoor. We appeared in the Glassdoor Best Places to Work UK list in 2023, 2024 and 2026 — and in 2026, we were the highest ranked insurance business in the UK, highlighting our strong employee experience and the positive feedback our people share on the platform. Additionally, we were named in the LinkedIn Top Companies 2026 list of “Best midsize employers to grow your career in the UK”, and we’ve been certified as a UK Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.We offer a supportive and empowering culture where people are inspired to perform, given opportunities to grow, and recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Our people are proud to work for a company that respects them and their communities, and they trust us to be financially sustainable—so we’re successful now and in the future.