Scheduling & Real-Time Optimisation Manager

M&G; Stirling; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 18%

Share Save & Share Incentive Plan

38 days annual leave

Inspiring Families policy

Private Healthcare

Job summary

M&G is seeking a Scheduling & Real-Time Optimisation Manager to lead a high‑performing workforce planning function across Contact Centre, Complaints, Back Office, and related services.

The role requires strong leadership, deep analytical capability, and the ability to translate forecasts into executable intraday schedules while balancing customer outcomes, cost control, and colleague experience.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in Real-Time Management, Scheduling, or Short-Term Resource Planning within a contact centre or operational service environment.
• Advanced analytical capability to interpret live data and act under pressure.
• Proven experience using Workforce Management tools (e.g. Verint) and strong Excel capability.
• Confident communicator with ability to influence decisions at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Lead the monitoring of live operational performance across all channels, identifying service risks and implementing interventions to maintain SLA adherence.
• Own intraday resource deployment and real‑time decisions on reallocation, skill movements, overtime, and priority shifts.
• Support incident management by identifying risks, escalating issues, and activating playbooks and mitigations.
• Own the short‑term scheduling lifecycle across services, reflecting forecast demand and shrinkage targets.
• Ensure scheduling of breaks, lunches, training, annual leave, offline activity and processing time.
• Proactively manage shrinkage through tracking planned vs actual usage and articulating impacts when thresholds are exceeded.
• Collaborate with Strategic Planners to align forecast demand and workforce plans with execution.
• Produce plan‑vs‑actual, SLA, and intraday performance reporting for decision making.
• Define data requirements with Data & MI teams for robust reporting.
• Use insights to improve scheduling accuracy, intraday responsiveness, and planning effectiveness.
• Act as primary interface building relationships with operational leaders.
• Communicate risks, options, and impacts clearly during disruptions or underperformance.
• Educate stakeholders on how planned activity affects customer outcomes and performance.
• Manage Workforce Management system data governance and scheduling.

Skills

Real-Time Management

Scheduling

Short-Term Resource Planning

Live data interpretation

Verint (workforce tools)

Excel

Influencing decisions

Multi‑team coordination

Tools

Verint

Job description

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions.

Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

Through telling it like it is, owning it now and moving it forward together with care and integrity; we are creating an exceptional place to work for exceptional talent.

We will consider flexible working arrangements for any of our roles and offer workplace adjustments to ensure you have the support you need to succeed in your role.

Scheduling & Real-Time Optimisation Manager

M&G Life in its current form was created in October 2024 with the merger of what was formerly the closed book operation and the M&G Wealth Business (open book). M&G Life now covers over 5 million customers with more than £300 Bn invested across all of its products and wrappers and has an ambitious growth plan for 2026 and beyond. M&G Life operations work with a number of partners including Equiniti, Diligenta, Waystone, Paragon, Willis Towers Watson, as well as M&G Global Services supporting our in-house operation. M&G Life also has international presence with teams in Ireland and Poland, using a mix of insourcing and outsourcing service operations to sell to domestic and international markets.

The role will lead and deliver a high‑performing Real‑Time and Short‑Medium Term Resource Planning function across Contact Centre, Complaints, Back Office, and associated support services. The role holder is accountable for ensuring resources are optimally scheduled, deployed, and adjusted in real time to meet forecast customer demand and protect service level performance.

This role sits at the critical intersection between Strategic Planning and Operations, translating forecasts into executable schedules and dynamically managing intraday performance. The role holder will provide confident operational leadership, using live data, planning insight, and professional judgement to make timely decisions that safeguard customer outcomes, cost control, and colleague experience.

This is an operational planning role requiring strong leadership presence, analytical skill, and the ability to influence under pressure.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead the monitoring of live operational performance across all channels, proactively identifying service risks and implementing tactical interventions to maintain service level adherence.
• Own intraday resource deployment, making real‑time decisions on reallocation, skill movements, overtime, and priority shifts to respond to demand volatility.
• Support operational incident management by identifying emerging risks, escalating issues early, and activating agreed playbooks and mitigation actions (e.g. IVR messaging, skilling changes, overtime deployment).
• Own the short‑term scheduling lifecycle across all services, ensuring schedules accurately reflect forecast demand, operational priorities, and agreed shrinkage targets.
• Ensure effective scheduling of all activities including breaks, lunches, training, annual leave, offline activity, and processing time.
• Proactively manage and control shrinkage through robust scheduling, tracking planned versus actual usage, and clearly articulating service impacts where thresholds are exceeded.
• Work closely with Strategic Planners to ensure alignment between forecast demand, workforce plans, and short‑term execution.
• Produce and maintain plan‑vs‑actual, SLA, and intraday performance reporting to support informed operational decision‑making.
• Where data gaps exist, define clear requirements for Data & MI teams to enable robust and sustainable reporting solutions.
• Use performance insight and lessons learned to improve scheduling accuracy, intraday responsiveness, and overall planning effectiveness.
• Act as the primary operational planning interface, building strong, collaborative, and appropriately challenging relationships with operational leaders.
• Enable fast, informed decisions through clear communication of risks, options, and impacts, particularly during periods of disruption or underperformance.
• Educate and influence stakeholders on the impact of planned activity (training, leave, system change, absence) on customer outcomes and service performance.
• Act as custodian of the Workforce Management system for scheduling and intraday activity, ensuring data accuracy, governance, and effective use.
• Collaborate with Quality and Planning teams to understand and maintain skilling requirements, acting as the single source of truth for skills matrices.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Significant experience in Real‑Time Management, Scheduling, or Short‑Term Resource Planning within a contact centre, complaints, or operational service environment.
• Strong understanding of the end‑to‑end planning cycle and how strategic forecasts translate into live operational delivery.
• Advanced analytical capability with the ability to interpret live data and act decisively under pressure.
• Proven experience using Workforce Management tools (e.g. Verint) and strong Excel capability.
• Confident communicator with the ability to influence operational decisions and challenge constructively at all levels.
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple service areas simultaneously in a dynamic, fast‑paced environment.
• An experienced, visible and credible leader with a strong customer‑focused mindset and passion for operational excellence.

What we offer:

We’re dedicated to supporting your wellbeing and helping you thrive, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, and financially plan for the future. Our UK benefits include:

• A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
• Access to our Share Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days. Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
• Our market-leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
• Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.

To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit Life at M&G

At M&G we strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, underpinned by our policies and employee-led networks that offer networking, support and development opportunities for the diverse communities our colleagues represent. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds – across gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation and more – including neurodivergent individuals, career returners and those with military service experience.

M&G is proud to be Level 3: Disability Confident Leader under the UK Government Disability Confident employer scheme, and we welcome applications from candidates with disabilities and long-term health conditions. If you would like to participate in the initiative, you will have the opportunity to indicate this on your application.

We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. All candidates have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments when applying. If you need any additional support at any stage, please contact us at: [e-mail]