Who are we?

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

We are seeking an Operations Director to lead the operating model, performance and business transformation agenda across a distinct area of our business:

• Private Clients (including High Net Worth)

This is a senior leadership role within a complex, regulated insurance broking environment, with accountability for ensuring the business operates with efficiency, control and scalability, while continuing to deliver strong client and commercial outcomes. Working closely with the CEO, CFO and Executive leadership, these roles sit at the centre of how our business executes, performs and evolves.

While there is some flexibility in base location, regular weekly in-person presence in London is a core requirement of the role.

The Role

• Accountable for the overall effectiveness of the operating model, ensuring it is scalable, efficient and consistently applied across the relevant business division. Driving standardisation, productivity and cost optimisation while maintaining high-quality service delivery and client outcomes.

• Leads the end-to-end transformation agenda, bringing structure, prioritisation and pace to delivery. Chairs the governance of change, ensuring initiatives are clearly aligned to strategy, supported by robust business cases, and delivered with disciplined benefit realisation.

• Drives the adoption of technology, data and AI to enhance operational effectiveness, strengthen insight, and improve client experience. Embeds a more data-led operating environment, enabling performance to be actively managed and continuously improved.

• Leads the integration of acquired businesses, ensuring alignment to the operating model, delivery of synergies, and minimal disruption to ongoing operations and client service.

• Owns operational performance, establishing clear frameworks for management information, KPIs and performance governance across service, productivity, quality, cost and client outcomes.

• Accountability for the operational cost base, working in close partnership with Finance to ensure delivery against financial targets while identifying opportunities for efficiency and improvement.

• Provides oversight of operational risk, resilience and business continuity, ensuring risks are actively managed within appetite and within a strong and compliant control environment, including effective oversight of third-party providers.

• Leads, develops and aligns the Operations leadership team, ensuring a clear structure, strong accountability and capability across key areas including data, process excellence and continuous improvement.

Skills & Experience

• Proven senior operations leadership experience within a complex, matrixed organisation.

• Essential: Insurance broking background, with demonstrable experience in either:

  • Private Clients / High Net Worth / Personal Lines / Wealth Management / Mortgages

• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to translate strategic objectives into operational delivery and measurable outcomes.

• Track record of delivering business transformation and operational improvement at scale, including leading cross-functional change and managing competing priorities.

• Highly developed data literacy, using insight to drive performance and decision-making.

• Executive-level credibility, with the presence and influence to align senior stakeholders.

• Pragmatic, delivery-focused approach, balancing pace, control and long-term value.

Success Measures

• Delivery of operational cost and efficiency targets aligned to financial objectives.

• Sustained improvement in service, productivity and client outcomes.

• Successful execution of transformation, with clear prioritisation and realised benefits alongside ongoing operational delivery.

• Strengthened operational resilience, risk management and control environment.

• A clear, effective and consistently applied operating model across the business.

• A high-performing, engaged Operations function aligned to business priorities.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

• Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.