Head of UK HR Operations and Technology

Nottingham Trent House (95002), United Kingdom, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Head of UK HR Operations and Technology

About this role

We're looking for a results driven Head of HR Operations and Technology (Senior Manager level) to inspire and guide a team of approx. 10+ HR professionals and drive operational and associate experience excellence. You'll set the vision and strategy for how we deliver simple employee experiences with excellence, while constantly pushing on what's possible across people, process, and technology.

The ideal candidate for this role is passionate about the connection of HR operations and technology. You'll drive efficiency across all areas of HR operations; using technology and automation to create seamless journeys and experiences.

You'll also be critical to redefining team scope, operationalising new practices, designing new processes and ways of working as HR strategy evolves; and ensuring resources are leveraged most effectively.

Exploring data for governance, building cases for change, understanding opportunity and risk will be key. The ability to to work with senior leader stakeholders will be paramount; ensuring they're to part of the story and journey to drive sustainable service change. You'll partner with HR strategic teams, risk management, tech teams and business partners to help achieve our goals.

You'll be fungible enough to work on HR processes in one moment, and be leading teams designing new HR tech capabilities the next.

What you'll do

• Spearhead and develop a HR operations function that provides best-in-class services to employees and people leaders. You will be responsible for operations strategy in partnership with our technology teams.
• Own the product roadmap and strategy, ensuring it aligns with the business and moves us towards continued growth, speed, innovation and improvement. Work with partner tech teams to implement change.
• Represent the needs of UK employees to inform our product roadmap, ensuring we are building and delivering measurably improved HR interactions and experiences for our employees and achieving target business outcomes.
• Guide and support the team responsible for delivering the day-to-day operations of core HR services, which includes specialist processing (e.g Payroll), HR Contact Centre and tech. Manage, coach and develop the HR Operations team to improve capability, encourage best practice and deliver optimal results that align with business direction.
• Develop, own and report on HR Operations metrics; utilising technology to interpret workforce data.
• Design, develop and deliver HR operations change in response to and business/enterprise-wide change initiatives and ensure the delivery of such initiatives is simple, meets the needs of the business and preserves employee engagement.
• Work collaboratively with HR leadership to ensure coordination of initiatives and optimal use of resources.
• Ensure the highest standards of continuous and operational excellence, driving out complexity in our processes and practices and establishing a culture of continuous improvement within our operations team.

What we're looking for

• A thoughtful and proactive people leader with significant experience coaching and developing large teams.
• Great judgement and values, balancing the right thing for our business with the right thing for our employees.
• Previous experience in a large leadership role in HR or in a people focused or operations role and demonstrable results delivering on improvement projects.
• Resilience and excitement towards change, recognising the opportunities it brings.
• Problem solver and critical thinker. Able to design solutions to solve problems at pace.
• Intellectually Curious. You ask why, you explore, you're not afraid to pursue ideas. You'll have a hunger to learn and be a seeker of new challenges. You want to question the status quo; you want to wow our employees with seamless, positive experiences.
• You're comfortable with ambiguity, and are able to synthesise ideas into meaningful plans for action.
• Communicator & Influencer. You can communicate complex ideas clearly regardless of your audience. Our team knows their priorities and why they're doing what they're doing. You always can rally associates to work with you.
• Do-er. You're biased toward action. You can get around roadblocks and stay focused on your goals. You're well organised, able to multitask and able to prioritise your work.
• Passionate & Customer Focussed. You care about growing others and bringing them together around what's possible.
• Team Player. You enjoy working with diverse people and driving the team toward a common goal. You have the ability to put the team before yourself and establish long-lasting relationships.
• Operational mastery and AI Innovation. You'll own the integrity of our core HR Operations, including payroll, pensions, and benefits, while simultaneously architecting our HR Tech roadmap. You will lead the integration of AI-driven solutions to automate administrative burdens, ensuring our back-office functions are not just compliant, but cutting-edge and scalable.
• Stakeholder Influence & Storytelling . Master the art of 'The Why" - you must be a skilled storyteller capable of translating complex operational needs and technical agendas into compelling business cases for executive stakeholders. Success in this role requires the ability to navigate diverse viewpoints, build consensus, and secure high-level buy-in for transformative change.

We are committed to creating a level playing field and seek to create teams that are representative of our customers and the communities we serve. We'd love to hear from you if you identify with a typically under-represented group in our industry and are particularly keen to hear from women, the LGBTQ+ community and ethnic minority candidates.

Where and how you'll work

This is a permanent position and will be based in our Nottingham offices. Our hybrid working model offers you the flexibility to work from our offices and from home, when you need to. We're big on collaboration and connection, and so generally encourage our associates to use our offices on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The number of days you spend in the office will usually be led by the type of work you're doing, and the hybrid working patterns of the people you partner most closely with. Many of our associates have flexible working arrangements, and we're open to talking about an arrangement that works for you.

What's in it for you

• Bring us all this - and you'll be well rewarded with a role contributing to the roadmap of an organisation committed to transformation
• We offer high performers strong and diverse career progression, investing heavily in developing great people through our Capital One University training programmes (and appropriate external providers)
• Immediate access to our core benefits including pension scheme, bonus, generous holiday entitlement and private medical insurance - with flexible benefits available including season-ticket loans, cycle to work scheme and enhanced parental leave
• Open-plan workspaces and accessible facilities designed to inspire and support you. Our Nottingham head-office has a fully-serviced gym, subsidised restaurant, mindfulness and music rooms.

What you should know about how we recruit

We pride ourselves on hiring the best people, not the same people. Building diverse and inclusive teams is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. We want to work with top talent: whoever you are, whatever you look like, wherever you come from. We know it's about what you do, not just what you say. That's why we make our recruitment process fair and accessible. And we offer benefits that attract people at all ages and stages.

We also partner with organisations including the Women in Finance and Race At Work Charters, Stonewall and upReach to find people from every walk of life and help them thrive with us. We have a whole host of internal networks and support groups you could be involved in, to name a few:

• REACH - Race Equality and Culture Heritage group focuses on representation, retention and engagement for associates from minority ethnic groups and allies
• OutFront - to provide LGBTQ+ support for all associates
• Mind Your Mind - signposting support and promoting positive mental wellbeing for all
• Women in Tech - promoting an inclusive environment in tech
• EmpowHER - network of female associates and allies focusing on developing future leaders, particularly for female talent in our industry

Capital One is committed to diversity in the workplace.

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