Director, Operations Strategy & Performance

Job Description:

Job Summary

This is an 18-month contractor assignment created to provide dedicated senior capacity through a critical period of CRM transformation and cross-functional operational change. The Director, Operations Strategy & Performance provides the SVP with an integrated, decision-ready view of Operations Delivery performance, priorities, risks and dependencies, while coordinating the cross-functional work required to move agreed priorities into execution.

A core element of the assignment is day-to-day business leadership of the US CRM transformation for Operations Delivery. Working under the SVP’s executive sponsorship, the contractor will represent the integrated Operations Delivery business position across Sales, Service, Billing and Operations Support, ensuring business requirements, operating-model decisions, readiness, adoption and benefits are connected and progressed.

The assignment operates through integration, influence and delegated authority. Functional Directors continue to own their people, performance, processes, controls, budgets and delivery commitments. The contractor creates the cross-functional view, drives resolution where multiple functions are involved, and escalates material business decisions to the SVP.

Primary Accountability 1: CRM Business Leadership

Day-to-day business leadership: Lead the Operations Delivery business workstream for CRM on behalf of the SVP, providing a single business interface into the program across Sales, Service, Billing and Operations Support.

Business requirements: Own the consolidation, prioritization and traceability of Operations Delivery business requirements, ensuring functional requirements are reconciled into a coherent end-to-end business position before entering program decision forums.

Business decisions and escalation: Drive timely resolution of cross-functional business questions within delegated authority, maintain visibility of open decisions and trade-offs, and escalate matters requiring executive, investment, risk or strategic decisions to the SVP.

Operating-model design: Lead definition of the Operations Delivery operating-model implications of CRM, including customer journeys, colleague workflows, roles, handoffs, service models, controls, data needs and performance measures, with functional owners accountable for the design and delivery of their respective areas.

Business representation in solution design: Represent the agreed Operations Delivery business position in CRM design and governance forums, test proposed solutions against business outcomes and operational requirements, and ensure unresolved gaps are surfaced for decision. Technology teams retain accountability for architecture, configuration and engineering.

Integrated readiness: Own the consolidated Operations Delivery CRM readiness view, including dependencies across people, process, data, controls, communications, training and implementation. Functional owners remain accountable for completing the readiness activity within their areas.

Adoption and implementation outcomes: Define how successful operational adoption will be measured, monitor adoption and early-life performance, and coordinate corrective action where outcomes or customer and colleague experience are off track.

Benefits realization: Establish the Operations Delivery benefits framework and baselines for CRM, connect benefits to accountable functional owners, and track evidence of value realization following implementation.

Executive decision support: Provide the SVP with concise recommendations on CRM scope, priorities, business trade-offs, risks, investment implications and decisions requiring executive sponsorship.

Primary Accountability 2: Operations Strategy & Enterprise Integration

Integrated performance insight: Synthesize existing Sales, Service, Billing and Operations Support performance, customer, financial, risk and delivery insight into one Operations Delivery view. Source reporting and functional MI remain with the teams accountable for producing them.

Strategy-to-execution: Translate agreed Operations Delivery priorities into an integrated roadmap, linking cross-functional milestones, outcomes and dependencies and highlighting where delivery plans collide or require leadership intervention.

Leadership governance: Design and run the cross-functional Operations Delivery leadership cadence, focused on decisions, commitments, dependencies and escalation rather than recreating functional governance.

Cross-functional dependency resolution: Coordinate resolution of issues spanning more than one Operations Delivery function, making ownership explicit and ensuring underlying delivery remains with the accountable functional leader.

Transformation portfolio integration: Connect material transformation activity to Operations Delivery priorities, capacity, readiness and operational impacts, providing the SVP and Directors with visibility of cumulative change and competing dependencies.

Executive decision support: Turn distributed operational and transformation information into clear options, implications and recommendations so the SVP can make timely decisions while retaining executive accountability.

Decision Rights and Role Scope

Leads: Operations Delivery business leadership for CRM; integrated Operations Delivery governance; cross-functional synthesis of performance, priorities, risks and dependencies; and coordination of enterprise-level actions and decisions.

May decide: Matters explicitly delegated by the SVP and coordination choices that do not change a functional Director’s accountability, budget, people, controls or committed outcomes.

Recommends / escalates: Material changes to strategy, investment, CRM scope, risk acceptance, operating model, functional priorities or trade-offs between functions.

Does not own: Functional operations, people leadership, source reporting or MI production, functional risk administration, functional change execution, CRM program management, technical architecture, configuration or engineering.

Functional Directors remain accountable for: Their people, budgets, performance, controls, processes and delivery commitments, including the functional work required to implement CRM successfully.

SVP remains accountable for: Operations Delivery outcomes, executive sponsorship of CRM, material strategic and investment decisions and matters outside delegated authority.

Key Measures of Success

CRM has one clear Operations Delivery business position, with requirements, decisions and cross-functional trade-offs progressed at pace.

The SVP operates at executive sponsor level while the contractor provides effective day-to-day Operations Delivery business leadership of CRM.

CRM operating-model impacts, readiness dependencies and functional ownership are identified early and managed to implementation.

CRM adoption and benefits are evidenced against agreed business outcomes after implementation.

Operations Delivery has a concise, decision-ready view of cross-functional performance, priorities, risks and dependencies.

Cross-functional issues are resolved at the appropriate level without duplicating functional work or weakening Director accountability.

The 18-month assignment leaves sustainable governance, decision and benefit-tracking disciplines embedded with the accountable permanent teams.

Key Relationships

SVP, Operations Delivery: Executive sponsor and accountable leader; sets direction, delegates defined decisions and receives decision-ready recommendations and escalations.

Sales, Service, Billing and Operations Support Directors: Functional owners who provide requirements, insight, resources and delivery. This role integrates their inputs and coordinates cross-functional decisions without replacing their accountability.

CRM program and transformation leadership: Partner on program scope, plan, governance and dependencies while this role represents and leads the Operations Delivery business position.

Product, Technology, Data and Architecture: Partner on solution choices, data needs and dependencies, with technical and platform accountabilities retained by the relevant owners.

Finance, Risk, Compliance and Legal: Partner on benefits, investment, controls, regulatory requirements and customer outcomes relevant to CRM and Operations Delivery decisions.

Required Experience and Capabilities

Senior experience integrating complex operations in insurance, financial services or another regulated service environment.

Demonstrated business leadership of a significant CRM, digital or technology-enabled transformation, including requirements, operating-model design, readiness, adoption and benefits realization.

Strong operational and commercial judgment, with the ability to lead through influence and distinguish cross-functional integration from functional ownership.

Ability to synthesize operational, customer, financial and risk information into concise executive recommendations.

Proven ability to influence senior functional, transformation and technology leaders without relying on direct authority.

Strong governance and decision discipline, including escalation, trade-off management and benefits realization.

Exceptional written, verbal and facilitation skills for senior audiences.

Comfort operating in a time-bound contractor assignment, establishing momentum quickly and leaving sustainable ownership and working practices with permanent teams.