Head of Business Support Transformation

Position:  Head of Business Support Transformation
Location: Glasgow or Edinburgh | Visibility required in both locations
Salary: Circa £60,000 – £75,000 per annum DOE with excellent benefits

We are working with a leading professional services organisation to appoint a newly created Head of Business Support Transformation.
This is a high-profile opportunity for an experienced transformation, change or operational improvement professional to take ownership of a significant programme of change, with the scope to reshape how business support is structured and delivered across the organisation.
Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, you will have genuine senior-level sponsorship and the mandate to challenge existing ways of working, identify opportunities for improvement, and turn those opportunities into meaningful, sustainable change.
The organisation has already been through a period of transformation and investment, and this appointment represents the next stage of that journey. The successful individual will look across people, structure, processes, systems, technology and capability to create a more consistent, efficient and future-focused approach to business support.

The opportunity
Taking a strategic view of the existing support model, you will assess how teams are currently structured, how work is delivered across different departments and where opportunities exist to improve consistency, efficiency, accountability and service delivery.
You will lead a number of transformation and operational improvement projects, taking these from initial discovery and scoping through to implementation, adoption and measurable outcomes.
A key part of the role will be getting beneath existing ways of working. You will map processes, identify potential inefficiencies, review systems and workflows and consider where technology, automation and AI can enable people to work differently and more effectively.
There is also an important people and organisational change element. You will assess existing structures and capability, work with stakeholders and managers to strengthen leadership, identify development needs and help create clearer training, development and career pathways.
Most importantly, you will need to bring people on this journey with you.  You will need the credibility and influencing skills to challenge constructively, build consensus and turn transformation plans into changes that are genuinely adopted across the business.

What you'll be responsible for
Your remit will include:
Developing and delivering a clear transformation roadmap for business support.
Reviewing organisational and team structures, roles, responsibilities and ways of working.
Leading multiple operational change and improvement projects from concept through to implementation.
Mapping existing processes and identifying inefficiencies, duplication, bottlenecks and opportunities for standardisation.
Reviewing systems and workflows and identifying opportunities to improve productivity through technology, automation and AI.
Assessing leadership and capability across the function and identifying opportunities for development and upskilling.
Working with internal stakeholders to develop appropriate training, career development and capability frameworks.
Establishing meaningful KPIs, service standards and management information to demonstrate performance and impact.
Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders and influencing individuals with differing priorities and established ways of working.
Creating engagement around change, communicating the rationale behind transformation and ensuring new ways of working become embedded.
Working closely with the COO and wider leadership team to ensure transformation activity supports the organisation's broader strategic and commercial objectives.
Who are we looking for?
You could currently be working in business transformation, operational change, organisational change, continuous improvement, project/programme management ideally within a professional services operation; however, industry experience is not essential.
What matters is that you can demonstrate that you have personally led meaningful change rather than simply supported it.
We are particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate experience of taking complex transformation or operational improvement projects from initial diagnosis through to implementation and embedding.
You should be comfortable operating at both strategic and operational level, able to step back, understand the bigger organisational picture and develop a clear vision, while being equally prepared to get into the detail of a process or workflow to understand what needs to change.
You will bring strong project management capability alongside excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills. You'll be confident working with senior stakeholders, challenging established thinking and navigating resistance to change without losing engagement.
Experience of process mapping, organisational or structural review, technology-enabled change, service improvement or capability development would all be highly relevant.
An interest in how technology, automation and AI can improve the way support services operate will also be important.

The person
You'll be commercially minded, pragmatic and comfortable with ambiguity. You won't need to arrive with all the answers, you will need the ability to diagnose an issue, engage the right people, develop a credible solution and then have the determination to see it through.
Successful transformation is as much about people as it is about process. Your ability to influence, communicate and win hearts and minds will therefore be every bit as important as your technical change or project management experience.

Why consider it?
This is a rare opportunity to join a professional services organisation at a point when there are both the appetite and senior-level backing for genuine change.
Rather than inheriting a finished operating model, you will have the opportunity to shape it.
You'll work closely with the COO, have significant autonomy and the opportunity to lead a portfolio of projects that will influence how people work, how technology is used and how business support evolves over the coming years.
The role can be based in Glasgow or Edinburgh, with hybrid working available. Given the nature and seniority of the appointment, regular visibility and relationship building across both offices will be important
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed