Head of Change Delivery

Vida Bank provides competitive savings products through Vida Savings and specialist mortgage solutions through Vida Homeloans.

Our mortgage business supports Buy to Let (BTL) and residential borrowers (ROO) who find themselves underserved elsewhere. Our mortgage customers range from Buy to Let investors, to the self-employed and customers with multiple jobs.

Our savings proposition is delivered online via our website, and is focussed on providing savers with fair, transparent and competitive rates. Our typical customers are active savers, who tend to look beyond their current account provider for savings accounts.

Our business model and strategy are underpinned by our core purpose to ‘Help More People Find a Place to call Home’.

We are here to help the under-served, especially those with more nuanced personal circumstances or borrowing needs who are not able to access a mortgage from a mainstream mortgage lender. Working exclusively with intermediary partners, we combine cutting-edge technology with skilled and caring underwriting expertise to solve complex customer problems.

As a fully regulated UK based bank with ambitious growth aspirations, we recognise the importance of having a clearly articulated culture strategy and the need to actively manage how it embeds in the business together with the behaviours which exemplify it.

As a recognised Best Companies Top 100 mid-sized company to work for in the UK and a finalist at the Financial Reporter Women’s Recognition Awards, we take pride in our diverse workforce, championing both ethic and gender diversity through our EDI commitments.

Having met the target set by being a member of the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter we have 50% of senior management roles filled by women.

With offices in London, Newcastle and Skipton, we bring our teams together regularly to collaborate and empower our colleagues to have more choice around when and where they work on the days they are not in the office, with colleagues working remotely in various locations across the UK.

We are proud to have built a culture founded on an ethos of caring, and that sits at the heart of our Vida Values, driving the way we run our business, support our customers and other stakeholders on a daily basis.

We genuinely care about delivering the right outcomes for all our stakeholders who we consider through the cultural framework as our customers, colleagues, company and communities that we operate in.

By Joining Vida you will have a sense of belonging in what is a diverse and collaborative environment, where you will be empowered to take responsibility for driving delivery.

We embrace a diversity of backgrounds and experiences in our people, in the deeply held belief that better outcomes are achieved for customers when our colleagues are better placed to empathise with and understand their unique circumstances. From application to interview, we place inclusion at the heart of all we do.

Role Overview:

Vida’s change agenda is considerable and varied, which must be expertly prioritised and managed as the business grows and expands post-Banking licence.

The Head of Change Delivery will be accountable for the leadership of the project management team and for managing the effective delivery of the full portfolio of change to support delivery of Vida’s strategic vision. The role holder will own the internal change methodology, drive ongoing adherence to this and be responsible for elevating the project management, planning and delivery capability of the team to best-in-class.

The role holder will engage and collaborate with colleagues and leaders at all levels across all active and upcoming change projects, ensuring that robust plans are in place, prioritised and sequenced accordingly, that Change and business resources are appropriately allocated.

Vida is a modern mortgage lender that embraces technology as a key differentiator and enabler to deliver its strategic objectives. The ability to deliver change quickly, efficiently, and safely is key to realising growth and operational efficiency in the highly competitive UK mortgage and savings market.

Key Responsibilities:

• To establish the annual change portfolio plan, working closely with the Director of Change, Director of Strategy & Proposition, Director of Strategic Finance and other key senior leaders as required, ensuring the business case for change is clearly defined.
• End to end management of the change portfolio, collaborate with stakeholders to identify portfolio objectives, established realistic plans, define success metrics and monitor/measure delivery of key outcomes and benefits.
• Leadership and performance management of the project management team pillar, setting clear direction, objectives and guidance, developing and motivating a highly effective team.
• Development of Vida’s change management capability – owning, shaping and optimising the change methodology, and developing the capability of the team to apply this effectively and consistently.
• Define the change roadmap to align to Vida’s strategic priorities and operating plans, refreshing on a quarterly basis.
• Prioritise roadmap activities based on quarterly business objectives, costs, data-driven insights, resource availability and the capacity in the business to absorb and embed change.
• Drive the day to day delivery activities across the portfolio, from initial shaping and mobilisation through to deployment and post go live support. Responsible for the initiation, management and delivery of change programmes and projects to agreed specifications, dates and budget. Working with the programme and project managers to build integrated and detailed plans.
• Monitor, manage and report on portfolio costs, working with Finance to validate monthly cost reporting and to establish revised forecasts in line with business requirements (e.g. 5+7).
• Build and exercise strong relationships and rapport with key stakeholders from across the business, present as required to Board, the Executive, Change and IT teams.
• Own the Change relationship with key third parties.
• Manage and maintain the change portfolio plan, RAID and costs, supporting the Director of Change to prepare for monthly Performance and Change Committees and Board updates.
• Set, drive and manage the operating rhythm between the Change, IT and Data leadership team to review portfolio progress, priorities, resourcing and risks.
• Deputise for the Director of Change as required / agreed.
• Implement a culture of operational excellence and customer first focus

Requirements:

• Extensive and successful track record of delivering strategic, regulatory and technical change initiatives across a large and complex portfolio.
• Comprehensive working knowledge and experience in using industry-standard project management methodologies – waterfall, agile and hybrid.
• Advanced project management and planning skills including effective and proficient utilisation of tools such as MS Project (essential), Jira and Trello.
• Well-developed people leadership and people development skills, at least 5 years of line management experience desirable.
• An understanding of key business drivers, performance measures and commercial realities.
• Great team player with a natural ability to lead, inspire, collaborate, and produce excellent results.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Sharp analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams to deliver on a common goal.
• Good understanding of technology and the technology delivery cycle.
• The ability to remain effective, productive and driven in a pressured, fast-paced and changing environment.
• Understanding of the retail banking / mortgage industry, market conditions and trends is preferable.

Our values are well established and recognised throughout our organisation. They provide a frame of reference for the behaviours expected from our colleagues every day.

We find ways to break old conventions, especially those which cause exclusion or customer harm. We look for these qualities when hiring new talent into the organisation, and they underpin our approach to personal development and performance management for all our people. At the heart of this is the fact we care about our Customers, Our Colleagues and our Communities. We are:

Visionary - We innovate and break old habits, thinking big and pushing boundaries together as one team

Inclusive - We value each other’s differences and work to see people for who they really are

Dynamic - We are flexible and fast, cutting through complexity and never accepting second best

Authentic - We are honest and genuine, what you see is what you get

We offer a comprehensive benefits package to support our employees’ professional and personal needs. Further details can be provided upon application.

To apply for this role please email your CV to careers@vidabank.co.uk.