Divisional Director, General Counsel Directorate Management

Are you ready to chart your own career path? At SJP we need talented individuals like yourself to support our evolving culture. If you’re seeking an employer that is passionate about excellence, innovation and autonomy, SJP could be the place for you.

At a glance:

Location: London or Cirencester

Workplace Type: Hybrid

Employment Type: Permanent

Seniority: Director

Who We Are

People have always been at the heart of St. James’s Place, we value long-term relationships and we are a home for people who care about the future – financially, environmentally and socially. These core values have enabled us to become a leading FTSE 100 Wealth Management company.

The role:

This role reports to the General Counsel (GEC member) and forms part of the directorate’s senior leadership team. This is a significant role that works across the whole directorate to bring direction and cohesion to the General Council Directorate (GCD) during a time of significant change. The role holder will act as a delegate for the General Counsel in some committee meetings.

In conjunction with and at the direction of the General Counsel, you’ll be responsible for the development and execution of a Directorate operating model to drive efficiency, effectiveness and best practice across the constituent teams.

This role will focus on translating a vision for the GCD into industry best practice - building, executing and acting as a strategic advisor to multiple GCD teams but also to bring cohesion and consistency across the Directorate. This will deliver operational efficiency through industry-informed transformation initiatives, centralising services, and fostering team development.

The role will also act as a delegate for the General Counsel in meetings, as well as tracking the area's strategic performance and ensuring compliance with relevant transformation and operational governance.

What you'll be doing:

• Work collaboratively with the GCD SLT, lead the creation, definition and execution of the GCD directorate team strategy. Create and manage a KPI framework and dashboards to track progress against this strategy and transformation deliverables.
• Build a GCD centre of excellence to deliver effective services to the wider business and key stakeholders.
• Conduct a needs analysis to identify technology enablement for the Directorate including workflow, document management and create a “front door” to the business units. Identifying solutions and lead consistent implementation to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
• Develop transformation initiatives to streamline GCD operations, including the introduction of best-in-class automation and workflow tools.
• Understand and implement industry best practice processes and tools to improve GCD efficiency, impact and reduce costs.
• Establish a formal Legal Panel of external suppliers, building controls and delivering economic efficiency and commercial advantage as well as ensuring the right work is outsourced to the right external supplier. Work effectively with procurement to continue to evolve this model and drive greater savings.
• Lead on developing and implementing new legal policies supporting the management of legal risk within the nascent operational risk management framework and establishing management information feedback loops for same.
• Support the General Counsel in preparing Board and Board Committee papers and reports and internal reports on the Directorate and, where appropriate, represent the GC or the Directorate in committee meetings.
• With the support of the L&D team and external resources (Panel firms), shape and develop specialist learning and development programmes to upskill GCD teams with appropriate knowledge and technical expertise and, as appropriate, across the firm.
• Run internal directorate budget management covering external spend, hiring and internal costs.
• Track and monitor the division's budgets, financial and business plans. Ensure delivery against budget, targets and reporting requirements.
• Line management of all Operations and EAs within the Directorate to build a cohesive functional management team.

Essential Criteria:

• Extensive experience in strategy, operations, project management and delivery of significant programmes of work in greenfield situations.
• Demonstrable experience in providing best in class guidance to senior leaders drawing on your capability in strategic planning and execution.
• Relevant experience gained from within in a large financial services organisation.
• Understanding of the matrix support model for internal stakeholders.
• Knowledge and experience of process improvement methodologies, including digital transformation, automation, and workflow tools to streamline operations.
• A strong understanding of cost control, training and development, and compliance and risk management, with experience of managing these within a large, regulated firm.
• Ability to deal with, analyse and resolve multiple, complex and interconnected problems.
• Effective at working with all leadership levels, and particularly with our C-suite leaders.
• Strong and confident verbal and written communication skills to effectively convey strategies, progress and initiatives to various stakeholders at different levels.
• An effective and inspirational leader, with the skills to represent leadership in meetings, effectively communicate, and influence decision-making processes at various organisational levels.

Special requirements:

• Some national travel (most likely between Cirencester and London), with some occasional overnight stays. Some flexibility around working hours expected from time to time.

Why work for us?

Our Rewards

In addition to an attractive salary and eligibility to participate in the discretionary annual bonus opportunities, you will also receive an excellent benefit package including:

• Non-Contributory Pension – 10% (increasing with length of service) with further pension matching
• Meaningful protection benefits with real value, such as 10X life cover, PHI, and critical illness.
• Best in class terms and conditions including 6 months paid maternity and paternity leave.
• Private Medical and Dental Insurance
• 28 days holiday entitlement plus bank holidays (based on full-time equivalent) with the option to buy an additional up to 5 days
• Discretionary bonus scheme dependent on company and personal performance, varied by level
• Not applicable to fixed term contracts (standard uplift applies in lieu of the protection benefits)

Our Culture

Our culture is the glue that binds us together - It’s one of our biggest assets and one of the biggest reasons for our success. It’s underpinned by core values of doing the right thing, being the best version of ourselves and investing in long term relationships.

We want to embrace diverse backgrounds and experiences to connect with clients, solve problems and innovate. We raise our voice on the things that matter to us and drive change from the front. Contributing to our inclusive culture is vital, ensuring a space for everyone to be their authentic self, no compromises.

In all we do, we consider how our work affects the communities in which we belong. Over 96% of our group employees are involved in supporting our communities through financial education, charitable giving and volunteering. Over 80% of all our employees and Partners donate each month to our Charitable Foundation, which is now the 3rd largest corporate charity in UK.

SJP are delighted to have signed The Armed Forces Covenant, and we are active members of LGBT Great, 30% club, The Diversity Project, Disability Confident and more! Find out more: https://www.sjp.co.uk/careers/life-at-sjp

Our Awards:

We understand it’s important to be proud of the company you work for, that’s why we’re proud to share with you some of our recent awards:

• Wealth Manager of the Year – Growth Investor Awards 2021
• Best Wealth Manager – Shares Awards 2021
• Championing LGBTQ Inclusion - Financial Adviser Diversity in Finance Awards 2020
• Top 75 Employer - Social Mobility Foundation Employer Index 2021

To find out more visit: https://www.sjp.co.uk/about-us/our-awards-and-recognition

How To Apply

To apply for this role please click on the Apply button below.

We occasionally close vacancies early due to high volumes of applications. We would therefore recommend you complete your application prior to the closing date which is for guidance only.

Careers at SJP | St. James’s Place Careers

What's in it for you?

We reward you for the work you do, whether that’s through our discretionary annual bonus scheme that reflects both personal and company performance, competitive annual leave allowance (28 days plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase an additional 5 days), or online rewards platform with a variety of discounts.

We also have benefits to support whatever stage of life you are in, including:

• Competitive parental leave (26 weeks full pay)
• Private medical insurance (optional taxable benefit)
• 10% non-contributory pension (increasing with length of service)

Reasonable Adjustments

We're an equal opportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible and inclusive for all, if you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stage please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]

What's next?

If you're excited about this role and believe you have the skills and experience we're looking for, we'd love to hear from you! Please submit an application by clicking ‘apply’ below and our team will be in touch.

As a business regulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with the conduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to an interview with SJP.