Head of Service Experience

Job Title: Head of Service Experience

Location: London/Glasgow/Edinburgh/Liverpool

Contract Type:   Perm

Transform how clients experience Rathbones by leading our Service Experience agenda through collaborative service design expertise and pragmatic, cross-functional implementation. You'll deliver significant improvements to the client experience by orchestrating diagnosis, design, and delivery of journey improvements. Leading a team that creates exceptional end-to-end client journeys, you'll work closely with stakeholders across the Rathbones to deliver practical solutions that drive client satisfaction, retention, and business growth.

Collaborative strategic leadership to elevate the client experience:

• Drive collaboration with third-parties, data/analytics, change & transformation, and digital product teams to continuously develop and execute Rathbones' Service Experience strategy.
• Lead virtually across the enterprise, influencing stakeholders to integrate SX thinking into key change programmes and business design initiatives.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment on client journey maps and target experiences.

Virtual team leadership & enterprise influence:

• Directly lead a team of 3 Service Designers.
• Exercise enterprise-wide leadership to drive SX adoption across business units, orchestrating diagnosis of current client experiences and design of improved journeys.
• Foster collaborative relationships that span organisational boundaries and virtual working arrangements.
• Influence senior leaders across the enterprise to embed service design thinking into their areas.

Pragmatic design excellence

• Balance design ambition with business realities to create deliverable, impactful service improvements through systematic orchestration of journey enhancement initiatives.
• Collaborate with the insights team to translate research into actionable design decisions.
• Work pragmatically with technology constraints and business priorities to design feasible solutions.
• Lead virtually to build practical working relationships that break down silos between data/analytics, technology, and digital teams.

Analytics & measurement

• Partner with insights and data teams to implement realistic analytics strategies that drive measurable service improvements.
• Work with business stakeholders across the enterprise to establish practical metrics that demonstrate ROI and client value.
• Lead collaborative efforts to ensure continuous improvement processes are embedded and sustainable organisation wide.

Collaborative & virtual leadership experience

• Senior Business Designer or Head of CX/SX experience with proven ability to lead virtually and influence across complex enterprise environments, preferably in Wealth Management, Asset Management, or Financial Services.
• Track record of leading CX/SX functions through collaborative partnerships that deliver pragmatic business outcomes.
• Experience leading virtual teams and driving practical CX/SX programmes across large, distributed organisations with cross-functional, matrix style leadership capabilities.

Pragmatic technical skills

• Proficiency in collaborative design tools (Miro, Figma) with ability to facilitate virtual cross-team workshops.
• Practical experience with digital ecosystems including Salesforce, CRM, and MarTech solutions.
• Balanced expertise in information architecture, interaction design, visual design, and prototyping with focus on feasible implementation.

Collaborative & pragmatic leadership competencies

• Systematic yet flexible approach to identifying realistic opportunities and implementing practical solutions through orchestrated delivery methods.
• Exceptional virtual leadership and stakeholder management skills with ability to build consensus and drive decision-making across diverse, distributed groups. This is an orchestra conductor role that requires influence, credibility and clout with resources that report to other functional heads.
• Talent for translating customer insights into actionable, implementable business strategies across enterprise functions.
• Strong collaborative mindset - actively seeks input, builds on others' ideas, and creates shared ownership of solutions.
• Pragmatic problem-solving - balances ideal outcomes with practical constraints, focuses on deliverable improvements over perfect solutions.
• Enterprise leadership capability - influences and leads across organisational boundaries without formal authority.