Job Description

The Change Portfolio Leader will provide leadership, structure and governance across Markel UK’s change portfolio, ensuring initiatives are clearly defined, prioritised, sequenced and delivered in line with UK strategic objectives, business value and available capacity. This role will lead the team responsible for UK portfolio planning, intake, prioritisation, governance, reporting and benefits tracking. Working with UK senior leaders, business stakeholders and delivery teams, the role will provide reliable portfolio insight, support investment decisions, strengthen delivery rigor and embed consistent ways of working across UK change activity.

We’re all about people | We win together | We strive for better | We enjoy the everyday | We think further

Who we are:

Business Unit overview:

The Change and Continuous Improvement team supports the delivery of strategic change across Markel UK by providing portfolio governance, delivery oversight, reporting and continuous improvement capability. The team works closely with UK senior leaders, business stakeholders, technology, finance, risk and delivery teams to ensure change activity is prioritised, controlled and aligned to business value. This role will lead the UK portfolio management capability and provide clear insight to support effective decision-making across the UK change portfolio.

Part of Markel Group (NYSE – MKL) a Fortune 500 company with over 60 offices in 20+ countries, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, specialist advisory, and investment operations around the world.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead, coach and develop a team responsible for portfolio management, governance, reporting and delivery oversight, creating a culture of teamwork, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Be responsible for the end-to-end change portfolio process, from initial idea and intake through to prioritisation, delivery oversight, adoption and benefits realisation.
• Lead portfolio prioritisation, sequencing and capacity planning to ensure activity is aligned to strategic objectives, business value, risk and available resources.
• Ensure consistent application of the relevant change framework and governance standards for UK change activity, including lifecycle gates, decision points and required evidence.
• Provide clear UK portfolio reporting, insight and recommendations to senior leadership and governance forums, highlighting progress, risks, issues, dependencies and decisions required.
• Support case review, investment prioritisation and value-based decision making by constructively challenging assumptions and evidence.
• Track portfolio outcomes, adoption measures and benefits realisation, driving accountability for delivery of agreed value.
• Build strong working relationships across business leaders, change delivery teams, technology, finance, risk and other colleagues to support coordinated and controlled delivery.
• Find opportunities to improve portfolio governance, reporting, data quality, standards and ways of working across the change function.

Key Skills:

• Experience leading change portfolios, enterprise programmes, portfolio management offices or comparable transformation governance functions.
• Experience managing, coaching or developing direct reports, with the ability to set direction, prioritise work and build team capability.
• Strong understanding of structured change, project or programme delivery lifecycles, including governance, controls, dependency management and benefits tracking.
• Experience building, embedding or improving portfolio governance, reporting, management information or decision-making processes.
• Ability to handle opposing priorities, capacity constraints and delivery risks across multiple initiatives.
• Strong influencing skills, including the confidence to constructively challenge senior leaders and governance forums.
• Strong analytical capability, with the ability to interpret portfolio data, identify trends, assess risks and present clear recommendations.
• Commercial and financial awareness, including experience supporting case review, investment prioritisation or value-based decision making.

Desirable:

• Experience working in insurance, financial services or another regulated environment.
• Experience applying change frameworks, portfolio tooling, delivery methodologies or governance standards within a UK business environment.
• Experience improving portfolio reporting, data quality, governance processes or management information.

What’s in it for you?

• A great starting salary plus annual bonus & strong benefits package…
• Up to 16% company pension scheme,
• Private medical and dental cover, Menopause plan, emergency care benefit (children/Pets/dependants)
• Income protection, Life assurance, electric car scheme, travel insurance
• 25 days paid holiday plus Bank Holidays, with the opportunity to buy/sell extra leave
• As well as other great benefits on offer there are countless opportunities to learn new skills and develop in your career!

Are you ready to play your part?

If you’re looking for a place where you can make a meaningful difference, you’ve found it. The work we do at Markel gives people the confidence to move forward, reach their full potential and seize opportunities. You’ll find your fit amongst our diverse global community of optimists and problem-solvers. We’re always pushing each other to think further because we believe that when we strive for better and realise our potential, we can help others reach theirs.

Join us and play your part in something special!

Choose ‘Apply Now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

At Markel we are all about the people, celebrating the value of a diverse workforce that brings experience and expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and life circumstances. Whatever your background, if you feel you meet the requirements of this role then we want to hear from you. We are also happy to consider candidates who are looking for flexible working patterns.

We will ensure that individuals are provided with any reasonable accommodations to be able to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions if successful. Please contact us via email at rec@markel.com or call us at 0161 507 5827 to request any accommodations or adjustments that may be needed, including alternative formats of documents or information on how to apply offline.

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