Who are we?
Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 23,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.
People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.
This is a senior transformation leadership role responsible for shaping and delivering Howden’s multi-year global broking platform strategy. You will play a pivotal role in evolving Howden into a truly integrated, scalable, technology-enabled broking organisation. This position blends strategic leadership, platform modernisation expertise, program execution discipline, and deep collaboration across global divisions.
You will partner directly with regional and divisional leadership (including COOs, CIOs, and Heads of Broking), as well as Group Technology, Data, and Operations, to shape and validate platform solution options, prioritise investments, and create executable delivery plans. Your remit spans strategy definition, execution oversight, business case development, and enterprise alignment with wider transformation initiatives.
What you’ll be doing
Global Transformation Strategy
- Shape and drive Howden’s global broking platform transformation strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and growth ambitions at country, regional and Group levels.
- Drive day to day programme management of broking platform simplification across the Group, targeting an estate of c.20-25% of the current total platforms.
- Evaluate and validate platform solution options with divisional/regional COOs, CIOs, and Group Technology, ensuring they meet both local requirements and global standards. Promoting the importance of integration with Howden’s broader technology ecosystem.
Business Case & Programme Leadership
- Partner with divisions to develop robust business cases for broking platform simplification, including benefits, costs, ROI, and risk analysis, for review by Group leadership.
- Own global programme management for Howden’s broking platform transformation efforts. Own, manage and articulate the global transformation roadmap, working with dedicated regional programme managers to roll delivery plans and milestones into a Group-wide view.
- Ensure alignment with other Howden transformation initiatives across business, operations, technology and data.
Platform Consolidation Execution & Cross-Regional Synergies
- Drive on-plan delivery of global platform consolidation initiatives, leveraging best practice and technology across countries and regions, where appropriate.
- Work with subject-matter experts to establish guidance or playbooks to drive efficiency and consistency across global platform consolidation projects e.g. data migration, system decommissioning.
- Assess, promote and own the relationship with strategic platform vendors that could support Howden across countries and regions. Leading functional capability reviews and working with Group Enterprise Architects to technically assess the solutions to ensure they meet the needs of the business.
Stakeholder Alignment & Governance
- Establish disciplined governance across regions, ensuring clear decision-making, transparency, and accountability. Including formation and ownership of regional Platform Transformation Steering Committees.
- Provide clear, concise, and compelling storytelling for senior executives; produce regular transformation reporting and insights for Group leadership.
What you’ll bring
- Extensive experience leading large-scale transformation within insurance.
- Deep understanding of broking processes, global operating models, and platform modernisation.
- Proven ability to translate strategy into practical, executable roadmaps with measurable outcomes.
- Expertise in building business cases for major platform investments and presenting them to C-suite and Group leadership.
- Significant experience working with senior executives (COO, CIO, Divisional CEOs), influencing cross-functional stakeholders, and securing consensus.
- Exceptional executive communication skills, including status reporting and risk disclosure.
- Demonstrated capability in designing and executing technology transformation and change programs.
- Experience at a top tier consulting firm, consulting the insurance industry is a must.
What do we offer in return?
A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:
Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new
We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges
We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond
Reasonable adjustments
We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.
If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.
*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.
Permanent