Howden
Head of Client Services Pensions
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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 24,000 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.
Role Purpose
The Head of Client Services – Pensions is responsible for leading and developing a high-performing Client Services function, ensuring the consistent delivery of exceptional colleague, consultant, and client experiences across their specialism.
The role provides strategic and operational leadership, ensuring the function operates effectively, efficiently, and in accordance with regulatory, governance, and business requirements.
This role sits between Client Services Managers and the Head of Professional Excellence & Client Services and on a day-to-day basis ensures:
- Consistent delivery of high-quality client servicing outcomes
- Effective leadership and development of management teams
- Strong governance, compliance, and risk management oversight
- Delivery of business objectives and functional goals
- Capacity and capability aligned to current and future business needs
- A culture of professionalism, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
The Head of Client Services acts as the senior point of escalation for significant operational, client, or people matters and is accountable for ensuring their area is appropriately structured, resourced, and governed to support sustainable growth and service excellence.
Key Responsibilities
1. Leadership & People Development
- Provide leadership, direction, and support to Principal Managers, Managers, and Associate Managers.
- Create a high-performance culture focused on accountability, engagement, development, and client outcomes.
- Drive implementation of the Professional Excellence Programme and associated capability frameworks.
- Ensure robust succession planning and talent development across all levels.
- Lead quarterly talent reviews and contribute to broader organisational talent discussions.
- Build management capability through coaching, mentoring, and constructive challenge.
- Champion colleague engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion.
2. Operational Leadership & Service Delivery
- Maintain overall accountability for operational performance across the relevant Client Services function.
- Ensure delivery of service standards, contractual commitments, regulatory requirements, and key milestones.
- Monitor workload distribution, resource utilisation, and operational resilience.
- Ensure effective management of service pressures, operational risks, and emerging issues.
- Drive consistency of approach, standards, and outcomes across teams.
- Oversee implementation of operating models, process improvements, and organisational changes.
- Ensure business continuity arrangements remain appropriate and effective.
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3. Client, Consultant & Stakeholder Relationships
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with Client Directors, Consultants, Sales Professionals, and key stakeholders.
- Support the resolution of complex, escalated client matters.
- Promote a collaborative approach between Client Services, Consulting, and other business functions.
- Ensure Client Services is viewed as a trusted and valued strategic partner.
- Contribute to client retention, growth, and service excellence initiatives.
- Represent Client Services in strategic business discussions and projects.
4. Governance, Risk & Regulatory Oversight
- Ensure compliance with all regulatory, legal, and internal governance requirements.
- Maintain oversight of Consumer Duty obligations and customer outcome considerations.
- Ensure appropriate controls, quality assurance processes, and peer review arrangements are in place.
- Review operational risks and ensure appropriate mitigation and escalation.
- Support audits, reviews, investigations, and regulatory enquiries where required.
- Champion accurate record keeping, documentation standards, and data integrity.
- Ensure adherence to product governance, insurer, and provider requirements.
5. Financial & Resource Management
- Contribute to budget planning and financial performance management.
- Ensure resources are deployed effectively to meet business demands.
- Monitor productivity, efficiency, and operational performance indicators.
- Identify opportunities to improve operational effectiveness and reduce inefficiencies.
- Support recruitment planning and organisational design activities.
- Ensure workforce planning aligns with current and future growth requirements.
6. Continuous Improvement & Transformation
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives across the function.
- Drive simplification, standardisation, and optimisation of processes.
- Support implementation of new systems, technology, and business change initiatives.
- Use management information, colleague feedback, and client insights to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Encourage innovation and promote a culture of learning and adaptability.
- Ensure lessons learned from incidents, complaints, breaches, and quality reviews are translated into meaningful improvements.
7. Strategic Leadership Contribution
- Contribute to the wider Client Services strategy and future direction.
- Support achievement of Client Services goals and organisational priorities.
- Provide insight and recommendations regarding organisational capability, capacity, risks, and opportunities.
- Lead strategic projects and initiatives as required.
- Act as an ambassador for Client Services and support a consistent leadership approach across all functions.
- Promote collaboration across Health, Risk, New Business, and Pensions Client Services functions.
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Core Management Expectations
Core management expectations are detailed in a separate document and are in addition to the expectations as detailed in this job description.
Behaviours & Attributes
- Champion change and continuous improvement by proactively leading transformational initiatives, creating an environment that embraces innovation, and consistently demonstrating a growth mindset through both actions and decision-making.
- Adopt and promote a strategic and enterprise-wide perspective, ensuring decisions consider broader commercial, operational, and people impacts whilst aligning with organisational priorities.
- Anticipate future business requirements, identifying opportunities, risks, and emerging trends that may influence the success, effectiveness, and sustainability of Client Services.
- Lead with influence, credibility, and emotional intelligence, building strong relationships across all levels of the organisation and effectively navigating competing priorities and stakeholder needs.
- Remain calm, resilient, and decisive when leading through complexity, uncertainty, or periods of significant change, providing confidence and clear direction to others.
- Develop high-performing leaders by creating an environment of accountability, trust, constructive challenge, and continuous learning.
- Apply sound judgement to assess operational, regulatory, reputational, and commercial risks, ensuring appropriate mitigation, governance, and escalation.
- Demonstrate confidence, ownership, and accountability for outcomes, making informed decisions that support colleagues, clients, and the long-term success of the business.
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.
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