Reckitt
Transition and Transformation Director
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Manpower are currently seeking an interim IT Operations Transformation Lead to work with our global FMCG client Reckitt, renowned for brands such as Dettol, Finish, Nurofen, and Air Wick, and to become an integral part of their fast-paced FMCG environment.
The position is based in Slough. This a full-time temporary role to start as soon as possible and to run for 12 months, Monday to Friday. Compensation for this role is competitive.
The role currently offers a mix of remote and onsite working, subject to adjustment based on business requirements.
Overview
We are seeking an experienced Transition & Transformation Director to lead one of the most significant IT Operations programmes within our organisation.
This role will be accountable for the successful transition of global IT Operations services from an incumbent managed services partner to a new strategic provider, subject to the outcome of an ongoing sourcing programme. The scope spans multiple service towers (Lots), stakeholders, geographies, technologies, and operational teams, requiring strong leadership, governance, and delivery expertise.
Following transition, the role will lead the transformation of the operational environment from a predominantly manual, people-intensive delivery model towards a modern AI-enabled operating model, leveraging AIOps, automation, observability, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), predictive operations, and self-healing capabilities.
Working closely with senior internal stakeholders, service tower leads, strategic vendors, and executive leadership, the successful candidate will be responsible for delivering business-critical outcomes, ensuring operational stability throughout transition, and establishing the foundations for the future operating model.
This role requires an individual who has personally led large-scale service transitions and transformation programmes within complex global enterprises and can demonstrate successful delivery of programmes valued in the multi-million-pound range.
Key Responsibilities
Service Transition Leadership
- Own the end-to-end planning, mobilisation, execution, and successful delivery of a global IT Operations service transition programme.
- Lead all transition activities including due diligence, discovery, operating model design, knowledge transfer, service migration, governance establishment, service acceptance, and hypercare.
- Develop and maintain an integrated transition plan across all service lots, managing dependencies, critical paths, programme risks, and escalation activities.
- Establish governance frameworks, executive steering committees, and programme controls to ensure successful delivery.
- Partner closely with incumbent and incoming service providers to ensure continuity of service throughout transition.
- Drive issue resolution and recovery planning to minimise operational risk and maintain programme momentum when challenges arise.
- Ensure service quality, regulatory compliance, security requirements, and operational stability are maintained throughout the transition lifecycle.
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Transformation Leadership
- Define and execute the post-transition IT Operations transformation strategy.
- Partner with the selected service provider to shape and deliver a multi-year transformation roadmap aligned to business and technology objectives.
- Lead the redesign of operational processes, service delivery models, governance structures, tooling, and ways of working.
- Drive measurable improvements in operational efficiency, service quality, resilience, user experience, and cost effectiveness.
- Establish a culture of continuous improvement and data-driven operational decision making.
- Deliver measurable business outcomes through automation, standardisation, and service optimisation initiatives.
Programme & Executive Leadership
- Provide overall programme leadership for a major strategic transformation initiative with responsibility for scope, budget, risks, timelines, and outcomes.
- Lead multi-disciplinary teams comprising internal resources, service providers, consultants, and technology partners.
- Deliver regular updates to executive stakeholders, ensuring clear transparency on progress, risks, financials, decisions, and value realisation.
- Maintain accountability for programme financial performance, benefits tracking, and delivery against approved business cases.
- Build strong relationships across business and technology leadership teams to secure alignment and accelerate decision-making.
AI Ops, Automation & Modern Operations
- The successful candidate will possess a strong understanding of modern operational practices and emerging AI-enabled service management capabilities.
- This includes experience or demonstrable knowledge of:
- AIOps platforms and operational transformation initiatives
- Intelligent event correlation and noise reduction
- Predictive monitoring and predictive incident management
- Self-healing and autonomous remediation capabilities
- Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles
- Service observability and operational telemetry
- Automation and orchestration platforms
- Shift-left operational strategies
- Platform engineering and modern cloud operations models
- While deep technical implementation expertise is not required, candidates must be capable of shaping strategy, challenging vendors, and driving delivery of these capabilities at enterprise scale.
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Required Experience
Essential
- Proven experience operating at Director, Programme Director, Transformation Director, or equivalent level within large, complex organisations.
- Demonstrable track record leading end-to-end managed services transitions covering multiple service towers or operational domains.
- Significant experience transitioning services between incumbent and strategic suppliers in global environments.
- Proven delivery of major transformation programmes exceeding £10m in value and involving multiple stakeholders, vendors, and workstreams.
- Experience establishing and leading programme governance for executive-level transformation initiatives.
- Strong understanding of IT Operations, Service Management, and managed service delivery models.
- Experience managing complex vendor relationships and holding service providers accountable for delivery outcomes.
- Ability to demonstrate how transition risks were identified, mitigated, and successfully managed during previous programmes.
- Experience working under tight deadlines, managing ambiguity, and leading programmes through challenging delivery environments.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
Preferred
- Previous accountability for IT Operations, Infrastructure Services, Service Management, or Managed Services functions.
- Experience delivering operational transformation following a major outsourcing or service transition programme.
- Understanding of AIOps, SRE, Observability, Platform Operations, and Service Automation.
- ITIL, MSP, PRINCE2, PMP, or equivalent programme delivery qualifications.
- Experience within large multinational or FTSE/Fortune-scale organisations.
Key Attributes
- Credible executive-level leader with gravitas and presence.
- Self-starter who quickly establishes structure, momentum, and accountability.
- Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
- Highly resilient and effective under pressure.
- Strong commercial acumen and ability to challenge suppliers constructively.
- Naturally collaborative while maintaining strong delivery focus.
- Outcome-oriented and accountable for results.
- Practical problem solver with a track record of rescuing and recovering complex programmes.
- Operates with urgency while maintaining quality and governance standards.
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