Head of Business Operations

The Head of Business Operations of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. Guernsey Branch is responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of the local COO Department. This role demands a unique blend of strategic vision, tactical expertise, and collaborative leadership

The successful candidate will oversee a diverse range of functions, including:

• Management of the existing Change Team to drive transformation and innovation, with a keen focus on automation/better use of technology and efficiencies (through eliminating unnecessary steps and ensuring effective controls in the right places), both at a strategic and tactical level
• Providing business management & analyst expertise to optimise departmental performance across the Branch
• Managing strategic and tactical projects across the Branch
• Assume the role of Local Third-Party Officer, ensuring effective partnerships and collaborations
• Responsible for operational resilience (including Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Cyber Security)
• Lead on the local Change Ambassador program
• Collaborating with local function owners to foster operational resilience, navigating complex regulatory and compliance landscapes
• As a senior member of the team, the Head of Business Operations will be responsible for achieving specific personal, operational, and strategic objectives, as outlined in the performance management system. This role requires a deep understanding of regulatory and compliance requirements, as well as the ability to navigate the intricacies of operational risk management

People Management

• Oversight of direct report responsible for IT support and facilities management
• Ensuring independence of team members and self in respect of areas of responsibility to appropriately fulfil role and functional requirements, supporting the development of specialist skills and knowledge to enhance and enrich roles
• Directing and leading a team of people, who may also be line managers, in their day-to-day work and achievement of their objectives
• Ensuring that the team have necessary skills and capabilities for the role and have agreed personal development plans, with clear goals and aspirations, making sure that they have access and opportunity to undertake relevant training. This will be achieved via direct and indirect management and monitoring
• Manage performance and conduct of team members including setting the cultural agenda to define how employees work together, fostering an environment and culture of collaboration and communication
• Act as a role model for leadership, demonstrating and engendering a strong sense of integrity and adherence to the firm’s policies, principles, procedures, and values within the team, building a strong team spirit and supporting innovation and continuous improvement
• Provide support to leverage the technical/functional skills within the change team whilst allowing direct reports the space, support, and encouragement to deliver. Being open to new and better solutions driven through collective sharing of knowledge and expertise
• Oversight by ensuring mandatory training and annual attestation of the entire function is adhered to

Business Management

• Support and manage the day-to-day operational activities of the Branch
• Support client services and process owners in rollout, review, and ongoing process improvement of business and regulatory initiatives Support process owners in their usage of key business tools and applications 
• Ensure a sound operational resilience framework, mapping of critical business services and reporting that is understood by its employees and meets expected internal and regulatory standards
• To effectively support the business in its duty to comply with the relevant laws, regulations and internal procedures
• Responsible as Local Third-Party Officer for the development of sound outsourcing policies and procedures, compliance with relevant regulatory requirements, regular review of outsourced arrangements, coordination of Outsourcing Service Owners and liaison with the local outsourcing governance framework
• Ensure a safe and comfortable work environment that meets the needs of its staff and visitors, compliant with Group requirements and local health and safety regulations 
• Manage strategic projects, or project work streams within BJBG; including definition, scoping, coordination, communication, assigning tasks and responsibilities, reporting and monitoring, which will include responsibility for process improvement: identifying inefficiencies in processes, working with stakeholders to design and implement improvements designed to mitigate key risks
• Effective use of resources and skillset through contributor delegation, ownership, accountability and recognition 

Culture & values 

• The role holder is required to cultivate mutual respect, understanding and sustainable relationships with their stakeholders and the communities in which they will interact with on a daily basis
•  We expect you to be passionate about the business and industry in all its facets and strive for continual improvement for the department and broader business. Furthermore, you will contribute to help shape a culture of openness, enthusiasm and curiosity that inspires entrepreneurship within the team and broader business
• We expect all employees to take a client-centric approach in everything they do and provide best in class services to ensure a consistent level of excellence

Personal and Social

• Self-motivated with ability to work well independently and as part of a team 
• Excellent interpersonal skills, the ability to function well with contacts at all levels, building effective working relationships 
• Good conflict management with demonstrable negotiation and influencing skills and an ability to solve complex problems to deliver, negotiate and influence pragmatic and effective solutions for the business 
• Demonstrate a professional approach, even in challenging situations, calm under pressure 
• Efficient time management, ability to prioritise and deliver complex, and sometimes changing remits, work to deadlines with accuracy and a strong commitment to quality 
• Enthusiastic and good communicator. Ability to sell and clearly present proposals and project status up and down the reporting line

Professional and Technical

• Professionally qualified. Relevant qualifications include: Prince2, NEBOSH, qualifications in cyber security
• Experienced business analyst
• Experienced in technology and automation in order to be able to suggest efficiencies
• Experienced in private banking and operations in order to be able to suggest alternative approaches and articulate what good looks like
• Strong understanding of key risks within private banking and operations and controls to mitigate key risks. Experienced in designing and implementing effective controls
• Experience in delivering process improvement engagement
• Experienced in leading engaging change workshops and presentations in order to gain buy in of the staff impacted by the change and delivering engaging training to staff on updated processes
• Experienced project management skills as required to ensure all action plans are progressing, issues are being dealt with to realise the benefits of the process improvement 
• Ability to prepare analysis to quantify the inefficiencies in a current process / efficiencies gained from the target process
• Experienced in group / global banking operating models – where there are key handoffs between different locations – and the drafting of SLAs to ensure appropriate handoffs