Operations and Governance Lead

We are looking for a Strategy, Governance and Operations Lead to join our Universal Banking organisation. This is a high‑impact, enterprise‑level role reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, sitting at the centre of strategy execution, governance, and value delivery for one of Finastra’s most important businesses. 

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who can combine strategic thinking with strong execution discipline, and who thrives in complex, matrixed environments with senior‑level exposure. 

About the role 

In this role, you will operate as a trusted execution partner to the Chief of Staff and the Universal Banking Leadership Team. You will play a critical role in translating strategy into action, bringing clarity, structure, and pace to strategic priorities, corporate development initiatives, and portfolio‑level delivery. 

You will act as a connector across strategy, corporate development, transformation, and PMO, ensuring leadership has a clear, decision‑ready view of priorities, progress, risks, and trade‑offs. 

While the role does not have direct people management responsibility, you will work closely with and provide direction to PMO and analytics talent based in our collaboration hubs. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Partner closely with the Chief of Staff to shape and operationalise Universal Banking strategy and Leadership Team priorities. 

• Translate strategic objectives into clear plans, milestones, sequencing, and success measures. 

• Act as a senior, independent thought partner on strategic choices, execution risks, prioritisation, and trade-offs. 

• Lead the development of high-quality Leadership Team materials, including strategy updates, QBRs, annual planning cycles, and offsite content. 

• Ensure materials are insight-led, concise, and focused on enabling high-quality decisions. 

• Shape agendas and narratives that drive clarity, alignment, and action at senior forums. 

• Contribute to business cases, strategic rationale, and value creation narratives. 

• Support integration planning and ongoing value realisation tracking in partnership with relevant teams. 

• Own the end-to-end portfolio view of initiatives, ensuring: 

• Clear prioritisation and capacity awareness 

• Dependency and interlock management 

• Early visibility of risks and issues 

• A consistent delivery and reporting cadence 

• Design and maintain effective operational governance, including decision forums, escalation paths, and portfolio-level reporting. 

• Improve execution discipline and transparency without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. 

• Influence and align senior stakeholders across product, technology, operations, and commercial teams. 

What You Bring: 

• Extensive experience in strategic planning, corporate strategy, corporate development, transformation, or top-tier strategy/management consulting roles. 

• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving capability, with the ability to assess complex business issues, identify key trade-offs, and shape clear recommendations for senior leaders. 

• Proven ability to translate broad strategic priorities into focused plans, sequencing, and execution choices that drive measurable business outcomes. 

• Excellent analytical and synthesis skills, with the ability to distil large volumes of information into concise, insight-led, decision-ready materials. 

• Strong commercial and organisational judgement, including experience supporting prioritisation, business cases, value creation narratives, and portfolio-level decision making. 

• Proven ability to operate as a senior individual contributor in complex, matrixed organisations, influencing senior stakeholders without formal authority. 

• Strong executive-level communication skills, with confidence shaping narratives, challenging constructively, and bringing clarity to ambiguous or fast-moving situations. 

• Experience in financial services, enterprise technology, or other regulated environments is preferred. 

• A pragmatic, outcomes-focused mindset with a strong sense of ownership, pace, and accountability.