About the FSPO
The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) was established to resolve complaints from consumers, including small businesses and other organisations, against financial service providers or pension providers.
The FSPO provides an independent, fair, impartial, confidential and free service to resolve complaints through either informal mediation or formal investigation and adjudication. When a consumer is unable to resolve a complaint or dispute with a financial service provider or pension provider, they can refer their complaint to the FSPO.
About the Strategy Manager (HEO) Role
The post holder will be based in Corporate and Communication Services, working closely with and reporting to the Director of Corporate and Communication Services and the Senior Compliance Manager. They will also work on a cross-departmental manner with internal and external stakeholders to assist in the delivery of the Office’s agreed strategies. They will act as an effective link between staff and senior management, and have a clear understanding of the roles, objectives and targets of staff and divisions within the FSPO. They will successfully manage a number of different projects and activities at the same time.
The post holder will support the implementation of the FSPO’s strategy and the co-ordination of its delivery. They will support the development of work plans, monitor progress and report to senior management, remove roadblocks with respect to each of the strategic objectives, monitoring risks and ensuring that appropriate mitigations are in place.
The post holder will support stakeholder engagement including through managing routine communications with the Department of Finance and other stakeholders. They will be required to identify and lead on the scoping of external providers to support the delivery of strategic work.
The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate strong team leadership qualities and well-developed management and organisational skills, with the ability to develop teams and manage staff, while also taking ownership of tasks and working on their own initiative. They will also be expected to have an ability to build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and to apply judgement and flexibility in a challenging and fast-moving environment, and to have the confidence to present to, and work closely with, senior management.
This position offers a fulfilling and responsible role in a busy and challenging environment working on interesting and varied issues. It provides an excellent career opportunity to make a significant contribution to the delivery and implementation of strategy in a dynamic organisation.
Key Responsibilities
The role of the Strategy Manager (HEO) is wide-ranging, and the successful candidate will be required to:
1. Strategy:
Assist the Director of Corporate and Communication Services and Senior Compliance Manager in all aspects of development, design and delivery of the FSPO - Statement of Strategy, and associated strategies.
2. Divisional work planning and programme management:
Further develop the systems, co-ordination and arrangement of meetings, tracking, reporting and administration, including engagement with areas across the organisation on progress in the delivery of objective.
3. Preparation of annual reporting on the strategy for corporate communications.
4. Feed into risk management processes, specific to the strategic risk category.
5. Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their functional area.
6. Ensure compliance with legislation and statutory requirements.
7. Manage the performance of directly reporting staff.
8. Demonstrate and embed the values of the FSPO throughout the workplace.
9. Any other duties may be assigned from time to time.
The responsibilities outlined in this job description should not be regarded as exhaustive in scope and may be added to or altered as required, in line with the requirements of the FSPO. The duties appropriate to the post will be determined by the Ombudsman and may cover a range of activities allowing for maximum flexibility according to the needs of the organisation.
Essential Requirements
Eligible applicants, on the closing date for the competition, must:
1.Demonstrate experience of at least two years’ in programme/project management, and/or strategy development, strategy implementation and work planning.
And
2.Demonstrate strong written communication skills and excellent attention to detail, as evidenced by the Application form.
And
3.In addition to the specific requirements set out above, candidates must be able to demonstrate that they possess the competencies identified for effective performance at Higher Executive Officer level as set out in Appendix 1.
Desirable Requirements
In addition to the above essential requirements, it would be a decided advantage for candidates to have some or all of the following:
10. Power BI experience
11. Certification in project or programme management and/or Corporate
12. Governance
13. Corporate Governance experience
14. Risk management experience
Candidate responses to the above will be assessed by a board of Senior Managers to consider the depth and breadth of your experience as it is relevant to the role. Information provided in this section may be used as part of a shortlisting exercise and may be discussed in more depth at interview.
An invitation to tests, interview or any element of the selection process is not acceptance of eligibility. Eligibility may not be confirmed until the final stage of the process, therefore, candidates who do not possess the essential requirements, on the closing date of 12th August, and who nevertheless proceed with their application, are putting themselves to unnecessary effort/expense and will not be offered a position from this campaign. Candidates who are unable to show that they hold the qualifications outlined in their application may be eliminated from the campaign at any stage.
How to Apply
All candidates should visit w which provides the application form for this competition. Applications received in any format other than corresponding application form will not be accepted. Therefore, candidates must ensure they use the correct application form. The FSPO expects candidates to complete this application form without the support or use of AI tools as it should reflect the specific personal experience. Completed application forms should be submitted to with ' Application for the position of Strategy Manager (HEO) ' in the subject line.
Closing Date:
Application must be submitted by email to to arrive by 12:00 on Monday, 12th August. Applications will not be accepted after the closing date/time.