Day to day management and direction of Life Products team, comprising up to 16 staff, whose activities include the vetting of pension and bond application forms, setting up of clients and ensuring platform customers are verified for anti-Money Laundering purposes

Implementation of operational readiness for the Cofunds pension offering and maintenance of ongoing BAU

•Decision making on and resolution of operational queries, in conjunction with product providers where necessary

•Ensure all activities and controls within the team comply at all times with the FSA requirements within which the company operates, and to be able to interpret and apply policies to the area

Deliver agreed (SLAs), both internal and with strategic partners, with daily oversight of volumes and to ensure SLAs work within the end customers interests.

Continual management and assessment of operational Quality performances against service standards, to ensure standards are met and where possible exceeded.

Maintain operational day to day relationships with Strategic Partners offering pension and bond products on the platform. Decision maker and taker relative to strategic partner processing, with attendance at monthly service meetings

• Management of operational Risks, together with implementation of mitigating controls, and appropriate escalation where necessary. Management of team procedures, including BC requirements

• Team development; to effectively manage the performance of staff to meet agreed goals and other relevant P&D policies. Ensure team are coached and supported to achieve their individual and team objectives.

• Ensure projects are represented from a Life Products perspective, and ensure operational readiness for delivery of new products and proposition impacting the area. This involves full support of User Acceptance testing and confidence testing

Close liaison with Sales and BPR Manager to manage IFA quality issues and look at Service Improvement; and with Proposition to ensure operational requirements are represented and delivered as part of new products or services

Ongoing review of AML requirements working in line with Controls Assurances Department and product providers to ensure procedures are continually reviewed to minimise potential for financial crime
Deputise for Transfers and Life Products Manager when necessary

Main Activities
The Life Products Manager is responsible for delivery of timely, high quality and regulatory compliant administration of pension and bond applications for life products offered through the platform. Functional areas of responsibility are:
New business pension and bond processing, including case management
Transfer processing and chasing
MI provision
In addition the role will be the main operational day to day contact for the strategic partners offering products on the platform.
Key Skills
The individual is expected to take the necessary actions to ensure their continued Competence, and personal and professional development within the role.

A record of Continuing Personal and Professional Development must be maintained by all employees, and might include:

A record of all internal and external training courses attended
A record of any seminars, workshops or conferences attended
A record of all on-the-job development initiatives taken
A record of time spent reading relevant professional material
Other ways in which they have maintained the knowledge necessary to execute the duties of the role

Key skills relative to role:
Strong management skills
High degree of verbal and written communication skills
Problem solving
Ability to work on own initiative or with limited direction
Good presentational skills to deliver presentations to internal and external parties
Ability to influence peers

Typical Experience

At least 5 years Pensions Administration experience, including pension transfers
High level of understanding of the pensions industry, and a working knowledge of bond products and administration
Understanding of system releases, UAT, and the change environment
Experience of managing high volume operations, in line with regulatory timelines or internal service levels
At least 3 years Middle management experience, and a proven people manager, managing teams exceeding 10 people
Strong regulatory/compliance awareness of financial environments
Experience of resource modelling and budgetary planning
Experience of TCF and quality initiatives
FSA recognised industry qualification, or grandfathered T&C status