Head of Future Network Strategy (Operations Strategy and Design Team)

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Job reference 325856
Head of Future Network Strategy (Operations Strategy and Design Team)
Competitive salary, plus car allowance, healthcare, 35% annual bonus potential, 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays and a company pension scheme with highly competitive contribution rates
Permanent, Full time
Royal Mail Farringdon

About the role

At Royal Mail we’ve served our communities for over 500 years, helping to lead and transform the postal delivery market on a global scale. We’re currently busy innovating and transforming our business for the future, and to get there, we need exceptionally talented, resilient, and driven people.

The Head of Future Network Strategy is a vital role in the Operations Strategy and Design team, accountable for:

- Taking the design principles for the short-, medium-, and long-term future of the network;
- Translating them into an actionable plan to realise value quickly;
- Maintaining longer-term design integrity;
- Evolving and acting as custodian for the detailed network design; and
- Ultimately driving the execution of this plan to completion

Working to the Director of Operations Strategy and Design, and in collaboration with the Head of Delivery Design, Head of Processing and Collections Design, and Head of Network Modelling, you will ensure that the holistic network design is up to date and fully thought through. You will further ensure that wider Operations Transformation initiatives are informed by the future network design and vice versa.

You will bring deep subject matter experience and expertise to all design and strategy discussions, in particular the parcel industry and act as delegate to Director of Operations Strategy & Design, as required.

In time, you will lead the network strategy review out of the design stage and through development and be the main point of contact with deployment colleagues in co-ordinating the programme. You will scope and co-ordinate the business creation for individual projects forming part of the wider network redesign programme, including rollout of new equipment and capabilities, design, and construction of new facilities, and more. This will mean liaising throughout the life of the project in particular with the Development and Deployment teams, ensuring in the early stages that their feedback is incorporated into design thinking, and in latter stages that deployment is executed in a way that is true to the solution design.

This is a hybrid working role with a requirement for travel across the UK and to attend our Head Office in Farringdon, London.

Team – matrix management responsibility and expectation of growing line management responsibility, as the programme moves forward.

The successful candidate for this role will join us at arguably the most exciting time in our history. Our Transformation journey is one you don’t want to miss.

Key Accountabilities

1. Owns the evolution of the future network design, and works to execute it in a timely manner, ensuring that all change activity is aligned to the corporate direction of Royal Mail UK
2. Acts as a business-wide design authority for the group-wide network design
3. Interfaces in particular with the Parcelforce Worldwide team, acting through a combination of this and own expertise as the Large Parcel Network design authority within the Operations Strategy and Design team
4. Integrates emerging design solutions across the RM pipeline including collection, processing, network, and delivery for all product streams with the future vision of the network
5. Ensures alignment between the future network programme and the Operations Target Operating Model, ensuring execution of the two in lockstep
6. Manages, prioritises, scopes and executes requests for assistance or input from other teams and functions, in particular Field Operations and Property
7. Deputises for the Director of Operations Strategy & Design on relevant governance boards
8. Demonstrates commitment to and communicating Royal Mail’s operational vision across the business
9. Becomes a trusted and reliable interface between the Operations Strategy & Design team and the wider business, building a strong internal network and acting as a standard bearer to enhance the reputation of the team

About You

Key Skills

• Ability to deliver through ambiguity, working in a matrix structure and take a broad pipeline view to challenges
• A rational, analytical thinker able to interact well at all levels of the organization, from Executive Board to front line
• Deep expertise and experience of the parcel and (preferably) postal industry, able to act as a subject matter authority on parcel networks and operations
• Exceptional knowledge of design principles, programme management processes and continuous improvement methodologies
• Ability to manage activities and budgets related to relationships with multiple key stakeholders
• Drive to impact and insight – ‘outcome’ rather than ‘input’ focused
• Understanding of commercial and regulatory objectives and complexities – able to take a balanced view across competing priorities
• Ability to simultaneously manage a complex set of initiatives in various phases of development

Experience

• Significant prior expertise and experience in Postal and Parcel
• Senior Programme experience, ideally at Programme Director level and ideally related to programmes spanning design, trial and execution, on extremely large, long term infrastructure programmes
• Experience of leading operational design and improvement planning in a large corporate or consulting context
• Significant exposure to top level leadership and a track record of successful presentation, interaction and influence at this level

Qualifications

• Degree/masters qualifications / relevant industry experience

Extra Benefits

• Family friendly support - enhanced maternity pay, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave
• Discounts and offers - there are more than 800 offers to help you save on things like groceries, days out, holidays and your household bills*.
• Supportive and generous company sick pay
• Your Wellbeing - you and your family have 24/7 access to services and tools to help you get the most out of life. From your physical and mental health to financial and social support and advice. It’s free, and it’s for everyone.
*Available only to perm employees

Next Steps

The next stage of the selection process will be a face to face/virtual interview consisting of competency based and role specific questions.

Royal Mail Group is committed to inclusion and representing the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all individuals. As a proud Gold signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant, we especially encourage applications from the Armed Forces community, including cadet instructors and spouses/partners.

We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to support you during the hiring process, please discuss these with your recruiter when contacted.

We are Forces family friendly and a Gold signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant. We welcome applications from ex-Armed Forces personnel, reservists, veterans, cadet instructors and military spouses/partners.

For more information on Royal Mail Group and our values please click here:

Closing Date: 20th July 2025 . Please note, this advert may close early if the appropriate number of applications has been reached.

#LI-Hybrid #LI-POST #LIMRT

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