Head of Service Experience

Job Title: Head of Service Experience

Location: London/Glasgow/Edinburgh/Liverpool

Contract Type:   Perm

The Role

Transform how clients experience Rathbones by leading our Service Experience agenda through collaborative service design expertise and pragmatic, cross-functional implementation. You'll deliver significant improvements to the client experience by orchestrating diagnosis, design, and delivery of journey improvements. Leading a team that creates exceptional end-to-end client journeys, you'll work closely with stakeholders across the Rathbones to deliver practical solutions that drive client satisfaction, retention, and business growth.

Outcomes of the Role- What You’ll do

Collaborative strategic leadership to elevate the client experience:

• Drive collaboration with third-parties, data/analytics, change & transformation, and digital product teams to continuously develop and execute Rathbones' Service Experience strategy.
• Lead virtually across the enterprise, influencing stakeholders to integrate SX thinking into key change programmes and business design initiatives.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment on client journey maps and target experiences.

Virtual team leadership & enterprise influence:

• Directly lead a team of 3 Service Designers.
• Exercise enterprise-wide leadership to drive SX adoption across business units, orchestrating diagnosis of current client experiences and design of improved journeys.
• Foster collaborative relationships that span organisational boundaries and virtual working arrangements.
• Influence senior leaders across the enterprise to embed service design thinking into their areas.

Pragmatic design excellence

• Balance design ambition with business realities to create deliverable, impactful service improvements through systematic orchestration of journey enhancement initiatives.
• Collaborate with the insights team to translate research into actionable design decisions.
• Work pragmatically with technology constraints and business priorities to design feasible solutions.
• Lead virtually to build practical working relationships that break down silos between data/analytics, technology, and digital teams.

Analytics & measurement

• Partner with insights and data teams to implement realistic analytics strategies that drive measurable service improvements.
• Work with business stakeholders across the enterprise to establish practical metrics that demonstrate ROI and client value.
• Lead collaborative efforts to ensure continuous improvement processes are embedded and sustainable organisation wide.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Collaborative & virtual leadership experience

• Senior Business Designer or Head of CX/SX experience with proven ability to lead virtually and influence across complex enterprise environments, preferably in Wealth Management, Asset Management, or Financial Services.
• Track record of leading CX/SX functions through collaborative partnerships that deliver pragmatic business outcomes.
• Experience leading virtual teams and driving practical CX/SX programmes across large, distributed organisations with cross-functional, matrix style leadership capabilities.

Pragmatic technical skills

• Proficiency in collaborative design tools (Miro, Figma) with ability to facilitate virtual cross-team workshops.
• Practical experience with digital ecosystems including Salesforce, CRM, and MarTech solutions.
• Balanced expertise in information architecture, interaction design, visual design, and prototyping with focus on feasible implementation.

Collaborative & pragmatic leadership competencies

• Systematic yet flexible approach to identifying realistic opportunities and implementing practical solutions through orchestrated delivery methods.
• Exceptional virtual leadership and stakeholder management skills with ability to build consensus and drive decision-making across diverse, distributed groups. This is an orchestra conductor role that requires influence, credibility and clout with resources that report to other functional heads.
• Talent for translating customer insights into actionable, implementable business strategies across enterprise functions.
• Strong collaborative mindset - actively seeks input, builds on others' ideas, and creates shared ownership of solutions.
• Pragmatic problem-solving - balances ideal outcomes with practical constraints, focuses on deliverable improvements over perfect solutions.
• Enterprise leadership capability - influences and leads across organisational boundaries without formal authority.