Strategic Transformation - Manager, EY Parthenon, Financial Services, London

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Strategic Transformation – Manager

EY-Parthenon, Financial Services, London

At EY, we are committed to helping our clients shape their future with confidence in an increasingly uncertain world. As AI, technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and evolving geopolitical dynamics drive significant change, we stand ready to guide organisations through these complexities.

Our purpose is to build a better working world—not only for our clients and communities but also by providing our people with exceptional and challenging development opportunities that empower them to thrive.

Join EY and help to build a better working world.

The Opportunity

EY-Parthenon is a leading global strategy consultancy and M&A practice, with over 25,000 dedicated professionals. Our core offerings involve helping clients to reimagine their business models through strategic advisory services, M&A execution and enterprise-wide, strategic transformation.

This opportunity relates to EY-Parthenon’s Strategic Transformation practice, where we are making significant investment. We help Financial Services clients translate business strategy into an actionable transformation agenda, define where value will be created, and maintain the line of sight from strategic choices through mobilisation, delivery and benefits realisation.

Our Strategic Transformation mandates can be at Group level in a client’s organisation or focused on a specific line of business or proposition. Across that spectrum, our work is:

• Strategy-led – focused on the priorities that matter most to clients: growth, efficiency and sustainable competitive advantage.
• End-to-end – connecting proposition and customer experience with the operating model, risk and controls, data and technology required to deliver them.
• Value-focused – ensuring transformation translates into tangible financial outcomes across P&L, balance sheet and ROTE.

We offer genuine opportunities to work on some of the world's highest profile strategic transformations in a market leading team. As we are making significant investment in this practice, we believe there are significant development opportunities for team members to help shape the practice and take early responsibility.

Your key responsibilities

As a Manager, you will work with clients to solve complex strategic and transformation challenges, combining structured problem solving with a practical understanding of how change is delivered. You will play a central role in translating strategic ambition into actionable plans, while maintaining a strong focus on business value.

As part of your day-to-day role, you will lead workstreams working with cross-functional teams in a high-pressure environment. Your client work will include design, planning and execution of strategic transformation, including:

• Business model reinvention (at enterprise or line of business level)
• New ventures (strategic partnerships, market entry)
• Proposition reinvention or launch of a new proposition
• Enterprise-level efficiency and cost reduction programmes
• Set-up and operation of Strategy Execution Office for client organisations

You will take responsibility for structuring work, managing day-to-day delivery and producing high-quality client outputs, ensuring analysis translates into clear insights and practical recommendations.

You will manage workstream economics and proactively communicate progress, issues and risks to senior team members and client stakeholders.

Drawing on your Financial Services experience, you will build effective relationships with client teams, coordinate input from specialists across EY and supervise and coach junior team members.

You will also contribute to the growth of the Strategic Transformation practice by supporting proposals and business development activity, identifying potential opportunities through your client work, and contributing to the development of propositions and intellectual capital.

Skills and attributes for success

• Financial Services expertise: at least five years industry and / or consulting experience in a Financial Services environment, with some developing depth in specific FS sub-sector domains.
• Transformation leadership: experience delivering complex transformation initiatives, with the ability to lead a workstream or smaller engagement and coordinate activity across different functions.
• Strategic insight: understands major sector trends, market dynamics and competitive positioning and can apply these to shape the overall approach and hypotheses for client assignments.
• Enterprise perspective: understands how decisions interact across business model, customer, operations, technology, data, finance, risk and organisation.
• Commercial acumen: quickly understands a client's business model and key value drivers and uses this insight to shape transformation priorities and decision-making.
• Quantitative and qualitative analysis: able to structure complex analysis, assess the strength of the evidence and draw out clear, commercially relevant conclusions.
• Operating model: able to contribute to the design of operating models for Financial Services businesses and understand the implications for customers, organisation, processes, risk and controls, data and technology.
• Technology awareness: understands the major technology dependencies of business and operating model change and can work effectively with technology specialists.
• AI literate: actively builds AI capability and can identify how AI can be applied both within client transformations and in the way consulting work is delivered.
• Communication skills: confident presenting to client stakeholders; produces concise and well-structured verbal and written communications.
• Relationship management: establishes credibility with day-to-day client stakeholders at a workstream level and builds relationships that extend beyond the immediate engagement.

Client responsibilities

• Builds strong and credible relationships with client stakeholders.
• Leads workstreams delivering Strategic Transformation services.
• Delivers high-quality client outcomes, managing day-to-day delivery and proactively identifying and resolving issues.
• Delivers a high degree of client satisfaction with the engagement process and deliverables and is able to drive additional and repeated engagements.
• Understands Ernst & Young's service offerings and actively identifies opportunities to improve client service.
• Contributes to proposals and business development activity and identifies potential follow-on opportunities through client delivery.

People responsibilities

• Responsible for team performance on workstreams.
• Helps people to develop through effectively supervising, coaching and mentoring junior staff.
• Creates an inclusive and collaborative team environment, working effectively across disciplines and EY teams.
• Contributes to people initiatives including recruiting, retaining and training Strategic Transformation professionals.
• Takes responsibility for their own continued learning and development, including building capability in emerging areas such as AI.
• Understands and communicates workplace policies and procedures to staff.
• Builds strong internal relationships with other EY teams.

What are the benefits of the role?

• High profile: you will have the opportunity to work on some of the world's largest transformations, as an EY-Parthenon strategic advisor.
• Growth: the Strategic Transformation team is a high growth part of the business. This will present significant development opportunities.
• Team environment: as a growing and successful team, we have a great sense of energy and enthusiasm. The team also benefits from a collaborative approach and strong support from the wider organisation.
• Variety: each assignment will be different, offering you the chance to work across a wide range of banking, asset management, and insurance transformations.
• Mobility: our work can sometimes involve travel and the opportunity to develop your career internationally.

What working at EY offers

We offer a competitive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your individual and team performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs, covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer:

• Support, coaching and feedback from engaging colleagues
• Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career
• The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible.

EY is committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We strive to achieve the right balance for our people, enabling us to deliver excellent client service whilst allowing you to build your career without sacrificing your personal priorities. While our client-facing professionals can be required to travel regularly, and at times be based at client sites, our flexible working arrangements can help you to achieve a lifestyle balance

Please note: Prior to finalising your application, you will be asked to provide personal information across several dimensions of diversity and inclusiveness. The information you provide is kept entirely confidential and will not be used to evaluate your candidacy. We collect this data to help us analyse our recruitment process holistically and implement actions that promote diversity and inclusiveness. While optional, we encourage you to provide this information to hold us accountable towards our goal of building a better working world. We ask because it matters!

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