Overview

Are you a strategic leader passionate about shaping product and design landscapes? AXA is seeking an inspiring Director of Product & Design Operations to lead our evolution into a product led organisation. This role focuses on operational mastery, innovative practices, and cross-functional collaboration to transform how we deliver value to customers. You will ensure seamless execution of strategies, streamline delivery, and scale practices aligned with bold business goals. Your leadership will foster clarity, autonomy, and impact across our ecosystem, empowering teams to innovate with confidence. AXA supports flexible work arrangements; you will work at least two days a week (40%) away from home, moving to three days a week (60%) in the future. Away from home means attendance at office locations, visiting clients, or attending industry events.

Responsibilities

• Craft and evolve AXA's product operating model, including Tribes, Squads, and governance structures, to maximize efficiency.
• Align strategy with delivery and operational execution across the entire product organization.
• Lead enterprise planning cycles such as Annual Business Reviews, Quarterly Business Reviews, and Big Room Planning to synchronize business strategy with product delivery.
• Embed scalable planning hierarchies for consistent prioritization and execution at all levels.
• Implement and oversee OKRs across teams to keep focus on customer and business outcomes.
• Monitor progress, identify risks, and enable agile course correction to ensure objectives are met.
• Design frameworks that integrate agility with regulatory, risk, and financial controls.
• Promote early risk, finance, and compliance considerations ("shift left") within the product lifecycle.
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools to track delivery, performance, and value creation.
• Provide data-driven insights to inform leadership decisions and investment priorities.
• Act as the central coordinator connecting product teams, technology, operations, finance, and business units.
• Foster communities of practice to uplift skills, share best practices, and accelerate maturity.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives, streamlining processes, enhancing tooling, and reducing friction for better outcomes.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading Product Operations or similar roles in scaled Agile organisations.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to translate vision into scalable operational systems.
• Proven experience in enterprise environments with multiple business units and product portfolios.
• Strong background in delivery management, programme operations and cross-functional enablement.
• Expertise in roadmap planning, delivery tracking tooling (Jira, Confluence, Aha!, etc.).
• Experience driving change management, adoption and operational maturity in product-led organisations.
• Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Experience supporting or running cross-functional guilds and communities of practice; participation in building culture is a plus.

What We Offer / Equal Opportunity

AXA UK Support Functions power AXA's customer-facing business units, providing the infrastructure, support and expertise to ensure our customers can always count on us. We are committed to supporting employee needs, providing meaningful career development, and celebrating differences. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we pride ourselves on treating employees and potential hires with respect and without discrimination based on any Protected Characteristics. AXA UK is recognised as a Disability Confident Leader and participates in the Disability Confident schemes to encourage applicants with disabilities.

• Eligibility to work in the United Kingdom is a precondition of employment.
• Competitive annual salary and performance-based bonus.
• Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions).
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary).
• 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, with option to buy/sell extra leave.
• AXA employee discounts and gym benefits.

Screening & Conduct: As a regulated financial services company, successful candidates will undergo pre-employment checks in line with PRA/ FCA rules. This includes identity, qualifications, employment history, and other standard checks. Feedback and interview preparation details will be provided by the Talent Acquisition contact.