Job Description

The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language.

We work in two ways - directly with individuals to transform their lives, and with governments and partners to make a bigger difference for the longer term, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world. We help young people to gain the skills, confidence and connections they are looking for to realise their potential and to participate in strong and inclusive communities. We support them to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Our work in arts and culture stimulates creative expression and exchange and nurtures creative enterprise. We connect the best of the UK with the world and the best of the world with the UK.

These connections lead to an understanding of each other's strengths and of the challenges and values that we share. This builds trust between people in the UK and other nations which endures even when official relations may be strained. We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.

Job Title: Head Innovation, Shared Services Centre

Purpose of job:

To lead and develop Shared Services-based innovation: * Acts as a supporting hand to the Managing Director. The candidate helps management in designing and achieving the Annual Priorities of SSC (visioning and strategic thinking)

• Acts as an internal consultant and provide/deliver business solutions through adoption of best practices/ new practices.
• Listening to/interacting with customers, be their voice in the organisation by building or providing innovative solutions to the challenges.
• Works in collaboration with global teams (SBU/ professional services, etc.) in professionalising the Innovation Lab as a global hub for ideation, adoption accelerators and automation of processes.
• Manages the overall solutioning, transitioning, automation services, innovation and continuous improvement agenda of SSC.
• Leads the transformational changes led by global teams for effective implementation in SSC.

Ensures appropriate billability of teams within SSC and outside SSC, based on cost/ effort estimates.

Role context

In 2010, British Council implemented a business transformation program to increase the efficiency and quality of business services it provides in support of its global operations. As a result, a shared services centre was created for backend support in Noida, India.

Over the last 11+ years of its existence, the service deliveries from SSC to its customers have stabilised and the centre has enhanced the scope of service delivery.

SSC presently has a strong team of 700+ people with a multitude of skills, experience, expertise

Our core purpose:

The core purpose of British Council SSC: 'Enable partners to succeed'. We exist to ensure our partners - customers, staff, suppliers and other relevant stakeholders, succeed.

The Innovation Lab is team of internal consultants driving excellence through niche capabilities.

Main opportunities/challenges for this role

The immediate focus of the role will be to:

• Assist the MD/ Director Operations in steering (designing and achieving) the annual priorities of SSC.
• Set the vision for SSC Innovation Lab in line with the evolving Shared Service and Council's Business transformation strategy.
• Accountable to deliver 2x/3x savings against total IL budget; i.e. savings impacting the P&L through various initaitves like productivity projects, automation of manual processes, enhance revenue contribution and creating more predictable services in SSC.
• Sustain and grow the culture of innovation at SSC to drive stakeholder success and transformation.
• Manages the overall solutioning, innovation, continuous improvement and capability development agenda of the Shared Service Centre.
• Is an expert in automation of services i.e expert in feasibility studies and implementation strategies through use of various automation tools.
• Expands the services of innovation lab through collaboration with global teams (SBU/ professional services etc.) i.e., professionalising the lab as a global hub for ideation, data analytics and automation of processes.
• Develop a robust network and partnership ecosystem of external suppliers, peers, industry experts, start-ups and leading think tanks in the GCC / Start-up / Digital / Skills forums
• Create new organisational capabilities and champion greater adoption of established processes of Quality, Lean, Six Sigma, Continual Improvement, solution designing, transitions, analytics and Design Thinking for operational excellence and optimisation of processes and deliveries.
• To lead and develop smart, fully-loaded and billable model for Innovation Lab that help in ensuring appropriate levels of resourcing, skills and capability development and structure for the Lab, while creating measurable metric for value generated through the Lab.
• Provide inspiring and motivational leadership that role-models the British Council's values and behaviours and empower and enable staff to deliver excellence, whilst promoting equity, diversity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Master's in science or business management.
• Minimum work experience of 20 years with at least last 5 years in similar field (innovation, industrialization and/or managed large service delivery).

Certified or trained on a broad range of technology landscapes, concepts especially Six Sigma principles and automation tools

Role specific knowledge and experience

• Experience in developing annual strategies for corporates
• Experience in creating an innovation portfolio and roadmap for captives and wider organisation
• Expert in Innovation concepts, automation tools/ methodologies, emerging technologies
• Understanding and experience of industrialisation systems (Lean, SS, DT, QMS, Automation)
• Experience of managing and implementing change
• Strong process orientation and ability to develop structured approach to complex situations
• Data-driven and analytical problem solving approach
• Passion and commitment to customer centricity and service excellence.

Excellent communication skills to address a varied range of audiences.

Further Information

Pay Band - 8

Contract Type - Indefinite

Department/Country- GIS NON-SAP- Noida

Closing Date (Time) - 29th Nov 22 (IST -23:59)

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement

The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.

We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.

Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council's Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you have any problems with your application please email

Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our 'ASK HR' email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.