Team Responsibilities
The EU Business Readiness team ensures FNZ Operations is ready for every material change on the EU platforms, including new platform and client launches, platform enhancements and releases, system and data center migrations, and client asset migrations.
The team provides oversight and governance of operational readiness on behalf of EU Operations. It assesses the operational impact of each change and ensures processes, procedures, controls, volumes and resourcing, training and testing are in place before go-live, so that change lands with minimal disruption to Operations, clients and end customers.
Business Readiness is the link between client, project, delivery, Solution Consulting, Production Support and Risk teams and the EU Operations functions, including Dealing & Confirms, Corporate Actions & Income, Static Data & Pricing, Transfers, Cash & Settlements, Asset & Cash Reconciliations, Regulatory & Customer Reporting and RPA/Transformations.
The team is part of FNZ's change management framework and internal release approval process. It applies the EU readiness toolkit (Business Readiness Implementation Plan, Business Change Report, impact analysis, Operations handovers and non-standard process review) and provides the Operations readiness position to release boards. It works alongside Operations Process Owners and SMEs, who remain accountable for their processes and for following up Operations-related bugs and stories.
Purpose of Role
This role ensures EU Operations is ready for each assigned release, launch and migration, and that readiness is planned early, evidenced and signed off before go-live rather than assumed. The role engages Operations Process Owners, SMEs and Heads of Function to understand and agree the operational impact of change, coordinates handovers, Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) and Operations signoffs, and represents the Operations readiness position with project, delivery and client teams.
The role provides clear, consistent management information to the Operations Directors and Business Readiness leadership, escalates risks, issues and caveats in good time, and maintains an audit trail showing that all required readiness steps have been completed.
Key Responsibilities
Monitoring Progress & Reporting
- Track the readiness status of all assigned releases, launches and migrations from early project planning through to release and hypercare, using the Business Readiness tracker, Confluence and Jira.
- Set up and manage Operations release signoffs in Ruleguard ("Business Readiness platform launch") and Business Change Report (BCR) sign-offs in Confluence, following up with teams ahead of agreed deadlines.
- Produce the Operations Readiness Release Report and Ruleguard extract for each release, summarising sign-off status, open items and the path to green for the Operations Directors and release approvers.
- Maintain the EU Business Readiness SharePoint (client readiness status, Operations attestations and release caveats) as the single source of readiness evidence.
- Ensure the core tracking document is reviewed regularly and always kept up to date.
Operational Readiness & Release Governance
- Assess the operational impact of each change with project and Solution Consulting teams, and ensure scope is defined, agreed with Operations and documented.
- Ensure all Operations-impacting stories are handed over to the relevant teams through documented walkthroughs, with impacts on procedures, controls, SLAs/KPIs, EUC, RPA and SQL queries reviewed.
- Identify non-standard processes and manual workarounds, ensuring they are documented, risk-assessed and reviewed through the appropriate controls before go-live.
- Coordinate operational volume and resourcing assessments for launches and migrations so that capacity is confirmed in advance.
- For migrations, support agreement of the migration approach, cutover scenarios and treatment of in-flight activity with the client, the FNZ Data Migration team and the ceding party.
- Represent Operations readiness at release boards and the Change Review Board (CRB), providing the Operations sign-off or recommendation and recording any caveats.
- Collect and track caveated Operations approvals and agreed mitigating actions, including hypercare and post-release checks, through to closure.
Achieving & Improving
- Seek to understand change requests and clearly articulate the resulting impact to Operations and key clients.
- Use post-implementation reviews, release issues and production incidents to strengthen readiness controls, templates and sign-off criteria.
- Suggest new ideas and ways to improve the team and the Business Readiness process.
Team Working
- Actively contribute to weekly Team Meetings.
- Ensure colleagues can always cover projects by keeping the team up to date and organising appropriate handover/cover for every available project.
- At all times work with the wider Business to deliver and complete the required projects successfully.
Operations Engagement & Testing
- Act as the primary Business Readiness contact for EU Operations teams, running regular readiness forums with Operations, project and client teams.
- Engage Operations Process Owners and SMEs early, sharing release scope, new features and process changes, and requesting impact feedback within agreed timescales.
- Plan and coordinate Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) with the project Test Manager, covering scope, test environments, test data and logins, and monitor progress, defects and blockers that affect readiness.
- Ensure Operations SMEs own the follow-up of Operations-related bugs and stories, and that any deferral is explicitly agreed with Process Owners or SMEs before release. Business Readiness provides governance and visibility over this process.
- Support client workshops, joint FNZ and client operating model (JTOM) reviews and Operations introductions, ensuring responsibilities between FNZ, the client and third parties are clearly defined.
- Support client and project teams on third-party readiness, such as banking provider access and training needs.
Other Tasks
- Undertake any other project/tasks as may reasonably be required to support Operations, the Change Team and the overall company.
What We Are Looking For
Software Knowledge
- Microsoft Excel: including conditional formatting, date formulas and shared documents/comments.
- Microsoft Word or equivalent process-mapping software.
- Microsoft Project or similar project-planning tool.
- Confluence/Jira or equivalent wiki-based sharing and tracking platform.
- Webex, MS Teams or equivalent online meeting and conferencing system.
- Power BI reporting, plus SharePoint and other internal tools.
- Provide regular progress updates to all relevant stakeholders, ensuring concerns are immediately reported to the Business Readiness Senior Manager.
- Track team actions to completion and report concerns to the Key Risk Team at regular intervals.
Planning, Prioritisation & Organisation
- Manage the assigned workload effectively and prioritise projects in line with the team project tracker.
- Anticipate and communicate potential issues to the team and Business Readiness Senior Manager.
- Use Confluence and the Business Readiness shared folders to record and organise key information from projects.
Communication & Influencing
- Always follow the Team communication policy.
- Effectively manage all key external and internal relationships, ensuring that all priorities are addressed.
- Exercise and display maturity in dealing with matters where an adverse impact or conflict of business areas is identified.
- Be prepared, open and honest in all dealings to ensure each client's key changes are met.
- Ensure the client's buy-in to FNZ core technology and processes.
- Contribute to all internal and external meetings/calls relating to assigned projects and confidently articulate key points and concerns.
Analysing & Problem Solving
- Review project-related documentation, emails and recordings, then identify and communicate the key issues that will impact on the FNZ business.
- Clearly monitor external and internal communications to ensure there is no misunderstanding on project delivery and agreed processes.
- Critically evaluate any problems that may arise, referencing past experience while following any restrictions or other implications.
Knowledge, Learning & Developing
- Continually expand knowledge of FNZ platforms, products and operational processes.
- Keep up to date with key Regulatory, Risk and Compliance issues which impact the Business Readiness process.
- Share knowledge with the team and present any findings at the weekly team meeting.
FNZ Intends to comply to the EU Pay Transparency Directive. Salary ranges will be provided upon request.
About FNZ
FNZ is committed to opening up wealth so that everyone, everywhere can invest in their future on their terms. We know the foundation to do that already exists in the wealth management industry, but complexity holds firms back.
We created wealth’s growth platform to help. We provide a global, end-to-end wealth management platform that integrates modern technology with business and investment operations. All in a regulated financial institution.
We partner with the world’s leading financial institutions, with over US$2.5 trillion in assets on platform (AoP).
Together with our clients, we empower nearly 30 million people across all wealth segments to invest in their future.
