Experience

ACACIA FAMILY SUPPORT

• United Kingdom
• Mental Health Care
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Assistant Business Director

  • Oct 2023 - Present

  Sutton Coldfield, England, United Kingdom Working alongside the Business Director to lead and manage Acacia’s business operations, including strategic financial planning and Human Resources management. Member of the senior leadership team.

• Business Manager

  • Jul 2018 - Oct 2023

  United Kingdom Business manager in the charity / perinatal mental health sector, responsible for business, HR and financial management. Managing the budget, payroll, expenditure, invoicing, cost coding, contract management and negotiation. Lead on developments in HR policy and procedures including implementing the real living wage and new employee engagement and recognition activities. Lead on the whole employee life cycle - including safer recruitment, onboarding, contracts, pensions, learning and… Show more Business manager in the charity / perinatal mental health sector, responsible for business, HR and financial management. Managing the budget, payroll, expenditure, invoicing, cost coding, contract management and negotiation. Lead on developments in HR policy and procedures including implementing the real living wage and new employee engagement and recognition activities. Lead on the whole employee life cycle - including safer recruitment, onboarding, contracts, pensions, learning and development, performance, attendance, line management and employee relations. Delivered an organisational pay and grading review, creating the business case, conducting research, benchmarking, job evaluation, financial modelling, consultation and analysis to establish a new progressive pay structure. Maintaining this review annually to ensure effective staff retention / recruitment. Delivered and developed content for online training modules with the Hearts & Minds Partnership, to support other VCSE organisations. Provided regular advice and guidance to Trustees / the leadership team to support financial / workforce planning and continuous business and operational improvements.



Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO)

• United Kingdom
• Defense and Space Manufacturing
• 700 & Above Employee

• Senior Business Analyst

  • Nov 2016 - Dec 2017

  Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, United Kingdom Lead officer responsible for requirements gathering and process mapping for DIO transformation programmes. Managed a team of Business Analysts responsible for understanding customer needs for IS enabled business change. Facilitated and managed stakeholder workshops. Working with business owners to assess the impact of change, gather, capture, analyse, develop and document process maps and detailed requirements, establishing ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ positions. Engagement with solution… Show more Lead officer responsible for requirements gathering and process mapping for DIO transformation programmes. Managed a team of Business Analysts responsible for understanding customer needs for IS enabled business change. Facilitated and managed stakeholder workshops. Working with business owners to assess the impact of change, gather, capture, analyse, develop and document process maps and detailed requirements, establishing ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ positions. Engagement with solution architects and IT suppliers to ensure requirements understood and progressed to successful deployment. Show less



Birmingham City Council

• United Kingdom
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Project and Policy Manager

  • May 2014 - Aug 2016

  Successfully led project responsible for designing a Council Tax Support scheme in Birmingham,achieving £10 million in savings. Delivered key research, business analysis, consultation, communications and reports during the project to engage / inform decision makers and stakeholders at all levels. Developed financial modelling and business transformation proposals for a further £1 million scheme redesign. Developed business case, requirements, costs and functional specifications for… Show more Successfully led project responsible for designing a Council Tax Support scheme in Birmingham,achieving £10 million in savings. Delivered key research, business analysis, consultation, communications and reports during the project to engage / inform decision makers and stakeholders at all levels. Developed financial modelling and business transformation proposals for a further £1 million scheme redesign. Developed business case, requirements, costs and functional specifications for e-Services, identifying savings of £850k. Strategically reviewed customer interfaces, contributing to a 76% increase in online channel shift in 12 months. Conducted systematic process reviews in order to identify improvements, managing transition and organisational change. Lead for the development, review and implementation of strategies, policies, procedures, communications and delivering technical advice on legislative issues. Preparing clear and robust briefings and reports to inform senior leadership decision making, delivery teams, the public and stakeholders. Leading national welfare reform projects, such as UC and the Benefit Cap - responsibility for implementing changes affecting policy, procedures, communications, IT systems, work processes and organisation. Developed a Risk Based Verification policy and Discretionary Hardship Payment strategy - responsibility for research, expenditure and caseload trend analysis to scope and define the schemes; public and stakeholder consultation and equality analysis to review the schemes. Responsible for delivering a training/information programme on changes for 200+ staff. Co-ordinating the department’s adherence to Data Protection, FOI, Equality and H&S regulations. Completing impact, risk and equality assessments. Managing a team of policy, change management, training and FOI officers, dealing with recruitment, work planning, 1-1’s, performance related appraisals, staff development, attendance, sickness, disciplinary and grievances.

• Project and Change Manager

  • Oct 2009 - May 2014

  Successfully delivered the scoping, development, testing and implementation of a range of Revenues and Benefits transformational programmes, deploying new and innovative IT solutions, procedural, process, compliance and legislative changes. Leading projects aimed at driving operational efficiency; conducting service improvement reviews and activity based costings and working with service area managers to re-engineer their processes to manage resource and reduce workload. Responsible for… Show more Successfully delivered the scoping, development, testing and implementation of a range of Revenues and Benefits transformational programmes, deploying new and innovative IT solutions, procedural, process, compliance and legislative changes. Leading projects aimed at driving operational efficiency; conducting service improvement reviews and activity based costings and working with service area managers to re-engineer their processes to manage resource and reduce workload. Responsible for producing, maintaining and analysing all project documents during the project life cycle using PRINCE2 and CHAMPS2 methodology. Managing project plans, risks, issues, dependencies, stakeholders, work schedules, monitoring the status and progress of project deliverables; ensuring my team supplied all projects on time and within budget. Managed relationships with IT suppliers and business owners to ensure effective data migration, user acceptance testing, cleansing, quality assurance, management information development, operational acceptance, monitoring, evaluation and transition into business as usual. Provided internal consultancy and expert technical knowledge including the delivery of special projects and business analysis to document requirements for IT solutions and develop high quality business cases. Effectively networked with a range of stakeholders - local authorities, charities, housing associations, Government departments and IT suppliers to add value to deliverables and share best practise. Organised, facilitated and presented at events and city-wide public consultation.

• Project and Strategy Development Officer

  • Jul 2007 - Oct 2009

  • Project officer for change management and strategy development teams, responsible for delivering service wide improvements and/or efficiency savings by implementing and reviewing a variety of IT, procedural, process, compliance and legislative programmes.

• Senior Subsidy & Payments Officer

  • May 2004 - Jul 2007

  Senior officer responsible for ensuring the correct payment and subsidy allocation of Housing Benefit expenditure. Contact point for complex queries and escalation.



Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

• United Kingdom
• Government Administration
• 700 & Above Employee

• Executive Officer

  • Aug 2002 - May 2004

  • Team leader responsible for the supervision of a team of 20 administrative officers. Consistently achieved departmental targets for the timely and correct payment of state pensions.