Head of Proposition - London, United Kingdom - Mercer

Description

Mercer is seeking candidates for the following position based in the London office:

Head of Proposition & Strategy, Darwin

An exciting opportunity to join the Darwin team and help to build and shape a newly established discipline.

Darwin is part of Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB), a 7,000-person strong community of specialists in health, benefits, and employee wellbeing. This affords us a massive opportunity to impact the lives of tens of millions of people around the world. Darwin is changing benefits for good in eight out of the top ten technology companies in the world and has a wealth of clients across a diverse range of sectors. In fact, more than 2 million people are already using our platform.

DarwinTM is a market-leading and specialised global platform and is changing Benefits for Good. Our unique and innovative SaaS (Software as a Service) platform has transformed the employee benefits industry. We are fast paced, ambitious, people-focused and on a journey to innovate and develop products that truly impact people's lives and the market in which we operate.

What can you expect?

• As the Head of Propositions & Engagement, you will be accountable for Leading the innovation and identification of strategic development and positioning opportunities to deliver stand-out market leadership. This will be achieved by building a forward- looking market centric intelligence and insight capability and analysing the business opportunities to define and design the Darwin Proposition Portfolio to enhance value to the business.
• You will build and maintain clear understanding of the markets, clients, end users, group distribution channels, Darwin SaaS technologies, services, volume capacities, timelines, costs and pricing structures. You will also lead the engagement communications function to engage and enable colleagues across the business in the features, functions, resources and competitive positioning of the Darwin Product Propositions.
• The team is part of the CPO function that was introduced in 2022 and you will play a pivotal role in further embedding the Propositions Function into the business ways of working.
• This is a varied role in a friendly, fast-paced environment, which will require the successful individual to effectively manage multiple tasks, responsibilities and team members to a high professional standard.

What is in it for you?

• We offer and embrace a hybrid working model that nurtures a collaborative working environment in the office 3 days per week allowing 2 days per week to be spent working on a remote basis.
• Competitive Benefits Package including: 25 days annual leave, up to 4 days of flexible bank holidays, excellent pension contributions, private medical cover, life assurance, income protection, employee assistance program, plus a range of flexible benefits including the option to buy or sell up to 5 days holiday per year, cycle to work, dental insurance, health assessments plus many more.

We will count on you to:

• Further define and refine the functions, roles and ways of working of the Propositions and Engagement Teams.
• Identify, and source, data and insight to Develop and maintain business models for the market opportunities (Demand), business capabilities (Supply) and costs profile (Pricing).
• Through Innovation build this into a clear and dynamic vision for driving the product and business forward to meet and exceed client and market expectations.
• Build positive internal relationships and an understanding of the business across the Darwin organisation structure and MMB Commercial, develop an understanding of the business building support and understanding across teams.
• Working closely with client facing sales and account management teams assess the commercial options for the Darwin business and build a consensus view considering distribution opportunities and challenges.
• By leveraging the above models and collaborating closely with the Product & Propositions Teams, effectively assess and establish the necessary proposition requirements. Subsequently, craft comprehensive product and proposition proposals (business cases) that will undergo evaluation and seek approval from the Darwin Executive Team.
• Define and champion the proposition strategy and objectives to lead innovation across the business. Support development of the proposition plan into established product and services roadmaps.
• Accommodating challenges and requests from the Darwin Executive Team, secure approval for a proposition plan including the product portfolio, target markets, services and pricing with associated business targets.
• Drive the business to achieve performance targets as agreed by the Darwin Executive Team in line with Darwin and MMB objectives.
• With proposition plan approval, lead design of the product/proposition incorporating User Experience (UX) best practices. Support the Technology and Service Teams' design and build processes to achieve a commercially viable and supportable market centric proposition portfolio.
• Work with the Product & Propositions Teams and Client Office Teams to create effective product content.
• Support the Marketing team to deliver effective proposition messaging for internal and external audiences including sales.
• Build and deliver product technical and training materials.
• Help communicate the technology proposition and development roadmap.
• Provide ongoing reporting of team and proposition performance with insight for continuous business improvement
• Lead the proposition development team ensuring they are suitably trained and have clear development plans in place. Lead, coach, coordinate, mentor, and oversee the team and their activities.

What you need to have:

• Strong level of business acumen with a good grasp of the commercial considerations necessary to make a business successful.
• Leadership and influencing skills.
• Problem analysis and resolution skills.
• Understanding of the requirement, and how, to build client and market centric knowledge of needs, competitive landscape and market opportunities.
• Extensive experience with distribution alignment
• Ability to develop a high degree of understanding of the products, markets and regulatory / legal framework that the group operates within.
• Experience in understanding delivery times and quality standards.
• Awareness of pricing & costs principles.
• Ability to understand and support new feature/ service launches.

What makes you stand out?

• Experience of building a function or managing an alternative approach within an existing function.

MERCER

Mercer believes in building brighter futures by redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being. Mercer's more than 20,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm operates in over 130 countries. Mercer is a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world's leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, with more than 85,000 colleagues and annual revenue of over $23 billion. Through its market-leading businesses including Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Oliver Wyman, Marsh McLennan helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment. For more information, visit Follow Mercer on LinkedIn and X.

Marsh McLennan is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age background, civil partnership status, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments in accordance with applicable law to any candidate with a disability to allow them to fully participate in the recruitment process. If you have a disability that may require reasonable adjustments, please contact us at