Job Description
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Alderley Park
Working style: Hybrid 50% home/office based
Closing date: 23rd July 2026
Job Summary
The Chief Operating Office (COO) has three value streams for Long Term Savings, Long Standing Customers & Annuities, and Protection & Equity Release. These areas are integral to the propositional leadership teams, bringing a deep understanding of business strategy, industry trends, technology capabilities, and a strong customer focus. They translate business strategy into IT strategy and change agendas, overseeing strategy implementation and end-to-end IT services.
We have an opportunity to join the Protection & Equity Release Value Stream as a Scrum Master working with one or more squads covering the protection proposition and change activities.
As Scrum Master, you will contribute to the success of the squad through effective leadership and coaching of the team to deliver great outcomes that our customers and members benefit from.
As part of the wider Scrum Master community, you will also help us to adopt a more open and inquisitive approach to innovation, drive cross-functional efficiency, and improve the effectiveness and value delivered from change execution, including the adoption of agile mindset, values, principles, processes, and tools.
About the role
- Own the Scrum process in the team and have ownership for the success of this in the team
- Support the Product Owner to organise and manage their backlog, implement and support best practices in backlog refinement & prioritisation through different tools and techniques
- Support the team in the visualisation of their work and processes including the use of metrics to understand their performance and where to focus time on improvements.
- Support the team to be self-managing and to develop a mindset of delivering value incrementally and support the team to resolve blockers.
- Drive Scrum teams to successful delivery by focusing on the goal, leveraging agile practices, processes, tools and techniques.
About you
- Expert knowledge of agile principles, and practices and how these are best applied, including ability to train and coach and work alongside senior stakeholders
- Extensive experience within Protection with a deep understanding of the products and proposition.
- Knowledge and experience of one or more of the following:
- Experience of people leadership, building team performance through coaching for performance, driving delivery and facilitating collaboration.
- Technical – background in agile scaling, scrum mastering, working in an Agile matrix or product innovation techniques.
- Architecture – designing, coding, test engineering or dev ops with the knowledge to promote technical craftsmanship and to support the teams in solving technical challenges through example and thought leadership.
- Transformation – ability to facilitate, leading organisational change and transformation, change management capabilities, systems thinking and or behavioural science.
- Enthusiastic and passionate about business outcomes and agility, looking to improve processes with a continuous improvement mindset, and to seek ways to improve individual performance.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to motivate others and bring calmness as and when required. Focussed on continuous improvement of both your own skills and capabilities, those of the team and seek to use external best practice to support this.
About Royal London
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Our People Promise to our colleagues is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.
We've always been proud to reward employees by offering great workplace benefits such as 28 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, an up to 14% employer matching pension scheme and private medical insurance.
Inclusion, diversity and belonging
We’re an inclusive employer. We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected – whatever their background.
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Royal London is a purpose-driven mutual. Our Purpose, ‘Protecting today, investing in tomorrow. Together we are mutually responsible’, defines the impact we want to have. It shapes what we do on behalf of our members and customers, financial advisers, our colleagues and the communities in which we operate. Our People Promise is our collective commitment that our workplace will be inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling where all colleagues can thrive and experience a sense of belonging. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.
Our inclusive values and people promise are core to who we are and how we work. It’s good for our people, and good for our customers too, because with an inclusive workplace and a diverse workforce we will reflect our members, customers and communities to deliver the best outcomes.
We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across our organisation. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected– whatever their background.
Workplace Initiatives
Program for parents returning to work after Parental Leave? |
No |
Leadership development programmes? |
Yes |
Mentoring programmes? |
Yes |
Coaching programmes? |
Yes |
Employee-led diversity networks? |
Yes |
Internal women’s networking groups? |
Yes |
Open to discussing flexible work arrangements at interview stage? |
Yes |
No. of weeks paid maternity leave at full salary: |
26 weeks (followed by 13 weeks half pay) |
Minimum weeks tenure required to be eligible for paid maternity leave: |
Open to all regardless of length of service |
No. of weeks paid paternity leave at full salary: |
4 weeks |
Minimum tenure required to be eligible for paid paternity leave: |
Open to all regardless of length of service |
Gender pay gap reporting information 2022: |
|
Mean pay gap: |
35.3% |
Median pay gap: |
33.9% |
Mean bonus gap: |
70.4% |
Median bonus gap: |
48.5% |
Signatory of the UK Women in Finance Charter? |
Yes |
Targets to raise the number of women in leadership? |
Yes |
Targets to raise the number of BAME individuals in leadership? |
No |
Listed in the Bloomberg Diversity & Inclusion Index? |
No |
Graduate Programmes
We have a number of graduate programmes designed to deliver technical experts and future leaders.
Royal London Career Confidence programme
Our hybrid programme focuses on equipping you to feel empowered in your career and supported to explore new opportunities as they arise.
Apprenticeships
We offer a wide range of Apprenticeships that are targeted at both new joiners and existing colleagues.
Inclusion
We promote an inclusive culture at Royal London and have a range of inclusion networks for our colleagues to get involved with.
Our Women's Network is a community that celebrates and supports its members, helps everyone to learn more and inspires all of us to aim higher. Confidence and development are strong themes here and our events focus on three key areas of team working, finance, and wellbeing. There are two sub-groups to the Women’s Network – Women in Technology and our Periods and Menopause Group – focused on actions such as supporting over 20 new Periods and Menopause champions and launching guidance and training for leaders.