Who are we?
Howden is a collective – a group of talented and passionate people all around the world. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 18,000 employees spanning over 100 countries.
People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.
Role Overview
The ServiceNow Platform Owner leads the strategic direction and operational oversight of the ServiceNow Center of Excellence and Innovation (CoEI), serving as the primary accountable executive for maximising business value from the ServiceNow platform across the enterprise. This role focuses on transforming ServiceNow from an IT support tool into a strategic enterprise platform that drives digital workflow transformation and innovation.
Your specific responsibilities will include:
Strategic Leadership & Vision
- Platform Strategy Development: Lead alignment between ServiceNow capabilities and business strategy, ensuring the platform supports enterprise digital transformation goals
- Vision Articulation: Communicate the strategic value and business impact of ServiceNow across all organisational levels, positioning it as an enterprise platform for digitising workflows
- Roadmap Oversight: Own and manage the ServiceNow roadmap development process, ensuring alignment with business priorities and strategic governance decisions
- Executive Engagement: Serve as the primary interface between the CoEI and executive leadership, advocating for platform investments and strategic initiatives
Center of Excellence Leadership
- CoEI Management: Provide leadership and oversight to all CoEI teams including business engagement, platform architecture, support, and innovation functions
- Cross-functional Coordination: Ensure seamless collaboration between strategy, business engagement and delivery, platform architecture and support, and innovation teams
- Performance Management: Drive CoEI effectiveness through defined metrics, KPIs, and regular assessment of team performance against business objectives
- Talent Strategy: Partner with HR to define career paths and development opportunities that align with ServiceNow roadmap evolution
Governance & Risk Management
- Platform Governance: Actively contribute to and often lead ServiceNow governance functions, including strategic, portfolio, and technical governance
- Risk Oversight: Ensure appropriate controls are in place to protect against technical risks, ungoverned customisation, and platform performance issues
- Compliance Management: Maintain platform adherence to enterprise standards, security requirements, and regulatory compliance
- Application Escalation: Manage and resolve complex platform and application escalations that require executive-level intervention
Business Value & Financial Management
- Value Realisation: Track, measure, and communicate business value delivered through ServiceNow implementations and innovations
- Budget Management: Own the ServiceNow budget including platform licensing, CoEI staffing, and project-based funding models
- Financial Strategy: Develop and implement funding models that support both operational excellence and innovation initiatives
- ROI Demonstration: Provide clear reporting on return on investment and business impact to executive stakeholders
Stakeholder Engagement
- Business Partnership: Collaborate with service owners, process owners, and business line leaders to identify opportunities for workflow digitisation
- Change Leadership: Champion organisational change management efforts related to ServiceNow adoption and digital transformation
- Communication Strategy: Develop and execute comprehensive communication plans to drive platform adoption and showcase success stories
Experience and Skills
Technical & Platform Expertise
- ServiceNow Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience with ServiceNow platform management, implementation, or administration
- Platform Knowledge: Deep understanding of ServiceNow capabilities across IT, Employee, and Customer workflows
- Technical Architecture: Strong grasp of enterprise architecture principles, system integration, and platform scalability considerations
Leadership & Management
- Executive Leadership: 7+ years of senior leadership experience, preferably in IT service management, digital transformation, or platform management roles
- Team Management: Proven track record of building, leading, and scaling high-performance technical teams
- Stakeholder Management: Demonstrated ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all organisational levels, including C-suite executives
Business & Strategic Acumen
- Service Management: Extensive knowledge of enterprise and/or IT service management principles and best practices
- Digital Transformation: Experience leading digital transformation initiatives and understanding of workflow automation opportunities
- Financial Management: Strong background in IT financial management, including budget development, cost optimisation, and ROI measurement
- Change Management: Experience with organisational change management and adoption strategies for enterprise platforms
What do we offer in return?
A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:
Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new
We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges
We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond
Reasonable adjustments
We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.
If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.
*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.
Permanent
