Reference Number - 79837

This Head of IS Commercial Management will report to the Chief Information Officer and will work within the Information Systems directorate based in our London office. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary depending on your experience and a bonus of 10%. This role can also offer blended working after probationary period (6 months) - 3 days in the office and 2 remote

Close Date: 15/11/2024

We also provide the following additional benefits

25 Days Annual Leave plus bank holidays Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%) Tenancy Loan Deposit scheme Tax efficient benefits: cycle to work scheme Season ticket loan Occupational Health support Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers products. Discounted access to sports and social clubs Employee Assistance Programme.

COMPANY OVERVIEW

UK Power Networks (UKPN) is a distribution network operator for electricity covering Southeast England, the East of England and London, serving 8.3 million domestic homes and businesses, and some 20 million customers.

Employing approximately 6,000 people, UK Power Networks' primary role is to ensure the infrastructure that brings power to homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, and other public services delivers reliable, safe and sustainable electricity to customers, irrespective of their chosen commercial supplier. Its responsibilities include:

Maintaining the safety and reliability of the electricity networks; Connecting new customers' premises to electricity; and Extending and upgrading the electricity network to facilitate decarbonisation and customer needs.

All of the distribution network operators (DNOs) are regulated by the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). Supply companies buy electricity in bulk from generation companies. They pay distribution companies to transport the electricity through the cables and power lines to homes and businesses.

UKPN's three networks distribute electricity using more than 170,000km of underground cables and overhead lines, and more than 130,000 substations, with safety and customer service being the core priorities.

UKPN has revenues of c.£2 billion per annum and a regulated asset base of £9 billion. Its current business plan forecasts investment of c.£5 billion over the next five years (a 25% increase on the prior regulatory period) driven by decarbonisation of generation, transport, and heat. It is equivalent in size to FTSE100 utilities such as Severn Trent and United Utilities.

UKPN is owned by the Cheung Kong Group (CKG) which has operations in over 50 countries and employs some 350,000 people worldwide. CKG has a proven pedigree in running high-quality utility companies and a track record of wise investments. CKG successfully operates electricity distribution businesses serving communities in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Since UKPN was acquired by CKG in 2010, it has undergone a phenomenal transformation. From a position of underperforming against peer distribution sector organisations, it is now widely regarded as the leading distribution company in Great Britain. Since 2010, UKPN has:

Dramatically reduced lost time injuries by 90% making it the safest DNO. Reduced power cuts by 59% making it the most reliable group of networks. Delivered customer satisfaction levels at 94% and is the only utility recognised in the UK Institute of Customer Service's Top 10 rankings beating household names like Amazon, John Lewis, Apple and Octopus Energy (the only Which recommended energy supplier). Connected enough renewable energy to power more than 3.5 million homes. Been ranked as having the world's smartest grid (in 2020 in the Global Singapore Smart Grid Index and consistently ranks #1 in the UK 2020-2022). Been the first distribution company to commit to verified science-based targets. Repeatedly been named Utility of the Year and a Top 25 Best Big Company to Work For. It is among just 5% of companies in the world awarded Investors in People's highest status – Platinum.

In short, UKPN is an ambitious and progressive company with a clear vision, dedicated and focused people, underpinned by a strong performance driven culture. It strives to be the best at everything that it aims for. This puts the organisation in a commanding position given the future challenges of decarbonisation and evolving customer and stakeholder expectations. It has ambitious plans to unlock the huge opportunities from greater digitalisation, new technologies and advances in data science and AI. The next leap in performance will be fuelled by these advances and UKPN wants to be at the forefront to ensure it maintains clear blue-water between itself and its competition. It now needs a technology function with a dynamic leadership team to take it to the next level.

JOB PURPOSE

Information Systems (IS) plays a key role in ensuring UK Power Networks remains the best performing UK network operator. However, the electricity industry is now going through a period of unprecedented change, driven by the need to develop smart networks that react to changes such as the proliferation of local and central generation sources, and the significant demands that will quickly emerge from a move to electric vehicles. The innovative exploitation of technology and data will be at the forefront of ensuring competitive advantage within this changing market, and hence IS needs continually to adapt to support effective technology-enabled business change across customer, enterprise and smart power systems.

IS has made strong progress over recent years in ensuring a high-quality IT service able to respond to rapidly changing needs, consistently being scored 9/10 for its internal customer service performance by employees. UKPN is now seeking a dynamic and experienced Head of IT Commercial Management to provide the strong leadership needed during this next key period of change, combing strategy, commercial and programme delivery skills to support the business to deliver its vision and facilitate the transition to Net Zero.

Main goals for the Head of IT Commercial Management CIO include:

Oversee c.£70m of annual CAPEX investment to ensure we have effective governance and control of expenditure, benefits achievement and output delivery and good business engagement, aiming to deliver at least 93% CSAT for the projects we deliver. Manage commercial strategy and performance management across a c.£40m per annum portfolio of IT contracts covering managed services, hardware, software and cloud-based services, including establishing a sector first FinOps capability. Contribute to the shaping of IT and Business strategy to support our vision and targets working directly with the Chief Information Officer and Director of Customer Service, Finance and Technology, ensuring compliance, commercial rigor and governance adherence. Establish and maintain strategic partnerships with third party vendors and contractors. Manage a team of 10+, with the need for wider matrix management, providing a high level of employee engagement.

NATURE AND SCOPE

Commercial & Financial Management

You will be responsible for overall management and coordination of the OPEX and CAPEX budgets for IS, in close collaboration with Finance and the wider IS senior management team. You will have responsibility for the tracking, controlling and reporting of forecasts, budgets, planned, committed and actual spend, driving delivery against an optimised budget.

Additionally, the role holder oversees the management of vendor partner expenditure across IT, working with Procurement and IS Operations to ensure a clear understanding of vender performance, work definitions and work packages, payment terms and stages, verifying and approving proposals against likely cost and success. Similarly, the role holder ensures Software and Hardware commercial compliance.

Strategy

You will support the CIO with strategy development in "problem or opportunity" areas where the intersection of business change and technology unlocks value and helps the business realise its performance goals. This includes determining objectives and associated technology investment in the next regulatory price control period, aligning to targeted business outcomes and commitments, along with targeting efficiency across the business.

SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPEREINCE

Experience delivering business and technology projects that resulted in real business impact/value. Experience of driving strategic technology investment with the ability to bring in new thinking and ideas and to build relationships with external technology partners. Robust negotiation and commercial skills, defining and implementing effective performance management frameworks. Broad technology market knowledge, covering both traditional core systems of record and contemporary digital technologies. Strong analytical and mathematical skills to understand and assess costs, contracts and formulate strategy to achieve business objectives. Track record in defining and implementing effective performance management frameworks. Excellent organisational, analytical and facilitation skills and a strong drive to deliver quality results to specific deadlines. Accustomed to working across multiple stakeholders (Projects, Business and IT), at all levels of the organisation. Ability to create strong relationships and trust with peers, vendors and customers. Exemplary written, verbal and communication skills. Heavily results and outcome oriented, with the energy and determination to succeed. Ability to work well under pressure. Adaptable to changing demands in a fast-paced environment. Proven people leadership skills with possession of highly cultivated people skills - coaching, teaching and mentoring ability. Promote continuous improvement, learning and development, and foster an environment where people love to come to work. Self-starter – able to define, formulate and develop the role across all aspects. Ability to manage the expectations and requirements of different stakeholder groups to achieve conclusive outcomes. A diplomatic and adaptable team working style; works collaboratively with colleagues.

Health & Safety Responsibilities

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

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