Global Head of Change Management

Global Head of Change Management A really exciting opportunity to join the Project Delivery team at Jellycat! For a quarter of a century, the Jellycat family have brought joy, wonder and playful fun to people of all ages, in every part of the world. Utterly original and in a class of their own, they are currently among the most loved and collected toys of their kind. How has this gentle tribe endeared themselves to so many? Perhaps it is their whimsical expressions. Or the deliciously soft fabrics. Or the beautiful way in which they sit in your hand. Whatever it is, there is something magical and unmistakeable about each one of them. The Global Head of Change Management leads Jellycat's global change control function, building and running a robust change management capability across the business. Reporting to the Global Business Transformation Director, this role leads and develops a multidisciplinary team of Business Analysts, System Administrators and Testers, and owns the end to end change control process - from inception, through impact assessment, build, testing and documentation, to delivery - ensuring change is delivered safely, on time and aligned with Jellycat's strategic priorities. You'll be: Global Change Control Process Owning and maintaining Jellycat's global change control process end to end, covering intake, impact assessment, prioritisation, build, testing, release and post implementation review. Partnering with the Global Business Transformation Director and senior stakeholders to define and continuously improve the change management framework, ensuring it scales with the pace and complexity of the business. Establishing and maintaining change pipeline reporting, dashboards and KPIs that give leadership a clear, real time view of change volume, risk and throughput across systems and functions. Identifying interdependencies and conflicts across concurrent changes, and proactively managing trade offs in scope, timeline and system impact. Leading regular Change Advisory Board (CAB) forums with senior stakeholders, recommending decisions on prioritisation, sequencing and go/no go for release. Team Leadership & Management Leading, managing and developing a multidisciplinary team of Business Analysts, System Administrators and Testers, setting clear objectives and creating a culture of accountability, quality and continuous improvement. Allocating Business Analysts, System Administrators and Testers to changes and initiatives based on skills, capacity and business priority, balancing workload and development opportunities across the team. Building team capability through coaching, structured development plans and access to relevant training and certifications. Leading the recruitment and onboarding of change management talent as the team and change portfolio grow. Fostering strong, collaborative working relationships between the change team and functional and business teams across Jellycat. Testing, Quality & Documentation Designing, implementing and continuously improving a consistent global change control methodology, covering impact and risk assessment, approval, build, testing and release. Establishing clear governance structures and escalation routes, including change approval authorities and emergency change routes. Ensuring every change has a clear scope, justification, risk assessment, test plan and sign-off, together with complete documentation from inception through to closure and post-implementation review. Embedding rigorous risk and issue management practices, ensuring risks identified during testing are owned and mitigated prior to release. Championing consistent use of change, test and documentation management tools and systems, driving standardisation, quality and audit-readiness across the team. Monitoring compliance with governance standards and taking corrective action where changes deviate from agreed processes. Stakeholder Communication & Engagement Building strong, trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and system and process owners across Jellycat, acting as a key point of contact for change delivery. Designing and delivering clear, tailored communications for different audiences, from working-level updates through to Executive Committee reporting. Ensuring stakeholders are engaged early and appropriately throughout the change lifecycle, managing expectations and building buy-in for change. Representing the change management function in senior forums, presenting change pipeline status, risks and recommendations with clarity and confidence. Acting as an escalation point for change-related issues, working with sponsors and the Global Business Transformation Director to resolve blockers quickly. You'll have: Essential 10+ years' experience in change management, business analysis or IT delivery, including significant experience owning a global change control process across multiple systems and functions. 5+ years' proven experience leading and developing multidisciplinary teams, including Business Analysts, System Administrators and Testers, with strong people leadership and coaching skills. Deep expertise in change management and control frameworks (e.g. ITIL Change Management, ISO 20000, Agile/DevOps change practices), with the ability to tailor frameworks pragmatically to organisational needs. A formal change, IT service management or testing qualification (e.g. ITIL, ISTQB, PRINCE2 or Agile/Scrum certifications). A strong background in software and system testing practices and methodologies, with the ability to establish and enforce quality and testing standards across a testing function. Excellent stakeholder management skills, with a track record of building credibility and influence at senior and Executive level. A strong track record of establishing or significantly improving a change control or change management function. Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical or process information into clear, actionable insights for different audiences. Experience operating within a fast-paced, international organisation. Desirable Experience within retail, FMCG, licensing or a global consumer brand. Experience using change, test and documentation management tools such as ServiceNow, Jira, Zephyr or Confluence. Experience supporting broader business transformation or organisational change initiatives. Department Project Delivery Locations London Remote status Hybrid London Our Perks & Benefits Discretionary Bonus Scheme This role will be eligible to participate in a discretionary annual bonus scheme with awards based on both company and individual performance. Private Medical Insurance We offer a premium level of cover for all Head Office employees through Vitality including Optical and Dental cover. Group Life Cover We offer Life Insurance at 4 x basic salary 25 days paid holiday We value that you get more time with your family and friends. Therefore we offer everybody 25 days paid holiday. Hybrid working We value work-life balance highly, therefore we work a hybrid model which consists of coming into the office a minimum of three days a week. Employee Assistance Program Committed to the health and wellbeing of all our employees, we offer a comprehensive and confidential support program through Health Assured. Private Chef! Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we have the pleasure of having our own Private Chef team who prepare us all a buffet style breakfast and lunch. This is subsidised by the company with a small employee contribution. Regular social & team events We have a very imaginative and active social committee who meet regularly to put on events that help us mark special occasions and celebrate our successes as a team. Contributory Pension Scheme We offer a salary sacrifice pension scheme through Scottish Widows with a company and employee contribution of 5% each (you can of course increase your contribution).