Full Time Permanent position
Hybrid role based in our City Centre offices

What we offer

We have embraced a hybrid working model for most of our positions, which means that you can enjoy a balanced approach of working from home for part of the week and working from the office for the remainder of the week.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including competitive salaries and bonuses, robust Learning and Development support, excellent Defined Contribution pension and comprehensive Wellbeing initiatives and support to name but a few.

Further details on our benefits package can be accessed here Benefits (life-careers.com)

Company Values

At Irish Life, our purpose is to help people build better futures. Our company values shape everything we do and underpin our vision of being the driving force behind Ireland’s financial, physical, and mental well-being.

We believe in doing the right thing—acting with integrity and making fair, responsible decisions. We aim high, setting ambitious goals and find better ways to innovate and improve. Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we are dedicated to understanding their needs and exceeding their expectations. Achieving this is only possible when we work best together—in a supportive, collaborative environment where every idea and contribution is valued.

Role Overview

The purpose of this role is to lead the strategic evolution of advice delivery within Financial Planning, shaping how our advisers and managers will serve customers in an increasingly digital and AI‑enabled world. Rather than simply running today’s model, this role will define and deliver the capability, culture and ways of working needed for the next 3–5 years – including the roadmap for adviser and manager roles, the skills and behaviours required, and the learning, coaching and development approaches that will bring this to life.

As Head of Capability and Transformation, you will drive the Financial Planning change agenda end‑to‑end – from setting the vision and building business cases for future‑fit capabilities, to harnessing data, AI and customer insight to re‑design how advice is experienced and scaled. You will lead and inspire a team that enables advisers and managers to perform at their best, ensuring that sales support, sales operations and talent development are tightly aligned to this “future of advice” strategy and to the Division’s commercial goals

Team Background

This role sits within the Financial Planning Division and reports to the Director of Financial Planning Director. Financial Planning operates across 3 distribution channels: Advice 360, Advice Partners and Strategic Partnerships, with a customer base of 360,000. We have over 250 advisers and they deliver advice to >50,000 people each year.
The role holder will have a critical part to play in helping the Division to achieve its current and future year financial goals.
The role will have line management responsibility for a least 2 direct reports and be the leader for an overall of team of approx. 10 people. However, the sphere of influence for this role will reach much wider and across the full Financial Planning division.
One of the most critical elements to this role will be to look to the future, taking in numerous insights, to build a vision & plan for how sales advisers and managers skills and behaviours will evolve to meet changing customer expectations.

More specific responsibilities will include

As Head of Capability and Transformation, this role will involve:

Driving transformation of Advice delivery
- Lead the definition of how the roles of adviser and manager need to transform to meet the demands of a more digital and AI enabled Financial Planning business.
- Understand the role AI will play in delivering scalable and efficient advice to our customers and the impacts on organisational roles. Lead out on plans to implement an AI strategy for Financial Planning.
- Own the end-to-end roadmap for adviser and manager capability, setting out the skills, behaviours and leadership expectations required over the next 3–5 years and ensuring training curricula, coaching and on-the-job development are aligned to this roadmap.
- Identify the optimal AI capabilities to support the roles within Financial Planning (i.e. mystery shop, point of sale, voice of customer feedback and activation etc.).

Deliver Strategic Leadership and Change for Financial Planning
- Provide strategic leadership on the evolution of adviser and manager roles, using external insight and internal analytics to anticipate future requirements. Ensure that training, talent and operating model plans remain aligned to this “future of advice” roadmap.
- Lead the development of business cases for investment in operational improvements and future-fit capabilities.
- Work with the Director of Financial Planning on developing the AI North Star for the business to ensure the business remains at the cutting edge of developments and is prepared for future change.
- Provide thought leadership on how best to enhance the delivery of advice with digital & AI capabilities to meet evolving customer expectations
Sales Support & Operations
- Oversee the sales support function, ensuring advisers and teams have the resources, information, and operational support required to achieve sales targets.
- Represent Financial Planning by leading the engagement with key internal stakeholders, such as Marketing and CX, Products and Propositions, Customer Solutions
- Working with Group HR (recruitment and Learning and Development) to identify and implement “always on” recruitment and a talent development programme that aligns with the Financial Planning vision and roadmap to prepare all staff for the evolving Financial Planning environment.
- Collaborating with Brokerage to find shared opportunities across the value chain and communities of best practice.
- Monitor, report and recommend actions on key financial metrics (sales, net flows, margin, persistency, expenses)

What you will help us to achieve

The ideal candidate will have / be:

Proven leadership experience in financial services, ideally within personal financial planning or advisory.
Strategic thinker with a track record of driving change and being future focused
Strong digital skills and evidence of embracing emerging AI technologies.
Experience in designing and delivering training and development programs.
Excellent stakeholder management, relationship management and collaboration skills.
Strong operational management skills, with a track record of delivering process improvements and supporting sales teams.

Fitness & Probity

This role is a ‘controlled function’ as defined by the Central Bank Reform Act 2010 Regulations 2011. Any appointment will be conditional on the company being satisfied that the appointee meets the requirements as set out in the Fitness and Probity standards issued by the Central Bank. This requires the company to complete prescribed due diligence to assess the appointee’s fitness and probity. Further details on this due diligence process are available from ILFS Human Resources.

About us

Irish Life is one of Ireland’s largest financial institutions with a presence across a range of financial services markets. We are one of Ireland’s leading financial services groups with over 1.4 million customers. For over 80 years, we’ve been helping people to look after their life insurance, pension and investment needs, and more recently their health insurance.

It is a subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco and a member of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies.

We are proud of our culture of developing and supporting the growth and professional development of our people. The focus has resulted in a team of top talent with high standards, positioning us at the forefront of our industry.

The company reserves the right to draw up a shortlist as part of the selection process. Where Agency assistance is required the Irish Life Recruitment Team will engage directly with suppliers. Unsolicited CVs / profiles supplied to Irish Life by Recruitment Agencies will not be accepted for this role.

Irish Life is proud to be an Equal Opportunities employer. We have created an environment of inclusion and growth to help people achieve their potential, to ensure they can bring their whole selves to work and to feel valued. We celebrate diversity of thought and perspective and want all of our employees to feel valued, respected and supported. We have built a culture that promotes equality and inclusion for all of our current and future employees and strive to ensure that our behaviours, processes and practices are aligned to this culture.

If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process please contact lifecareers@irishlife.ie and we will be delighted to ensure you are fully supported to be your best.

Irish Life Financial Services supports Equal Opportunity.

Irish Life Assurance plc is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Head of Capability and Transformation (Financial Planning)

Benefits

Job Description