Regional Operations Enablement Lead – Health & Benefits (DACH, PL, PT)

As the Operations Enablement Lead for Germany (DE), Switzerland (CH), Poland (PL), and Portugal (PT) within Health & Benefits (H&B) Europe (xFR), this role provides operational leadership and hands-on support to smaller, high-growth countries where operations responsibilities are often held alongside broking or client service roles.
Acting as the operational enablement, the role partners closely with Country Leaders, local in-country operations representatives, and the regional operations team to strengthen operational capability, consistency, and maturity. The focus is on enabling effective day-to-day operations, embedding standard processes, improving efficiency through process improvement and automation, and ensuring full adoption of strategic platforms, regulatory compliance, and high-quality data across all systems.
This role does not carry direct people management accountability but operates with significant influence across countries, supporting execution of both business-as-usual and strategic change priorities to enable sustainable growth, operational excellence, and margin improvement across DACH, PL, and PT. The role also plays a key part in upholding H&B Excellence standards, strengthening risk and control discipline, and ensuring operational practices across supported countries meet regional and global expectations.
The role will report into the H&B Europe (xFR) Operations Leader who will also serve as the Compensation Manager. This role will also have matrix reporting into the relevant country leaders.
 

1. Operational Enablement & Country Support

• Provide hands-on operational enablement and support to Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Portugal, acting as a trusted partner to Country Leaders and local operations representatives who hold dual operational and client-facing responsibilities.

• Enable effective day-to-day operations by clarifying ownership, standardising ways of working, and supporting prioritisation across business-as-usual activities and change initiatives.

• Represent the operational interests of DACH, PL, and PT at regional level, ensuring country needs, constraints, and opportunities are understood and addressed within H&B Europe (xFR) operations and change forums.

   

2. Process Improvement, Operational Excellence & Automation

• Drive operational excellence by identifying opportunities for process simplification, standardisation, and automation, ensuring improvements are aligned with H&B Excellence standards and control frameworks.

• Lead and support continuous improvement initiatives using structured process improvement methodologies, leveraging automation, digitisation, and right-shoring where appropriate to improve scalability, resilience, and margin.

• Partner with Regional Excellence, Change, and Automation teams to ensure improvements are embedded sustainably and aligned with regional and global operating models.

   

• 3. Technology Adoption & Strategic Platforms

• Ensure full adoption, effective use, and consistent ways of working across strategic H&B technology platforms, including Benefits Engine, working closely with country teams to embed these tools into day-to-day operations.

• Act as a point of operational accountability for technology-enabled change within supported countries, supporting implementation, user adoption, issue resolution, and continuous optimisation in partnership with regional and global technology teams.

   

• 4. Data Quality, Regulation & Risk Management

• Serve as an operational champion for data quality, data privacy, and regulatory compliance across supported countries, ensuring adherence to relevant regulations and internal standards, including Records Management, GDPR and DORA.

• Promote strong data ownership and quality practices across all operational systems, working with country teams and regional partners to address gaps, risks, and inconsistencies.

• Support the implementation of the H&B data and analytics strategy by ensuring operational data is accurate, timely, and fit for purpose, enabling effective reporting, insight generation, and decision-making.

   

• 5. Excellence Standards, Risk & Control Frameworks

• Uphold and embed H&B Excellence standards across Germany, Switzerland, Poland, and Portugal, ensuring consistent application of agreed operational principles, controls, and ways of working.

• Act as the primary operational contact for Excellence and Internal Audit within supported countries, working with the Regional Excellence Leader to assess maturity, identify gaps, and support remediation actions.

• Ensure countries are prepared for and actively participate in Excellence Reviews, risk assessments, and internal audits, supporting local teams to address findings in a pragmatic and sustainable way.

• Promote a strong culture of operational discipline, risk awareness, and continuous improvement, ensuring Excellence standards are embedded into day‑to‑day operations rather than treated as periodic compliance exercises.

   

• 5. Service Delivery & Regional Integration

• Work closely with the Europe (xFR) Service Delivery Leader and Global Delivery Centres (GDC) to identify opportunities to transition appropriate activities, improve service quality, and increase operational scalability for supported countries.

• Act as the business liaison for transitioned services, ensuring service performance, issue resolution, and continuous improvement are actively managed and aligned with country needs.

• Lead or support additional operational initiatives and projects as directed by the H&B Europe (xFR) Operations Leader or Country Leaders.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Operational or complex project management experience, with recognized qualifications such as Lean Six Sigma and or APM an advantage
• Experience with large-scale transformation and change projects 
• Experience in managing multiple projects including as part of virtual teams. Producing quality deliverables within demanding deadlines, within budget
• Ability to build, lead, motivate and work in collaborative teams at all levels, across multiple practice and functional areas
• Proven ability to recognize and diagnose issues and propose solutions

Advantageous Skills & Experience

• In-depth knowledge of the market, H&B and/or Retirement capabilities, and broader WTW offerings 

• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Ability to influence and collaborate with senior stakeholders and work across all levels of an organization
• Interest and aptitude in keeping abreast of latest developments in benefits and contributing to the development of new tools and approaches
• Demonstrable ability to define processes and related support systems
• Experience working with risk management and quality management frameworks and dealing with compliance issues
• Business and commercial acumen
• Exceptional attention to detail                             
• Diligence in identifying, following up and resolving issues

• Excellent leadership, interpersonal and communication skills 

• Strong business acumen, strategic planning, organizational, and creative thinking skills