Head of Enterprise Operations, Europe

Overview

The Head of Enterprise Operations, Europe is a senior executive leadership role accountable for establishing, integrating, and leading Vanguard Europe's enterprise-wide operational control environment. Leading a large and growing team split across London, Manchester and Dublin, this role owns Europe's Operational Resilience, Business Continuity, Third Party Risk Management, Control Assurance, and Governance frameworks, ensuring the firm can scale safely, sustainably, and in line with board approved risk appetite. As Head of Enterprise Operations, Europe, you will report to the Vanguard Europe Chief Operating Officer (Head of Operations) and work as part of Europe's senior operations leadership team. You will have responsibility for building critical capabilities from the ground up and embedding the disciplines required to operate them in a complex, multi jurisdictional asset management business. The role is highly visible, with material regulatory, operational, and strategic impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing, embedding, and maturing Europe's operations management and governance system, ensuring clear accountability, effective decision making, and strong risk ownership.
• Leading Europe's Operational Resilience and Business Continuity programmes, including scenario testing, impact tolerances, and severe but plausible event planning.
• Owning and evolving Europe's Third Party Risk Management and Outsourcing operating model, including lifecycle oversight, resilience, and exit planning.
• Building and leading a central controls office, responsible for control effectiveness assurance and control design advisory.
• Leading Europe's regulatory operations team, enabling Vanguard's distribution of UK and Irish funds across Europe.
• Producing high quality management information and board level insight on Europe's control environment and risk profile.
• Acting as a senior interface with regulators and Boards.
• Building and leading high performing teams, uplifting organisational capability and embedding a disciplined, risk aware culture.

Experience & Capabilities Required

• Extensive senior leadership experience in operations, resilience, controls, or enterprise risk roles within regulated financial services.
• Deep expertise in Operational Resilience, Business Continuity, Third Party Risk Management, and control assurance disciplines.
• Strong understanding of UK, EU, and Irish regulatory regimes with proven experience engaging regulators.
• Demonstrated experience building enterprise operating systems, governance frameworks, or assurance functions from an immature or fragmented baseline.
• Ability to communicate complex risk and control topics with clarity and executive impact.
• Proven track record of building credibility, influencing senior stakeholders, and leading through complexity.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.