Business Readiness Lead (46659) bei British Council

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

British Council Pay Band 8

Department: Projects and Programmes
Location: UK offices in (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, and anyone on pre-existing homeworking contracts in the UK)

Contract: Fixed Term Contract – 2- year contract
Apply by: Monday, 08th September 2025 23:59 Local time
Interview window: 03rd week of September

This role is open to applicants who already have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application. Relocation and visa sponsorship are not available. The British Council supports flexible working, including hybrid arrangements, subject to line manager approval and operational requirements.

Role Context

The Business Readiness Lead plays a key integrator role within the Global Change Programme, consolidating organisational, operational, and people readiness insights across delivery workstreams, enabling functions, and business areas. Working closely with the People & Change function, programme PMO, and business leads, the role supports effective planning and governance by surfacing cross-cutting risks and providing a clear view of readiness aligned to programme milestones and go-live requirements. Rather than executing readiness plans directly, the role ensures coherence and alignment across activities to enable smooth transitions and minimise operational disruption.

As part of the central programme team, the Business Readiness Lead supports the delivery of a £50m annual financial improvement target by 2030 through coordinated planning across 30 initiatives. The role strengthens visibility, manages interdependencies, and translates impact assessments into actionable insights for transition planning and programme decision-making. A critical focus is providing consolidated readiness reporting to inform programme boards and support go/no-go decisions, ensuring successful implementation and long-term benefit realisation.

Main responsibilities

The Business Readiness Lead coordinates readiness planning across delivery workstreams, business functions, and the People & Change team, ensuring consistency in tools, timelines, and approaches. The role consolidates change impact assessments to highlight implications for operations, roles, and systems, and synthesises insights into clear summaries for stakeholder engagement and decision-making. It maintains visibility of readiness through structured dashboards and health indicators, escalating risks, blockers, and capacity concerns to governance forums as needed.

In addition, the role identifies interdependencies across initiatives, enabling alignment between delivery teams, business units, and enabling functions. It supports transition planning by contributing readiness intelligence to cutover, go-live, and handover activities, ensuring business units are informed and supported throughout the change. By connecting insights and harmonising readiness efforts, the Business Readiness Lead helps drive smooth transitions and sustainable outcomes across the programme.

Role Specific Skills

• Proven success in business readiness roles within large-scale transformation programmes.
• Strong ability to coordinate readiness activities across multiple workstreams and functions.
• Skilled in synthesising change impacts and readiness indicators into executive-level reporting.
• Proficient in using structured tools like dashboards, scorecards, and go/no-go frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, with the ability to explain complex data in clear, non-technical language.

Role specific knowledge and experience

Essential:

• Experience in business readiness or transition coordination within complex transformation programmes.
• Proven ability to consolidate readiness insights across functions, workstreams, and geographies.
• Skilled in interpreting business impacts and supporting readiness planning without owning implementation.
• Proficient in using structured readiness tools (e.g. dashboards, scorecards, go/no-go criteria).
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with a collaborative, facilitative approach.
• Confident in producing actionable reports to support governance and decision-making.

Desirable:

• Experience in federated, regulated, or public sector environments.
• Exposure to organisational design or operating model changes.
• Understanding of service transition or cutover planning in ERP/digital programmes.
• Prior involvement in readiness-based go/no-go decision processes at executive level.

Education and Professional Qualification

Desirable:

• Certified Change Management Practitioner (e.g. Prosci®, APMG) – demonstrates structured understanding of change and readiness principles.
• Project/Programme Management Certification (e.g. PRINCE2®, MSP®, PMP®/PgMP®) – reflects familiarity with structured programme environments and governance.

Language Requirements

• The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email [email protected]