Senior People Business Partner (Insurance)

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting•New York, NY

79d•$190,000 - $235,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (Alpha) is a leading global consultancy to the financial services industry. Founded in 2003, we have worked for over 20 years to bring together specialist, sector-focused strategy, management consulting and technology expertise to support the entire client transformation lifecycle. Having partnered with more than 1,200 clients worldwide across the asset and wealth management, alternatives and insurance industries, Alpha is truly a trusted advisor for complex change programs. We now have over 1,180 consultants working with clients across North America, the UK, Europe, Middle East and APAC. In 2024, in recognition of our successful track record and strong growth prospects, Alpha was acquired by Bridgepoint, one of the world's leading quoted private asset growth investors. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. We are delighted that many of our team have built long and fulfilling careers with us, many staying over a decade. We believe this is because Alpha offers a genuinely rewarding place to work: a meritocratic environment where your career can flourish, and a welcoming culture where you can be yourself, connect with others and thrive. As we look to the future, we’re excited to be looking for new Alpha colleagues - individuals who are collaborative, innovative and ambitious. We hope you will join us and help shape the next chapter of our growth journey. While consultants focus on delivering client value, our 'Business Operations' function ensures that the company runs efficiently and appropriately across a number of operational areas: Finance, People, Operations, IT, and Legal, Risk & Compliance. Together, these teams ensure the consultants are fully supported - working from a strong operational base that’s efficient, innovative and compliant. Business Operations doesn’t just enable delivery; it empowers Alpha’s long-term success. ‘People’ at Alpha refers to all parts of the employee lifecycle – including Recruitment, HR and Learning. We are investing into a Senior People Business Partner aligned to our Insurance division. The Senior People Business Partner (Insurance) role is a strategic dual role, embedded into both the business unit (Insurance) and the Business Operations function (People function) to ensure alignment with Insurance division’s strategic goals, while also maintaining strong ties with Business Services to uphold functional standards and best practices. The Senior People Business Partner (Insurance) has dual reporting lines: To the Business Head – reporting to the Global Head of Insurance, who provides day-to-day direction, priorities, and operational objectives. To the Business Operations – reporting to the Group Head of HR and Head of Recruitment & Learning, who ensure functional alignment, capability development, and mentoring support. This structure enables the Senior People Business Partners (Insurance) to deliver tailored people solutions that are both strategically aligned with the Insurance division and consistent with Group-wide HR practices.

Requirements

10+ years’ HR or recruitment experience, with 3–5 years in a strategic cross-people business partnering or relationship management role.
Proven ability to influence and advise senior leaders on people strategy and organizational design.
Strong experience in talent attraction and management, succession planning, and leadership development.
Demonstrated capability in post-acquisition integration, change management, and cultural alignment.
A university degree (2:1 or above) in a relevant discipline.
Certification such as CIPD 7, SHRM-SCP, or equivalent academic or professional accreditation.
Excellent communication, analytical, team-work and stakeholder management skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience within a consulting firm – ideally within Financial Services or Insurance Consulting.
Exposure to global or matrixed organizations with complex stakeholder environments.

Responsibilities

Engage directly with senior leaders as a trusted business partner.
Have a ‘seat at the table’ to facilitate the business vision and to define the people agenda behind that.
Analyze people data to identify trends, strengths, and gaps across recruitment, HR, and learning.
Define, iterate and drive the strategy across the people agenda – ultimately answering key questions e.g. what our employer value proposition is, how do we attract the best talent, and how do we manage, develop, and retain talent to help them be successful.
Drive strategic improvements across the employee lifecycle.
Partner with the Finance Business Partner to make sure recommendations are commercially relevant and executable.
Drive and oversee annual business-as-usual (BAU) processes: Talent Acquisition: year-end and mid-year planning and budgeting processes; HR: year-end and mid-year job evaluation, compensation planning and goal setting.
Lead or oversee key initiatives based on the Business Unit’s People strategy and priorities covering: Strategic Workforce & Talent Planning.
Develop and implement workforce strategies aligned to business plans, anticipating future skills and capacity.
Partner with divisional leaders to plan headcount growth and critical role coverage.
Shape recruitment priorities based on commercial demand, utilization patterns, and emerging practice/proposition areas.
Partner with divisional leadership and finance to evolve reward frameworks that support growth, profitability, and retention. This will include assessing reward against an benchmark and making recommendation to division leadership and the board.
Identify retention risks in key talent pools and co-develop targeted retention interventions.
Drive employee engagement initiatives by partnering with leadership to foster a positive work culture, improve retention, and enhance overall employee experience.
Leverage engagement survey data and employee feedback to identify trends and recommend targeted action plans.
Support and coach senior leaders to enhance leadership effectiveness and build high-performing teams.
Monitor emerging talent and partner with leadership to identify and develop future leaders. Lead succession planning processes that anticipate organizational growth and mitigate leadership risk.
Provide focused oversight to Senior Leadership transitions (including onboarding & exits).
Partner with divisional leaders to design and deliver a training framework for each level that addresses the division’s strategic priorities, client needs, and skill gaps.
Lead the continuous review and evolution of each division’s career framework, ensuring it reflects current market expectations, future skills, and the changing consulting environment.
Collaborate with divisional leadership to evolve all people related matters (career, recruitment, etc.) as we deploy AI and other emerging technologies that enhance productivity, streamline delivery, and evolve the nature of the consultant role.
Advise on team structures, spans of control (consulting pyramid), and operating models to improve scalability, collaboration, and efficiency.
Post-acquisition integration: driving the people integration following acquisitions and monitoring success on an ongoing basis.
Contractors: ensuring that relevant and efficient frameworks for sourcing and onboarding are in place, as well as understanding commercial visibility of contractor usage.
Mobilize the internal people delivery teams (Recruitment and HR) who are responsible for execution.
Monitor service quality and performance, supporting them to resolve any issues that arise.
Ensure good productive relationships with wider Business Operations teams in order to facilitate execution.
Play role of senior lead in that functional area – driving effectiveness and good culture, and coaching and supporting individuals to achieve the business goals.
Prepare people reports for senior leadership (both on a proactive and reactive basis), such as for the business unit Board, Group Leadership or Group Board. This will include but not be limited to reporting on matters such as – Reward & Retention, Strategic Hires/Workforce Planning, Talent Development and Strategic Projects.
Designing and executing effective people communications as they relate to organizational change, compensation, and new policies.