Head of Workplace Experience

About the Role

As the Head of Workplace Experience, you will define and guide the organization's workplace strategy, ensuring that physical environments, services, and experiences align with business objectives, organizational culture, and the employee value proposition (EVP). This role is crucial for contributing to progressive talent attraction and retention strategies by creating a workplace that enables performance, engagement, and connection. You will provide strategic and operational direction across workplace experience and facilities in the UK, ensuring all UK and international locations are safe, compliant, operationally efficient, and aligned to brand and business needs. You will lead a team of approximately 15 employees across 4 UK locations.

The ideal candidate will have experience working in a modern, agile workplace, such as a Technology or Start-Up/Scale-Up environment.

Location

• London-based role with 3-4 days per week spent onsite.

Role Scope & Key Responsibilities

Workplace Strategy, Culture & EVP

• Define and shape the enterprise-wide workplace experience strategy, aligning it with business goals, culture, and EVP.
• Create environments that support hybrid work, collaboration, and productivity.
• Continuously evolve the strategy using data and trends.

Collective Impact & Team Guidance

• Provide strategic direction for workplace experience.
• Build and lead a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team, fostering a culture of service excellence and accountability.
• Collaborate with leadership to embed the workplace into the broader business strategy.
• Develop team capability and succession planning.
• Partner with international workplace experience colleagues to ensure consistency across sites.

Workplace Environment, Operations & Service Delivery

• Manage the end-to-end workplace operating model, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality services across all locations (including reception, hospitality, facilities, and employee services).
• Partner with and manage external relationships with contractors and third parties.
• Ensure environments are safe, compliant, inclusive, and brand-aligned.
• Advance the optimisation of space utilisation and overall experience using data insights.

Risk and Governance

• Hold accountability for health, safety, risk, and compliance across all offices in the UK and overseas.
• Establish and maintain a robust control environment, managing and mitigating risks, overseeing risk registers, managing audit responses, and ensuring strict compliance with all relevant legislation and policies.

Property, Projects & Workplace Transformation

• Guide the strategic direction of the property portfolio, focusing on transformation, refurbishments, and space planning when needed.
• Set the vision and design intent for workplace environments.
• Oversee projects, ensuring execution to time, budget, and quality, while maintaining strong governance and risk management.

Vendor and Commercial Management

• Define and oversee the vendor strategy for workplace services, managing key supplier relationships, contracts, and performance.
• Promote commercial efficiency, successfully balancing financial responsibility with high quality.
• Manage workplace budgets, forecasting, and investment planning.

Workplace Experience, Events & Engagement

• Define how the workplace experience supports employee engagement, community, and culture.
• Oversee events and activations to enhance connection, positioning the workplace as a valued destination.

Sustainability and Wellbeing

• Champion the workplace sustainability strategy, embedding responsible practices across operations.
• Ensure environments support employee wellbeing, accessibility, and inclusivity, aligning seamlessly with broader ESG goals.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Deep expertise in workplace experience, facilities, and property management, with a proven track record of connecting strategy to organisational performance and EVP.
• Extensive knowledge of health & safety, risk management, and governance, within regulated and international environments.
• Strong understanding of workplace design, space planning, and managing refurbishment projects alongside strategic partners.
• Strong commercial awareness, including direct experience managing budgets, contracts, and supplier strategies at scale.
• Professional qualifications (e.g., NEBOSH, IOSH, IWFM membership) and project management experience (e.g., PRINCE2) are highly desirable.

Behaviours & Competencies

• Demonstrates collaborative leadership, providing direction and development of teams.
• Builds strong executive-level relationships, successfully partnering with stakeholders and ensuring business alignment.
• Possesses strong commercial, operational, and organizational capability, deftly balancing experience, cost, and risk.
• Communicates with clarity and impact, guiding teams and stakeholders confidently through change.
• Highly adaptable and forward-thinking, consistently using data to encourage continuous improvement.
• Maintains a thorough focus on governance, compliance, and operational excellence.

Why Join Starling?

• Make an Impact: Work on projects that directly shape the future of banking and improve the financial lives of customers. Starling is technology-led, offering freedom to accomplish goals innovatively.
• Culture of Excellence: Be part of a collaborative, empowered, and forward-thinking team that encourages experimentation, ownership, and a focus on "doing the right thing."
• Growth and Development: Opportunities to learn new technologies, take on new challenges, and own interesting projects from day one.
• A Bank That Cares: A Living Wage employer committed to flexible working, creating a fair, open, and safe working environment with compassion and inclusion at its core.

Comprehensive Benefits

• Company-enhanced salary sacrifice pension scheme (7% employer contribution).
• Private Medical Insurance with Vitality (including mental health support and cancer care). Partner benefits include discounts.
• 25 days holiday plus public holiday allowance and an extra day for your birthday.
• Life Insurance at 4x salary.
• 16 hours of paid volunteering time a year.
• Ability to buy or sell annual leave.
• Generous family-friendly policies.
• Incentivised refer a friend scheme.
• Perkbox membership (retail discounts, wellness platform, weekly perks).
• Access to Cycle to Work, Gym partnerships, and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing.

Our Commitment to Equality

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, committed to fostering diversity & inclusion. Applicants are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, or veteran status. All personal data is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice.