Change & Transformation Manager

Thistle Consulting, formerly Thistle Initiatives, is the alternative consultancy for financial services. We are the award -winning specialists helping firms navigate regulatory change, transform their businesses, and meet their strategic growth objectives.

By combining deep sector expertise with practical delivery experience, we support firms across regulatory compliance , business transformation , financial crime , and M&A services. Our partnership -led approach embeds best practice and compliance into the way businesses operate, enabling sustainable growth in fast -changing markets.

Founded in 2012 and part of the Thistle Group, we support ambitious firms across investments and wealth, payment services, digital assets, insurance, banking, and credit. Our team of more than 80 consultants, former regulators and lawyers, and industry practitioners combines subject expertise with commercial understanding, helping clients grow with confidence in a complex and changing environment.

Role summary

We are looking for an experienced Change & Transformation Manager to join our growing consulting team. This role is suited to someone with significant experience delivering change, transformation, business readiness, operating model, process improvement or implementation activity, ideally within financial services, regulatory consulting, or a professional services environment.

The successful candidate will take a leading role in helping clients navigate regulatory, operational, organisational and technology-led change. They will be confident leading client workstreams or smaller engagements, managing stakeholders, shaping high-quality deliverables, coaching more junior colleagues and contributing to the continued development of Thistle Consulting’s Change & Transformation capability.

The purpose of this role is to lead the effective planning, delivery and embedding of change for clients. Working as part of multidisciplinary project teams, the Manager will own key workstreams or smaller client engagements, provide direction to colleagues, shape practical transformation solutions and ensure clients are equipped to realise the benefits of change across people, process, technology and operating model dimensions.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the delivery of change and transformation workstreams or smaller client engagements, ensuring activity is well planned, coordinated and delivered to agreed timelines, scope and quality standards.
• Work with clients to define business challenges, assess current-state operating models and ways of working, and develop practical recommendations for improvement.
• Shape and oversee the design and implementation of target operating models, process improvements, business readiness plans, change impact assessments and stakeholder engagement approaches.
• Review and assure client-ready deliverables, including workshop outputs, project plans, process maps, communications, training materials, status reports, decision papers and senior stakeholder packs.
• Facilitate client meetings and workshops, providing structure, challenge and direction while translating discussion into clear actions and delivery plans.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders, acting as a credible day-to-day lead and escalating risks, issues or opportunities where appropriate.
• Own programme governance activities, including RAID management, dependency tracking, benefit monitoring, progress reporting and preparation for steering or governance forums.
• Coach, guide and review the work of Consultants and Senior Consultants, supporting their development and ensuring high standards of delivery.
• Contribute to proposition development, internal capability building and business development activity, including supporting proposals, client conversations and thought leadership.

This role is not limited to the above duties, due to the nature of the market you will need to be adaptable and open to change in this position

Experience and technical knowledge

• Typically 6+ years’ experience in change, transformation, business readiness, operating model design, process improvement, programme delivery or implementation roles.
• Experience gained within management consultancy, change consultancy, financial services, regulatory consulting, or a comparable professional services environment.
• Strong understanding of change management approaches, project delivery disciplines and transformation frameworks, with the ability to tailor these pragmatically to different client contexts.
• Proven experience leading workstreams or smaller engagements across regulatory change, operational transformation, digital or technology implementation, process redesign, business readiness, or target operating model programmes.
• Experience managing client relationships, influencing senior stakeholders and presenting recommendations with confidence and credibility.
• Experience reviewing and assuring the work of others, with the ability to coach more junior colleagues and maintain strong delivery standards.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce and review structured, polished and senior client-ready outputs.

Skills and behaviours

• Commercially aware and client focused, with the confidence to lead client conversations and identify opportunities to add value.
• Highly organised and delivery focused, able to manage multiple priorities, coordinate others and maintain momentum across complex workstreams.
• Analytical and structured in approach, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to translate complexity into clear, practical recommendations.
• Collaborative and supportive, with a commitment to developing colleagues, sharing knowledge and contributing to a high-performing team culture.
• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and able to bring structure, momentum and clarity to complex change environments.
• Professional, credible and resilient, with the judgement to operate independently while knowing when to escalat or seek input.
• Proactive and commercially minded, with a willingness to contribute to practice growth, propositions and business development activity.

What we offer

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• 25 days’ holiday entitlement and company pension scheme.
• Hybrid working with a City of London base.
• Supportive team culture with regular social events.

If you are ready to take the next step in your consulting career and play a leading role in delivering meaningful change and transformation for clients in a fast-moving environment, we would welcome your application.

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