Employee Benefits Transaction Advisory Project Coordinator

Who are we?

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

The jobholder will provide project coordination and administrative support across employee benefits transaction assignments, including M&A due diligence, carve-out reviews and selected post-close projects. The role will maintain project plans, information requests, document control, country follow-up, meeting administration and deadline tracking, enabling the Employee Benefits Transaction Advisory Team to deliver a consistent, responsive and well-controlled service across multiple concurrent engagements.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Planning and Strategy:

- Supports mobilisation and planning of employee benefits transaction projects.
- Maintains the central pipeline, live engagement tracker, project timetables and resource schedules.
- Coordinates project kick-off activity, access requirements, information requests and contributor responsibilities.
- Supports the Manager / Lead with capacity planning, management information and regular pipeline reporting.
- Maintains templates, country contacts, process documents and the transaction knowledge library.
- Identifies upcoming deadlines, dependencies and administrative risks and brings these to the attention of the relevant project lead.
- Supports the phased development of a scalable and consistent transaction delivery model.

Technical:

- Coordinates information requests and tracks receipt of data, documents and country responses.
- Maintains project plans, action logs, issue trackers, country matrices and status reports.
- Organises meetings, prepares agendas, captures actions and follows up owners.
- Manages document naming, filing, version control and controlled distribution of draft and final deliverables.
- Coordinates routine communication with country offices, specialist teams, introducers and other contributors.
- Supports preparation, formatting and quality checking of proposals, scopes, reports and client presentations.
- Monitors country and specialist inputs against the agreed timetable and escalates delays promptly.
- Assists with project invoicing information, purchase order tracking and maintenance of fee and revenue records.
- Supports handover of post-close actions and opportunities to the appropriate local, specialist or multinational team.
- Responds appropriately to urgent requests and changing priorities within live transaction timetables.

Policy, Process and Procedures:

- Applies approved project-management, document-control, confidentiality and data-handling procedures.
- Maintains complete engagement files, correspondence, approvals, meeting records and handover information.
- Uses agreed templates, naming conventions and version-control standards.
- Supports completion of engagement acceptance, conflict, compliance and delivery-readiness requirements.
- Monitors outstanding actions and ensures material delays, missing information or scope changes are escalated.
- Assists with archiving, lessons-learned reviews and updates to procedures following completed engagements.
- Helps ensure information is only shared with authorised recipients and retained in accordance with applicable requirements.

Environment, Customer Focus and Relationships:

- Acts as the coordination point for colleagues involved in assigned transaction engagements.
- Builds effective working relationships with country offices, specialist practices, introducers and internal support teams.
- Communicates project requirements, responsibilities and deadlines clearly and professionally.
- Provides country teams with structured instructions and central coordination to minimise unnecessary administrative burden.
- Behaves with all clients and colleagues fairly and ethically.
- Supports a consistent client and introducer experience through accurate communication and reliable follow-up.
- Maintains awareness of the wider Howden business and the teams involved in transaction delivery and post-close servicing.

Personal Development / Team Membership:

- Supports a positive culture across the Employee Benefits Transaction Advisory Team and participating teams.
- Contributes to team development through transparency, constructive feedback and knowledge sharing.
- Upholds required standards of performance, capability and effectiveness.
- Is accountable to clients, colleagues and other internal and external stakeholders.
- Actively undertakes personal development to maintain current knowledge of project coordination, employee benefits and transaction processes.

Regulatory, Compliance and Fiduciary Duties:

- Complies with applicable legal, fiscal and regulatory obligations, policies and procedures.
- Obtains the correct authorisations and follows Operating Entity and Group processes.
- Maintains accurate records, handover procedures and required regulatory training.
- Operates in an honest, professional and ethical manner and adheres to the Group Employee Code of Conduct.
- Acts in good faith to promote the interests of the Operating Entity and Group, avoids conflicts of interest and discloses matters contrary to those interests.

Working pattern and Location

- Works flexibly around client demands and live deal timetables, including occasional evening or weekend work; this does not change expected weekly hours overall, as quieter periods between deals will balance peak activity.
- This is primarily an office-based role, with flexibility to work from home where client requirements, deadlines or out-of-hours work make this appropriate.

Knowledge / Experience

- Experience in project coordination, professional services administration, employee benefits, insurance, pensions, HR, financial services or a related environment.
- Experience supporting several concurrent projects with multiple stakeholders and fixed deadlines.
- Experience maintaining project plans, trackers, meeting records and controlled document libraries.
- Experience coordinating information requests and following up actions across different teams.
- Good working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- Experience supporting client-facing teams and producing accurate, well-presented documents.
- Exposure to employee benefits, multinational work or M&A transactions desirable but not essential.

Skills / Behaviours

- Excellent organisation, prioritisation and follow-through.
- High attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
- Clear, concise and professional written and verbal communication.
- Ability to manage competing deadlines and remain effective when priorities change.
- Confidence following up senior and geographically dispersed stakeholders.
- Sound judgement regarding when to resolve an issue and when to escalate.
- Strong document-management and administrative discipline.
- Collaborative, service-oriented and comfortable working as part of a developing team.
- High levels of discretion, integrity and accountability.
- Calm and resilient approach in time-sensitive transaction environments.

Qualifications

- A-levels or equivalent required; degree-level education or equivalent relevant experience desirable.
- Project coordination, business administration or relevant professional qualification advantageous.
- Relevant experience in professional services, employee benefits, insurance or financial services desirable.

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

- Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new
- We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges
- We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

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Reasonable adjustments

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs.  Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.

Permanent