Proposition Director – Workplace Pensions

smart.co; Greater London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial technology firm is seeking a Proposition Director for Workplace Pensions. This strategic role involves defining and delivering the proposition strategy to ensure business growth and compliance with regulatory standards. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in workplace pensions, strong leadership skills, and the ability to drive innovation. The role offers a range of benefits including an annual training budget, comprehensive healthcare, and enhanced sick leave. Join us to revolutionize financial wellbeing for customers globally.

Benefits

25 days holiday per year

£500 annual training budget

Extensive private healthcare

Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

Death in service insurance

Pension scheme with matching contributions

Fully-paid five-week sabbatical

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in workplace pensions or broader retirement solutions.
• Deep knowledge of UK pensions regulation and trends.
• Proven ability to lead complex product portfolios.
• Strong commercial acumen and track record of delivering growth.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver the end-to-end proposition strategy.
• Lead the design and development of pension products.
• Ensure compliance with workplace pensions regulations.
• Manage commercial performance and support sales teams.
• Lead and develop the product management team.

Skills

Workplace pensions experience

UK pensions regulation knowledge

Leadership skills

Stakeholder management

Commercial acumen

Analytical skills

Digital transformation

Cross-functional team collaboration

Job description

At Smart, our mission is to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world.

THE ROLE

The Proposition Director – Workplace Pensions is responsible for defining, developing, and delivering the end-to-end proposition strategy for the organisation’s workplace pension offering. This role ensures the proposition meets regulatory requirements, is commercially competitive, supports customer needs, and enables sustainable business growth. The role provides strategic direction across product development, market positioning, customer experience, and long‑term innovation.

Key Responsibilities

Proposition Strategy & Vision

• Develop and own the strategic roadmap for workplace pension propositions aligned with organisational goals.
• Use market insight, customer research, competitor analysis, and regulatory trends to shape medium‑and long‑term direction.
• Define clear value propositions for employers, trustees and advisers. Work closely with the Proposition Director - Individual Pensions, to ensure workplace needs are fed into proposition designs.

Product Development & Lifecycle Management

• Lead the design, development, enhancement, and retirement of workplace pension products and features.
• Ensure propositions are commercially viable, operationally deliverable, and fully compliant with regulation (e.g., FCA, TPR).
• Work closely with technology, operations, and service teams to ensure seamless delivery and continuous improvement.

Regulatory & Risk Management

• Maintain expert understanding of the workplace pensions regulatory landscape, including Automatic Enrolment, Value for Money (VFM), investment governance, and disclosure requirements.
• Partner with compliance, legal, and risk teams to ensure products meet all standards and governance expectations.
• Oversee customer outcome assessments and ensure proposition design aligns with Consumer Duty obligations.

Commercial Leadership

• Own the commercial performance of the workplace pension proposition, including pricing, profitability, and customer growth targets.
• Support distribution teams with compelling employer and adviser propositions, sales enablement tools, and tender responses.
• Drive innovation to differentiate the proposition and expand market share.

Stakeholder & Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high‑performing proposition and product management team.
• Act as a senior representative internally and externally on workplace pension matters.
• Collaborate closely with marketing, investment, operations, data, and digital teams to deliver best‑in‑class experiences.

Customer Experience & Engagement

• Ensure customer‑centric design across all touchpoints for employers and members.
• Champion member engagement, financial wellbeing initiatives, and digital experience improvements.
• Oversee communication frameworks, ensuring clarity, accessibility, and compliance.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The skills, experience, and aptitudes we are looking for are listed below but please don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t meet every single one of these criteria – having a ‘can do’ attitude is sometimes more important than being able to tick every box:

• Extensive experience in workplace pensions or broader retirement solutions, ideally in a senior product or proposition leadership role.
• Deep knowledge of UK pensions regulation, industry trends, and employer/employee needs.
• Proven ability to lead complex product portfolios and deliver strategic change.
• Strong commercial acumen with a track record of delivering growth and profitability.
• Exceptional leadership and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working with cross‑functional teams in large or complex organisations.
• Strong analytical and customer insight capabilities.
• Experience leading digital transformation or proposition innovation.
• Experience with master trusts, GPPs, platform services, or investment pathways.
• Familiarity with ESG, sustainable investment frameworks, and default strategy design.

WHO WE ARE

We work in partnerships with governments and financial institutions in the UK and internationally. Our cloud‑native digital platform is revolutionising how people around the world think about, and save for, their retirement.

At heart, we’re a financial technology business. What we do is all about innovation, and using the power of digital change to put the customer first. Our Engineers will tell you that working at Smart gives you the opportunity to play your part in developing world‑class technological solutions, working with – and learning from – like‑minded people.

You’ll also find that, across our business, our colleagues love Smart’s culture, and how what we do means better financial outcomes for savers. That feels worthwhile, and it means that what we do, collectively, goes way beyond the nine to five of a typical working day.

Don’t just take our word for it – you can see what our colleagues say about working at Smart on LinkedIn Life and Glassdoor.

BENEFITS

At Smart, one of the eight principles we work to is "We want happy and good people in our team". We created a list of benefits that helps us achieve this goal:

• 25 days’ holiday per year, increasing with length of service.
• £500 annual training budget to spend on your professional development
• Extensive private healthcare, including dental, eyecare and EAP
• Enhanced sick leave (three months’ pay per year)
• Enhanced maternity and paternity (maternity – 6 months fully paid/paternity – 3 weeks fully paid)
• Death in service insurance cover
• Pension scheme via salary sacrifice. Smart will match your contributions up to 7% of your salary.
• Fully‑paid five‑week sabbatical after five years of employment
• In‑office wellbeing, such as manicures, massages and barbers.
• Smart employees also enjoy a 50% discount on orders from our sister company Arena Flowers, Britain’s most ethical florist. They offer unique hand‑tied bouquets, luxury flowers, letterbox flowers, plants and gifts to spend on friends and loved ones or even for yourself.

We think Smart is an awesome place to work. If it sounds like somewhere you’d like to work, too, and if you’re ready to play your part in our continued success in the future, then naturally we’d love to meet you.