Head of Shared Service Center

*This position requires physical presence at Azets Sibiu office.

About the Company

Azets was formed in 2016, as a result of bringing leading-edge UK and Nordic business services companies together. Azets have provided business-critical support to thousands of clients throughout the UK and the Nordic region locally, and though our nearshore operation in Romania. Today, we are an international accounting, tax, advisory and business services company that delivers sustained outcomes for our clients. We are on a mission to help organisations of all shapes and sizes move forward with confidence.

Azets Group employs over 9,000 people and supports some 100,000 clients across its network of 190+ offices in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Romania. Its clients include enterprises, SMEs, large scale businesses, public sector organisations, and private clients, across multiple sectors, acquiring more than 100 local providers since inception.

Azets' client experience is based on delivering a highly personalised service, through its local office network and proprietary digital workplace technology Azets Cozone, a unique cloud-based portal. Azets Cozone offers SMEs a market-leading digital solution, with instant access to information about their business that simplifies workflows, increases operational productivity, and supports a more productive client relationship.

Azets is backed by two leading private equity investors: PAI, with its deep sector expertise in Business Services, and Hg, with its longstanding heritage in software and services investing. Both investors have a strong track record of partnering with management teams to rapidly scale businesses and create global industry leaders.

About the Role

Reporting to the Managing Director in Romania, The Head of Shared Services Centre (SSC) is responsible for leading and managing the entire Shared Service Centre function to deliver high-quality, cost-effective, and efficient services across the organization. This role oversees the delivery of multiple services to the business, ensuring alignment with organisational goals, continuous process improvement, and exceptional service delivery. This role ensures operational excellence, compliance, and continuous improvement, while managing a service-oriented team of managers. The Head of SSC will build and maintain excellent relationships with leaders from across the organisation and manage change in a positive and professional manner. The Head of SSC will be responsible for the performance reporting of the Shared Service Centre, along with the financial performance / and exec manager level governance and assurance reviews.

Responsibilities

• Leads the SSC teams providing service delivery to all Azets across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
• Defining, monitoring, and performance managing the SSC managers team against agreed KPIs (Quality and Efficiency).
• Manages a team of 3 department managers and c 170 staff.
• Providing high quality and engaging communications and building relationships across the business leadership functions.
• Owns the end to end deliver of the Shared Service Centre.
• Manages the P&L accounts for the SSC.
• Directs all SSC activity through positive interaction with SSC managers and stakeholders across Azets.
• Highly accurate, with an ability to deliver data lead performance analysis.

Key accountabilities

STRATEGY & PLANNING

• Develop the Shared Service Centre strategy and implementation roadmap. Work collaboratively with the business unit managers and SSC managers to transition all in scope activity and tasks to the Shared Services teams in a planned and effective way.
• Ensures that the SSC reacts and adapts to meet the strategic goals of Azets leadership, delivering a standardised and quality service across the different countries that Azets operates in.

SERVICE DELIVERY

• Lead and manage the SSC operations to ensure timely, accurate, and efficient delivery of shared services across our corporate functions.
• Oversee daily operations of the Shared Services Centre, ensuring timely and efficient processing of transactions and services.
• Work with SSC managers and support them in meeting their team's goals.
• Establish, monitor and maintain performance against the defined service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure service excellence.
• Develop and implement strategies and policies to optimize SSC performance, drive operational excellence, and achieve cost savings.
• Ensure compliance with organizational policies, regulatory requirements, and internal controls within SSC operations.
• Prepare regular reports and present operational updates and improvement plans to senior leadership.
• Drive change management efforts related to shared services and support integration in case of mergers or acquisitions.

TEAM LEADERSHIP & DEVELOPMENT

• Lead, engage and develop the SSC teams, providing direction, coaching, training, and support, promoting a culture of accountability, high performance, and continuous learning.
• Manage and develop a diverse team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and professional growth.
• Take an active role in supporting SSC Teams to deliver against the targets and KPIs.
• Ensure that the Business Support SSC teams are appropriately resourced.
• Understand the needs of the SSC teams and work with Azets leadership to evolve the services.
• Lead the managerial team, drive a positive performance culture, and work environment; balancing performance metrics with positive eNPS scores and staff satisfaction.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Establish and maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders to understand their needs and continuously improve service levels.
• Act as the key point of contact for escalations and ensure a customer-focused approach in handling queries.
• Owns the relationship with the Group Functional owners, ensuring transparency of service, costs and performance across the SSC.
• Partner with Centres of Excellence to align shared services with broader strategy.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• Lead process standardization, automation, and digital transformation initiatives to enhance productivity and service quality.
• Identify opportunities for improvement in SSC activities using data, feedback, and best practices.
• Improvement of processes to reduce errors, turnaround time, and manual effort.
• Lead or support change initiatives.

RESOURCE/COST MANAGEMENT

• Operating the Shared Service Centre within budget while delivering high-quality service.
• Identifying and realizing cost-saving opportunities without compromising service.
• Responsible for SSC budget and financial tracking. Manage resources effectively to meet operational targets.