Senior Continuous Improvement & Change Lead (12m FTC)

We’re looking for a Senior Continuous Improvement & Change Lead to join us on a 12-month fixed-term contract basis in London. This role has been created to provide senior leadership capacity during a period where the Head of Business Change, Training and Communications will be temporarily away from the business on a sabbatical. This is a key role that blends hands-on improvement expertise with team leadership and offers the chance to shape how we embed Continuous Improvement (CI) across Penguin Random House. Working as part of the Strategic Projects team (more info below), you’ll help us to continuously improve how we work across PRH UK. During the Heads temporary absence, you’ll act up as team lead role and will provide the continuity of leadership and oversight for the Business Change, Training and Communications team. After this, when the Head returns to post you’ll report directly into them and continue to contribute to the strategic delivery and capability building across the team. Beyond leadership, you’ll play a key role in developing our CI approach, piloting better ways of working, supporting teams to improve process and helping to build CI capability across group functions and publishing divisions.

About the team The Strategic Projects team is a key part of Penguin Random House Operations (which also includes Technology, Facilities and Distribution). We help PRH achieve transformational change, delivering initiatives based on our strategic priorities, and supporting essential replacements to core processes and systems as they become end-of-life. We’re always looking at ways to continuously improve how we work at Penguin Random House UK. This role will help implement change in our business over the coming year, working within a dedicated team of Change, Communications and Training (CTC) colleagues.

The role Key responsibilities:

• Provide interim leadership for the Business Change, Communications and Training team during sabbatical cover.
• Maintain clear priorities, strong governance and consistent standards across change, comms and training activity.
• Align change and improvement initiatives with organisational and divisional strategic priorities.
• Support planning and prioritisation across multiple projects within the Strategic Projects roadmap.
• Oversee delivery of business change across complex programmes, from impact assessment to benefits realisation.
• Lead elements of the HRIS & Payroll Programme during its final phase.
• Develop and guide effective change, communication and training strategies for new systems and processes.
• Influence and engage senior stakeholders to secure sponsorship and drive successful outcomes.
• Coach project teams on best-practice change and continuous improvement methods.
• Oversee clear, engaging change communications aligned to audience needs and organisational values.
• Ensure effective planning, resourcing and delivery of training across live programmes.
• Develop and maintain playbooks, toolkits and guidance to build organisational capability.
• Lead or support cross-functional Continuous Improvement initiatives identifying better ways of working.
• Share CI tools and methods to build capability and embed CI thinking across teams.
• Support creation of simple processes for capturing, prioritising and reviewing CI activity.

What you’ll bring Essential criteria:

• Have significant experience in business change strategy and delivery in a range of programmes. This could include Supply Chain, Technology, Process Improvement or Data.
• Previous line management experience to successfully coach and mentor the existing team throughout the whole Change Management lifecycle.
• Be an effective planner, able to manage multiple change project streams, oversee comms and training specialists and able to respond to changing business priorities.
• Be comfortable working in a hybrid environment, and with adapting methodologies to understand business culture and opportunities.
• Be a strategic thinker – able to think ahead, anticipate problems, and proactively offer creative solutions.
• Have deep skills in process mapping and improvement, comms and training plans, cultural change programmes and delivery of all Change artifacts.
• Be a strategic planner with the ability to define roadmaps, resources, deliverables and KPIs.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to analyse and make judgement calls on competing requirements, recommending courses of action.
• Strong influencing and interpersonal skills, able to establish relationships, engage with stakeholders and influence through all levels of the organisation.
• Proven experience in process improvement, transformation, or operational excellence roles.

Application instructions Please apply with your CV by 23:59 on Sunday 11th January 2026. Please note that due to the festive period, we’ll begin reviewing applications in January 2026.

AI Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team. We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.

Salary The salary for this opportunity is up to £75,000, depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus a generous bonus scheme and benefits.

Hybrid working While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from our Embassy Gardens office in London 2 days per week (typically Tuesday & Thursday).