NATALIE CAIRNS

• Led the prioritisation and delivery of complex MI and insight initiatives, ensuring seamless alignment between technical outputs, business outcomes, and overarching strategic goals.
• Facilitated Agile ceremonies and PI Planning, managing complex backlogs to ensure efficient, value-driven delivery within a fast-paced environment.
• Collaborated with executive-level stakeholders to define and communicate the strategic value of insight work, acting as a bridge between data complexity and business decision-making.
• Oversaw critical reporting cycles, producing executive MI packs that provided the visibility required for board-level performance tracking.
• Spearheaded continuous improvement initiatives to enhance team capability and Agile maturity, establishing robust performance measurement frameworks to track velocity and impact.

Key Achievements:

• Designed and implemented a robust benefits realisation framework; transitioned the department from reporting zero measurable value to delivering £400k in confirmed benefits within the first quarter, with a forward pipeline exceeding £6m.
• Architected and embedded a bespoke Jira infrastructure, establishing baseline performance metrics and reinforcing Agile practices to significantly improve delivery transparency and operational efficiency.

• Spearheaded high-impact, cross-functional change initiatives designed to bridge the gap between customer experience and enhanced commercial performance.
• Collaborated with senior leadership across Operations, Product, CX, Digital, and Commercial to define complex problem statements, develop data-driven hypotheses, and secure alignment on strategic outcomes.
• Engineered robust business cases and sophisticated data models to underpin executive decision-making and ensure a high degree of confidence in ROI.
• Owned and prioritised a high-value backlog of improvement opportunities, translating strategic intent into a structured roadmap of impactful project delivery.
• Led and mentored a high-performing continuous improvement team, fostering a culture of autonomy while managing performance through structured development and regular engagement.

Key Achievements:

• Established and led a dedicated Contact Deflection Scrum, empowering customers to self-serve across key journeys; achieved a 37% increase in deflection and delivered an annualised cost saving of c.£1.3m.
• Successfully coached and mentored team members through their Lean Six Sigma Green Belt accreditations, significantly increasing the organisation’s internal problem-solving capability.

• Architected the end-to-end customer journey for a high-volume Smart Meter Roll-Out, balancing operational efficiency and regulatory compliance with exceptional customer experience.
• Managed third-party relationships to ensure service level agreements were met and demand was aligned with supply chain capacity.
• Executed rigorous analysis of process and customer data to identify friction points, leveraging Lean Six Sigma principles to drive continuous improvement and cost-to-serve reductions.
• Owned the strategic Smart Meter roadmap, collaborating with cross-functional business units to prioritise and deliver high-impact initiatives.
• Prepared and presented monthly progress updates and strategic recommendations at Board level, providing transparency on programme health and risk mitigation.

Key Achievements:

• Successfully met all Smart Meter roll-out obligations while simultaneously delivering a measurable improvement in CSAT and installation compliance ratings.
• Realigned third-party delivery models to improve installation success rates, ensuring the programme remained on track against aggressive national targets.

• Managed the full lifecycle of CX improvement projects from initial concept and hypothesis testing through to delivery and operational embedding.
• Established robust frameworks to track tangible and intangible benefits, leveraging CSAT and NPS metrics to ensure initiatives delivered high-value customer outcomes.
• Acted as a champion for Continuous Improvement, empowering colleagues to critically review ways of working and embedding a culture of sustainable operational excellence.
• Led a team of CX Analysts, focused on developing technical talent and analytical capability to drive high-performance results across the department.

Key Achievements:

• Successfully delivered a targeted reduction in Cost-to-Serve, meeting all financial and operational objectives within the designated budget and timeframe.
• Spearheaded a strategic seven-month project to overhaul the complaints process; achieved a 65% reduction in complaint costs and a 45% reduction in outstanding volumes, significantly improving regulatory standing and customer sentiment.

• Developed and launched new initiatives across distribution channels, ensuring total alignment with the business strategy and regulatory requirements.
• Engineered solutions for high-friction processes to eliminate bottlenecks, boost productivity, and enhance the end-to-end customer journey.
• Represented distribution channels within project workshops, effectively influencing senior-level decisions to ensure optimal operational and customer outcomes.
• Managed comprehensive project risk logs and mitigation plans, ensuring transparent escalation to the Risk & Compliance Manager to maintain programme integrity.

Key Achievements:

• Played a pivotal role in the successful delivery of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) project; managed the integration of a new CRM system to ensure 100% compliance with new FCA-mandated standards.