Lead Operations Manager
As the leading vocational Awarding Organisation, it is critical that our operational processes are delivered with efficiency, integrity, and the highest quality. As we look to further transform our AO operations processes and create a distinct centre of excellence, we are seeking two dynamic and experienced Lead Operations Managers to join our team, to drive forward change and ensure operational success.
You will be responsible for leading part of our Centre Operations function within our operations team. Your role will be crucial in enhancing operational performance and maintaining high standards in our end-to-end processes, ensuring we meet our obligations to the business and the regulator. You’ll be joining us at a challenging time as we begin to reshape our operations team, creating distinct centres of excellence that ensure our priorities are targeted to ensure success and provide the best outputs for the business and our centres.
You will help build, train and develop our centre operations teams, ensuring that our processes are both efficient and effective. As we go through this period of change, and activities transition to us, we will expect you to ensure change is positively received, the team is supported, motivated and appropriately trained. You’ll need to be good at spotting ways to improve processes and make them more efficient – an improvement expert!
You will report to the Senior Operations Manager for Centre Options, and be accountable for a team of Operations Managers, Technical Leads, Coordinators and Administrators.
This role is office-based at our Wakefield hub, with the requirement to travel as and when necessary to both internal and external meetings. We cannot consider home-based contracts for this role.
As a member of the operations management team, you will play an integral role in contributing towards our strategic direction, workforce planning, creating and maintaining a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, and embedding an appetite for learning and development across our team.
Please note that we shortlist applications on an ongoing basis and depending on volume we may close the advert early, so please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
This appointment will be made on merit.
We believe that diversity and inclusion strengthens and enriches us, and that it is the responsibility of everyone at the City & Guilds to drive this value. As ethnic minority groups and disabled people are currently under-represented, we particularly encourage and welcome applications from these communities.
About the role
Centre Operations:
- Oversee your team of predominantly office based second line centre operational support, handling complex queries related to learners, qualifications and assessments.
- Manage the end-to-end exam and assessment evidence return process, ensuring timely internal marking and moderation.
- Ensure effective contact management with centres, including data collation and approvals, delivery of results and checkpoint data, and analysis of rules of combination.
- Responsible for end-to-end exam marking processes through both online and e-marked platforms, working in collaboration with assessment teams and dealing with exceptions.
About you
- Proven experience in an operations management role.
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to provide daily direction and support to a diverse multi-location team.
- Excellent organisational and problem-solving skills, with a keen eye for detail.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
- Expertise in risk and issue management, able to assess risks and issues, work with teams to generate and execute effective mitigation and contingency countermeasures.
Our story and mission
Our vision is for a world in which everyone has the skills and opportunities to succeed. We support almost five million people each year to develop skills that help them into a job, develop on that job and to prepare for their next job. As a charity, we’re proud that everything we do is focused on achieving this purpose.
Through our assessment and credentialing, corporate learning and technical training offers, we partner with our customers to deliver work-based learning programmes that build competency to support better prospects for people, organisations and wider society. We create flexible learning pathways that support lifelong employability, because we believe that people deserve the opportunity to (re)train and (re)learn again and again – gaining new skills at every stage of life, regardless of where they start.
At the heart of our business sits the City & Guilds Foundation which amplifies our purpose by helping to remove barriers to getting into a job, celebrating best practice on the job, and advocating for jobs of the future.
We were founded in 1878 by the City of London and the trade guilds of the time, to help people, organisations and economies to develop their skills for growth.
Our rich experience means we’re uniquely positioned to understand the future of work and learning. And, we continually evolve to develop and deliver skills for the workplace of the future. Today, as well as qualifications and assessment, we offer digital credentialing, elearning technologies, executive leadership development, technical training and consultancy.
What we offer
We offer the opportunity to work in an innovative, engaging and market-leading organisation with opportunities to develop your existing skills and explore new ones.
You’ll receive an excellent benefits package which typically includes a great base salary, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, pension, private healthcare, volunteering opportunities and much more.
We welcome a discussion about how this role could work flexibly for you. For example work pattern, hours or location.
Next steps and how to apply
If you think this is the role and organisation for you then we would love to hear from you. Please submit your CV and complete our short application form using the apply button.