Operations Manager (Customer Services)

About The Role

Working Hours: 35 Hours Per Week

Contract Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Additional Payments: Essential Car Allowance

Closing Date: 23 July 2026

Bereavement Services plays a key role within the Neighbourhood Directorate, providing high quality services to bereaved families. We support approximately 3,000 burials and cremations each year and offer a diverse range of memorialisation products and services. We manage an infrastructure of 105 hectares of green space across the city's neighbourhoods, continually striving to provide safe spaces for families visiting our cemeteries.

We invite applicants who share Manchester's commitment to delivering high quality services for residents.

Responsibilities

You will join a team of dedicated managers and officers delivering high quality customer services across all our cemeteries, ensuring bereaved families are front and centre to everything we deliver. Reporting to the Bereavement Services Manager, you will assist in developing and growing the service.

You will form relationships with stakeholders such as funeral directors and work with community groups to identify improvements and projects that enhance the service.

Qualifications

• Communication: Ability to advise others and deal with sensitive issues in difficult situations, negotiate demanding situations, and effectively transfer complex information to all levels of staff, adapting style as necessary.

• Analytical Skills: Ability to translate analyses into business cases that define potential benefits, options, and associated risks, and support new or changed processes.

• Planning and Organising: Excellent time management skills, creating own schedules, prioritising, preparing in advance, setting realistic timescales, and estimating resource requirements.

• Problem Solving and Decision Making: Strong decision making skills, resolving complex issues in a pressured environment, consistently performing at high levels.

• Creative Skills: Ability to find creative solutions where no existing parameters or procedural frameworks exist.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to contribute to development, implementation and evaluation of strategy, shaping future plans.

• Financial Management: Ability to monitor and maintain expenditure, meet financial targets, and be accountable when budgets exceed agreed tolerances.

• People Management: Inspire individuals, maintain effective relationships, manage sickness and performance, conduct 1 1s, and address training needs.

• Ability to use varying IT software including Excel and Word; deliver new IT solutions, support project management, and train officers.

• Previous local authority experience, NEBOSH qualification (or willingness to obtain), and budget management skills.

Additional Requirements

Must hold a full driving licence and be willing to work across two sites, North and South of the city.

Equal Employment Opportunity

At Manchester City Council, we're dedicated to creating a workplace that truly reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We actively welcome applications from people of all ages and backgrounds, particularly from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, disabled people and young people.

Benefits

• Generous holiday allowance - up to 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 31 days after five years. Additional leave paid up to two weeks.
• UK's largest local government pension scheme, with life cover of three times salary as a lump sum.
• Enhanced parental and carers leave.
• Discounts on weekly shop, holidays, phone contracts, cycle to work scheme, flu jabs, eye tests and more.
• Learning and development opportunities, workshops, training sessions, apprenticeships, and qualifications.
• Good Employment Charter member - secure flexible work, fair pay reviews, and health and wellbeing support.
• Up to 3 days volunteering leave.