Delivery & Operations Manager

Salary: £75,600.00 - £140,000.00
Contract type: Permanent
Hours of Work: 35 per week
Location: Bracknell Campus, Doncastle Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8YA

Key Responsibilities

• Operational & Service Governance: Act as the single point of contact and 'service owner' for the availability, performance, resilience, continuous improvement, and secure operation of applications to contracted service levels and agreements.
• Strategic Direction & Leadership: Set clear intent, direction, and guardrails to achieve outcomes aligned with business area strategies, while empowering and supporting 2 direct reports to make decisions and resolve challenges.
• Supplier & Vendor Management: Provide governance and leadership for strategic, key, and preferred vendors; build strong relationships to ensure delivery to service levels, alignment with strategic objectives, and accurate demand forecasting.
• Financial & Budgetary Control: Manage financials and own the operating budget within your area, balancing costs, benefits, risks, capacity constraints, and timescales to deliver maximum value across 3rd parties and contracts.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration: Engage with senior stakeholders and key roles across the portfolio to drive and influence change activity; own handoffs, manage escalations, and coordinate key messages across functions and external parties.
• Continuous Improvement & Metrics: Own the delivery of detailed Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) on a quarterly basis, tracking operational metrics, change timelines, quality, and business case benefit realisations.

Essential skills / experience

• Working in a matrix organisation where collaboration is key to successfully delivering initiatives and operating discreetly.
• DevOps & Product Team Leadership: Proven experience setting up and running DevOps-based Product teams within a fast paced environment.
• Supplier & Vendor Management: Strong experience in Supplier Performance Management (SPM) and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) across multiple third party vendors.
• People & Change Leadership: Demonstrated experience in people management and leading teams confidently and competently through technical and organizational change.
• Executive Communication & Influence: Outstanding communication skills with the ability to translate complex IT matters into non technical language, alongside a track record of extensive stakeholder management up to Exec level.
• Critical Thinking & Commercial Acumen: Advanced ability to use data and evidence to develop thinking, form reasoned judgements, manage operational budgets, and mitigate delivery risks.
• Drive for Innovation: A clear passion for innovation and change, with demonstrable evidence of delivering operational excellence and disruptive/innovative thinking.

Desirable skills / experience

• Retail & Supply Chain Expertise: Relevant portfolio knowledge and experience working within complex Retail or Supply Chain organisations.
• Disparate Area Leadership: Experience leading technology and delivery operations across highly disparate business areas or highly fragmented multi vendor environments.