Operations Manager

This is a critical post in the School in which the post holder will work closely with the Director of Business School Operations, the Dean and Deputy Dean of the Business School, and other senior members of the School’s Leadership Team but will have considerable operational autonomy in a wide variety of key activities in the School.

The Operations Manager will act as deputy to the School’s Director of Operations and in this regard will undertake strategic and operational projects that span the breadth of the School’s professional services team and the School’s academic departments. They will support and lead on cross-School strategies, processes and initiatives ensuring the School’s ambitions are supported by efficient professional services, appropriate business systems and resources. As part of this, they will work closely with the College Hub and its Business Partners to ensure synergy between School and College initiatives, responsibilities and processes.

The Operations Manager will have full and direct management and leadership responsibility for a number of School-wide professional services teams including those responsible for Learning and Teaching, Accreditations and Quality, and School Administration and will ensure that teams provide appropriate services to support a successful Business School.

The Operations Manager is an integral member of the School’s leadership team: they will be secretary to the School’s Strategic Management Team, is a member of the School’s Professional Services Leadership Team, and at times will deputise for the Director of Business School Operations at College-level Committees and meetings.

Professional Services Leadership

• To deputise for the Director of Business School Operations on all areas of School business as appropriate;
• To take overall responsibility for the delivery of efficient and effective professional services in the key operational areas of School business including: Learning and Teaching, HR; Finance; Facilities and Services; Accreditation and Quality; and Research Support;
• To lead and manage a team of professional services staff within the Business School, through intermediate managers as appropriate, working closely with appropriate staff in the College Hub, other Operations Managers in the College and staff in Corporate Services;
• To ensure that all processes and procedures in the School are fit for purpose, efficient and effective and designed to benefit the end-user and to lead a culture of continuous service improvement and review and to identify areas of good practice to share across the School, the College and the University as appropriate;
• Regularly review services and propose changes to services as appropriate.

Governance and Compliance

• Take responsibility for ensuring that the School has robust governance and decision making structures that are fully aligned with those at College and University level and that the School has excellent secretariat services which support the School’s committees and the communication and follow-up of decisions;
• To be secretary to the School’s Strategic Management Team (SMT) advising on all School governance and compliance matters;
• To take the lead on ensuring that the School complies with all University Regulations, policies, procedures and guidelines, relevant legislation and that appropriate guidance and training is disseminated in the School as appropriate;
• To oversee the development of a management information dashboard from an array of local, university and third party data sources to enable the School’s Strategic Management Team to make operational and strategic plans that are informed by robust, accessible and accurate information.

Resource Planning and Operational Management

• Develop an annual operating plan and budget to support the delivery of the School’s Strategy for review and agreement by the Director of Business School Operations and thereafter the School’s Management Team;
• To lead on projects designed to deliver aspects of the operating plans as appropriate and to ensure the School has appropriate project management and reporting processes in place to ensure projects arising from the operating plans are delivered on time and on budget.
• To oversee the management of the School’s facilities in an efficient and effective manner working with CoSS facilities and IT staff and Estates and IT staff in Corporate Services as required, ensuring that are fit for purpose for a global business School and that all building and other relevant projects are planned and costed appropriately and that approved projects are managed to ensure they are delivered on time and on budget;
• To review, develop and embed all the necessary policies, systems and procedures to ensure the School complies with the University’s Health and Safety and Environmental policy and Health and Safety legislation generally, including an up-to-date Emergency Management Plan produced in accordance with University guidelines.
• To support the development and effective management of the School’s budget and to take direct responsibility for managing those areas directly delegated to them;
• To take overall responsibility for budgetary control in the School working with the Deputy Head of School, and the College Accountant ensuring that there are appropriate internal financial systems and procedures set up in the School that conform to the University’s “Manual of Financial Rules and Procedures” in the area of budgetary management, including procurement, financial reporting, trading activities, work load planning, research grant reporting and inventory management and to keep these systems under periodic review to ensure continuous improvement and compliance.
• Take responsibility for implementing the agreed structure for professional services (specifically for the areas of Learning and Teaching, Accreditation and Quality, and School Administration) which will underpin the successful delivery of the School Strategy and operating plans and to provide professional services befitting a world-class business School.
• To support future change management initiatives within the School which involved professional services staff, working with College HR staff to ensure compliance with University policy and procedures and relevant legislation;
• To take full responsibility for ensuring that appropriate HR strategies and procedures are in place for academic and professional services staff to include the School HR and Finance Committee as well as processes such as induction, workload planning and modelling, succession planning, training and development, performance management and review and reward mechanisms;
• Through the Deputy Operations Manager, ensure that appropriate processes are in place in relation to HR matters in the School and to oversee them, to include sickness and leave monitoring, recruitment process management and maintaining up-to-date and relevant staff records, working with College HR staff as appropriate to ensure compliance with University policy and procedures and relevant legislation;
• To ensure the School has appropriate staff and structures in place, supported by College and University staff as appropriate to support the delivery of the School’s research strategy and its preparations for REF.

Through the School’s Learning and Teaching Mangers, ensure the School has appropriate staff, processes and procedures in place which support the delivery of the School’s portfolio of academic programmes and that the School offers the best possible student experience, including ensuring there are processes in place for obtaining and responding to student feedback, dealing with student queries and complaints and ensuring that students are aware of the full range of services available to them in the School, College and wider University;

Work closely with the Director of Accreditations and Quality and the Accreditation and Quality Manager, to ensure the School has a robust framework in place for compliance with the requirements of its accreditors and to manage the School’s quality assurance, quality enhancement, management information, accreditations and rankings activities.

Strategic

• Work with the Director of Business School Operations to make a full contribution to the development of a robust strategy for professional services within the School which is compliant with College and University policies and procedures and successfully underpins and supports the academic effort required to deliver the School’s Strategy, working with appropriate colleagues within the School, College and wider University to ensure that it is developed in the context of the College Compact and the University Strategy;
• To support the Director of Business School Operations and Dean of the Business School in putting in place and managing an annual process for reviewing the School’s Strategy ensuring that it remains up-to-date and relevant taking into account both external factors, relevant management information and any changes in College and/or University strategic ambitions;
• To reviewthe strategic and operational risks implicit in the strategy periodically ensuring that both strategic and operational planning in the School mitigates those risks appropriately;
• To ensure that the School has mechanisms in place (including appropriate management information and systems) for monitoring and reporting on the delivery of the School’s KPIs and targets;
• To participate in strategic planning initiatives at School, College and University level as required by the Director of Business School Operations and the College Director of Operations.

College-Wide Role

• To work on a series of Cross-College projects, as directed by the Director of Operations in consultation with the Director of Business School Operations, whichmay involve evaluating service provision and recommending and implementing innovative solutions to improve service quality, efficiency and continuity and introducing long term, sustainable improvements across CoSS or may be involve University initiatives such as the Research Excellence Framework, TRAC, fEC or Institutional Audit;
• To work effectively with the Operations Managers across CoSS, and at times across the wider University, to develop and maximise service delivery and the provision of professional services across the School and CoSS, promoting the Birmingham Professional agenda and sharing best practise as appropriate.