Head of service design and participation jobs

Contract: 1-Year Fixed Term contract
Hours: Full-time (40hrs/weekly)
Reporting to: Academy Director
Location: Remote 
Salary: £50,000 p/a + 3% pension contribution
Start date: September 2026

About us

Parallel is a small charitable initiative with big ambitions. Our mission is to increase the number and diversity of excellent young mathematicians. We are a Good Thinking project (registered Charity Number: 1147404).

Founded in 2023 by Simon Singh MBE and Dr Junaid Mubeen, our online Parallel Academy supports highly capable students to excel in maths, by providing them with structured programmes that develop their reasoning and problem-solving skills beyond the curriculum.  We currently support more than 10,000 students through the Academy, around 1000 of whom receive highly targeted support through weekly, small-group online tutorials.

We are at an exciting phase in our journey, with plans to expand tutoring to 5000 students over the next four years. Our students are motivated and ambitious. Our maths programme takes place outside of school hours, yet students have an average attendance above 95%. All of our work takes place online and is subject to safeguarding and data protection policies that are reviewed periodically to reflect up-to-date best practice.

Parallel has built a reputation for excellence, both in terms of the expectations we set for students, and the quality of service they receive from us. Our work is underpinned by an inclusive ethos; every student who applies for the Academy is guaranteed a place on one of our programmes. 

We work flexibly to both launch new initiatives and adapt our existing offerings. We pride ourselves on a creative approach to programme design and now face a familiar challenge of maintaining our quality and highly personalised approach as we scale up.

The purpose of this role
 

We are seeking an experienced Head of Operations to join and help lead our committed and energetic team. This role is pivotal to achieving Parallel’s growth ambitions while maintaining the quality of service we are renowned for. As a senior leader, you will be a lynch pin of our core team and will make a real difference to the life prospects of thousands of young students. 

On a practical level, you will coordinate and drive our core programmes, with oversight and accountability for their smooth, day-to-day delivery. You will also line-manage two full-time administrators (this may increase as the team expands), overseeing and supporting their work across communications, data and operational delivery.

We have established several processes and tools for delivering our programme effectively and the ideal candidate will have a sharp eye for process improvement and opportunity. You will need to understand and consolidate our current best practices, but also identify ones that need to be adapted or enhanced as we look to scale up. 

This role is offered initially as a fixed-term contract for 12 months, though we have every intention to extend the position longer term should the appointment prove successful. 

A note on working hours
 

This is a fully-remote role. As part of your contracted hours you will be required to regularly do some work during evenings and weekends (approx 5-8 hours a week). You may occasionally need to step in at short notice, outside of standard working hours, to support and resolve urgent operational issues.

There will also be periods when there is a higher workload (e.g., during student admissions cycles), so you may be required to offer some flexibility in working longer  - and then shorter - hours week to week. Time off in-lieu is provided for additional hours worked. 

In general, you will have significant autonomy in how you structure your working week, provided you ensure that our core operational needs are covered within the whole team.

Key responsibilities

Working for Parallel is challenging and rewarding in equal parts. On a typical day you will be fielding queries from parents, managing the logistics of 200+ tutorials a week and ensuring tutors are fully supported. We are a dynamic team that readily adapts to new situations and relishes the challenge of working through problems together. 

As part of your key responsibilities you will:
 

• Oversee the smooth day-to-day running of our Tutorial and Webinar Programmes, ensuring that sessions proceed as planned, and that any issues - from tutor cover needs to student absence requests - are swiftly and effectively addressed.

• Coordinate key aspects of our start and end-of-term administration, including payments, parent and student communications, website setup, spreadsheets and logistics.

• Oversee the admin team’s responsiveness to our high-volume shared inboxes, responding to the most sensitive student and parent queries and acting as a point of escalation where needed.

• Manage a small but growing admin team, providing regular guidance, support, and feedback.

• Play a key role in overseeing our student admissions cycles, from planning to testing, setup, delivery and communication of decisions.

• Make everyday operational decisions independently, exercising good judgement in when to bring issues to senior management.

• Work effectively with data (e.g. student learning data) - as managed through our central directories - and use it to guide decision-making and to support the effective running of our programmes. 

• Review our policies on an ongoing basis, ensuring that we are complying with our safeguarding and data protection obligations at all times and that our policies are built for scale.

• Support with schools outreach initiatives.

• Develop and document key administrative procedures (an ever-evolving ‘Operations Handbook’) to ensure that we have reliability and stability across all programmes.

• Help to shape and build on our ethos of high expectations, which translates into concrete policies regarding attendance, homework, participation and criteria for both admitting and removing students from our Tutorial Programme.

Role requirements
 

While there is no fixed template for working with Parallel, we consider the following requirements essential for this role:

• Proven leadership qualities, with the ability to act independently and decisively when the situation demands it. 

• Experience managing small teams, including multiple direct reports.

• Managed operations at large scale - you have executed product/service delivery to thousands of end users.

• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to delegate tasks and to track processes and outcomes.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to connect effectively with a diverse set of internal and external stakeholders.

• Proficiency in working with digital tools and software such as Google Sheets, Docs, Forms, Zoom and Trello (and able to learn new tools quickly and independently).

• Excellent with spreadsheets and data - you know your vlookups from your pivot tables.

• Nimble problem-solver who can think on your feet and approach complex situations with a flexible mindset.

• A ‘can-do’ attitude and strong team ethic - you are known as a supportive presence for your colleagues who will go above and beyond to make their lives easier.

• Demonstrable ability to work productively in a fully remote setup.

• A strong commitment to safeguarding, and the ability to maintain confidentiality and integrity related to all aspects of information disseminated within the organisation.
   

It is also desirable (though not essential) for you to have relevant experience in an education setting.
 

Please note that this role will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check. 

How to apply
 

If this sounds like you, please submit your CV and cover letter via CharityJob, or get in touch with any questions. 

Interviews will take place online after the closing date. As part of the selection process, shortlisted candidates will be required to complete tasks designed to assess relevant skills.

We’re currently looking for a Project Coach (BSEIW) working on a fixed term basis until 31st May 2028, to help us deliver our mission. This a 0.6 FTE position, working 3 days a week.

What’s it like working at the IOP?

The IOP is a friendly, inclusive and ambitious organisation. Diversity and inclusion are central to how we work. We focus on supporting our people to thrive, offering competitive pay, great development opportunities and a generous benefits package.

Some of our benefits include:

• An excellent pension scheme
• Private medical insurance, life assurance, dental insurance and a healthcare cash plan
• Eye care vouchers, annual flu vaccinations, long service awards and access to an employee assistance programme
• 25 days’ annual leave as a standard, in addition to floating bank holidays
• Flexible working opportunities

The Role

What will I be doing?

You’ll be responsible for a range of activities, including:

Co-design and deliver initiatives: Collaborate with the IOP and wider partner teams (Royal Society of Chemistry and Science Made Simple) to deliver core project activities including:

• Welsh Physics Teaching Network
• Easy Teach professional learning sessions
• Physics Forums
• Resource Round-Ups
• Whole-School Inclusion and Equity Network activities
• Primary and Secondary Science Days

Professional development delivery: Deliver evidence-based CPD, mentoring, and coaching to support practitioners, particularly early-career and out-of-field teachers, to build subject knowledge and confidence in teaching physics in line with the Curriculum for Wales.

Equity and inclusion: Contribute to equity-focused interventions that explore and address systemic and school-level barriers to post-16 physics participation, including unconscious bias and science capital gaps.

Monitoring and reporting: Track and evaluate programme delivery, capturing data on participation, feedback, outcomes, and impact. Contribute to quarterly monitoring reports and support external evaluation.

Stakeholder engagement: Build and maintain strong relationships with schools in Wales, education stakeholders, and fellow partners. Represent the IOP in local networks and act as a regional champion for physics education.

Continuous learning: Develop and maintain your expertise in science education, curriculum reform, inclusion strategies, and subject-specific pedagogy to ensure interventions are current, effective, and aligned with practitioners' needs.

Projects you may work on include:

• Boosting Science Education in Wales
• Welsh Physics Teacher Conference

Who will I work with?

You’ll work closely with a range of colleagues and stakeholders, including:

• Colleagues across Membership and Inclusion, Education, Workforce and HE Directorates
• Project partners including Royal Society of Chemistry and Science Made Simple
• School leaders, teachers and technicians across primary and secondary schools in Wales
• Regional education partners and networks
• Teacher professional learning networks and subject communities

Ideally, we hope you’ll apply if you bring:

Essential:

• Experience teaching physics or facilitating science CPD at a secondary level.
• Delivering or supporting science education, CPD, or curriculum-aligned science communication.
• Coaching, mentoring, or training teachers or education professionals.
• Working with schools in Wales and understanding the Welsh education landscape.
• Leading or contributing to inclusive practice and equity-based initiatives.

Nice to have:

• Welsh language skills are desirable to support bilingual communications across the project
• Understanding of barriers to STEM progression, particularly for underrepresented groups, and strategies to promote science capital.

At the IOP, we know that great candidates don’t always tick every box. If your experience looks a little different, but you bring enthusiasm, curiosity and a willingness to learn, we’d love to hear from you.

How to apply

Alongside your CV, please include a cover letter explaining how you meet the person specification.

How will I be working?

We operate a flexible, trust based working model that gives colleagues autonomy over how, when and where they work, while recognising the value of in person collaboration. You will be assigned a base office, with hybrid working offered as standard.

You will engage in regular in person collaboration with your team (as operational appropriate), as well as with colleagues across the wider organisation, to ensure effective operational alignment and to support our inclusive approach to working.

As an organization we meet in person once a quarter at our Head Office in Kings Cross, London. 

Why join the IOP?

The IOP is the professional body and learned society for physics in the UK and Ireland. As a charity, we’re passionate about increasing public understanding of physics and supporting a diverse and inclusive physics community. 

We’re committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive culture for everyone. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the application or recruitment process, please let us know we’re always happy to help.

Please note whilst we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role, we warmly encourage applications from candidates who already have the right to work in the UK and Ireland.