Operations Manager

Lead with purpose. Shape services that change lives.

Unpaid carers are at the heart of everything we do. Every day across Hertfordshire, carers balance extraordinary responsibilities — often without recognition, rest or support. At Carers in Hertfordshire, we exist to change that.

We are values‑led, carer‑led and deeply committed to ensuring carers feel recognised, listened to and supported. As we evolve our organisational structure to maximise our impact, we are seeking an inspirational Operational Manager to help lead our services into the next chapter.

The Opportunity

This is a senior leadership role with real breadth, influence and meaning. As Operational Manager, you will ensure our core services are delivered with compassion, quality and consistency — while never losing sight of the lived experience of carers themselves.

You will lead and support our Service Managers and Team Leaders, create clarity through strong operational planning, and foster a culture where empathy, learning and accountability go hand in hand. You’ll use insight and data to drive improvement, while ensuring that carers’ voices remain central to how services are designed, delivered and evaluated.

This is a role for someone who can balance heart and head — leading people with kindness and emotional intelligence, while confidently overseeing performance, safeguarding, resources and contracts.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

• Providing visible, values‑led leadership across all operational services
• Supporting and developing managers and team leaders through reflective, people‑centred practice
• Ensuring services are safe, accessible, inclusive and consistently high quality
• Leading the creation and delivery of the annual Operational Plan
• Embedding meaningful monitoring and evaluation that reflects carers’ experiences and outcomes
• Championing safeguarding that is robust, compassionate and proportionate
• Ensuring excellent contract performance, accountability and reporting
• Managing resources and budgets in ways that protect our caring ethos
• Embedding EDI, participation and co‑production across services
• Holding operational risk with integrity, transparency and care

About You

You will bring senior operational leadership experience from a charity, health, social care or community setting, alongside a deep commitment to values‑led, people‑focused practice.

You’ll be someone who:

• Leads with empathy, credibility and clarity
• Is experienced in managing managers across complex services
• Has strong safeguarding expertise with both children and adults
• Understands how to use data, insight and evaluation to improve services — without losing humanity
• Is confident balancing compassion with accountability
• Believes deeply in co‑production, inclusion and listening to lived experience

Experience with carers’ services, young people’s services, condition‑specific projects or contact management systems (such as Salesforce) would be an advantage — but above all, we’re looking for someone whose values align with ours.

Why Join Us?

This is a chance to play a pivotal role in a respected, carer‑led organisation at a moment of positive change. You’ll help shape how we work, support staff wellbeing, and ensure carers across Hertfordshire receive the understanding, respect and support they deserve.

If you’re driven by purpose, grounded in compassion, and ready to lead with impact — we’d love to hear from you.

Interviews will be held on 30th April.  Those invited for interview will be notified by close of play on 27th April.