National head of operations jobs

This is an exciting role in a unique organisation.  Our vision is to provide an outstanding experience for all UCL students and to be one of the best students’ unions in the UK and the world.  We aim to build a vibrant and empowered student community with real influence in UCL and beyond, that enables students to enjoy their time at university; pursue their interests and passions; see the world in new ways; and develop the skills and experience to change the world for the better.

We are a registered charity employing over 150 career staff and 300 student staff, delivering a wide range of services and representative functions for UCL students. We have the widest portfolio of services of any student organisation in the country, managing UCL’s extracurricular programmes for sport, music, drama, dance, media, volunteering, academic societies and intercultural engagement; providing a wide range of fantastic social spaces; leading on student democracy and representation across UCL; and offering excellent student support services.

It's an exciting time to join our growing organisation as we lead the delivery of UCL’s groundbreaking new Student Life Strategy. This is enabling us to build more programmes to improve students’ mental and physical wellbeing, promote genuine equity for all, build students’ skills and confidence, develop their international connections and intercultural skills, and make a real contribution to our local community.

We support hybrid working. Excellent benefits including defined benefit pension scheme and generous holiday entitlement. We are proud of high levels of staff engagement and pride ourselves on being a great place to work. We will consider applications to work on a flexible and job share basis wherever possible. 

The role is full time and permanent. This role is based at our Bloomsbury campus with flexibility to work from home on a 40/60 basis (40% working from the office).

We are looking for an Advisor to provide quality advice, information and support to students using the Advice Service, including casework and accompanying students to meetings and hearings. This is an opportunity to work as part of our Advice and Wellbeing department, ensuring students feel supported, informed and striving for positive outcomes whenever possible.

The advisor will provide support by delivering high quality and accurate advice and information to students using the Advice Service. This will include housing, academic, and employment matters, through casework, support and acting as a ‘friend’ for students in UCL committees, panels, hearings or other meetings. The successful candidate will work effectively with Union and UCL teams, including academic and professional services staff in Casework and Student Support and Wellbeing Services. They will also contribute to the production of engaging and useful content to support students needs.

Do you have experience of giving advice or support in a student or other client facing environment? Do you have knowledge of relevant issues in Academic, Housing, Employment or Consumer Advice and Casework? Are you able to understand and work within policies, procedures and regulations? If the answer is yes, then we want to hear from you.

Mercy Ships UK is looking for a People Engagement and Development Partner to help cultivate a thriving, supportive and purpose-driven workplace where our people can flourish.

Mercy Ships is an international charity that provides free life-changing surgeries and healthcare to people in need, using hospital ships staffed by volunteers from around the world. Behind this mission is a dedicated team of staff who enable this work to happen and we believe investing in our people is essential to achieving our impact.

This role plays a key part in shaping the employee experience at Mercy Ships UK, strengthening engagement, supporting managers and helping develop a healthy and effective organisational culture.

Working closely with leaders across the organisation, you will support initiatives that encourage staff wellbeing, development and strong collaboration, ensuring our people feel valued, connected and equipped to contribute to the mission.

Key responsibilities

• Support the development and delivery of employee engagement initiatives across Mercy Ships UK

• Partner with managers to strengthen team culture, communication and staff wellbeing

• Help coordinate learning and development opportunities that enable staff to grow and thrive

• Provide guidance and support on people-related matters, helping to build confident and capable managers

• Contribute to organisational initiatives that strengthen culture, values and employee experience

• Support internal communications and activities that foster connection, collaboration and engagement across teams

About you

You will be someone who is passionate about people and organisational culture, with the ability to build trusted relationships across teams.

You will bring:

• Experience working in a people, HR or organisational development role

• A strong interest in employee engagement, culture and learning

• The ability to support and coach managers in developing healthy teams

• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills

• A collaborative and proactive approach to supporting organisational initiatives

• Alignment with the values and mission of Mercy Ships

Why join Mercy Ships?

At Mercy Ships UK, you will be part of a team committed to making a global difference. This role offers the opportunity to help shape the environment where our people work, grow and contribute to a life-changing mission.

This role has an Occupational Requirement for the post holder to be a practicing Christian in accordance with Schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010

Role: Senior Delivery Manager

Directorate:            Standards

Team:                      Workforce Development

Manager:                Director of Standards

Direct reports: Education Network Manager, High Skills Performance Coach and Curriculum Lead (two colleagues)

Role purpose

The Senior Delivery Manager plays a key role in leading high-quality operational delivery across WorldSkills UK’s workforce development products and services. The postholder will be responsible for contract, project and performance management, ensuring all programmes are delivered efficiently, consistently and to a high standard. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, this role leads operational systems, processes and delivery management to support effective provision for further and higher education and the skills system, raising standards of teaching, learning and assessment.

Key tasks and responsibilities

The postholder will be accountable for ensuring that workforce development programmes and services are delivered efficiently, compliantly and to a high standard, with strong operational oversight and continuous improvement.

Contract and project management

· Lead contract and relationship management with key grant funders, ensuring compliance with funding agreements and timely resolution of delivery issues.

· Ensure timely and accurate reporting, including regular performance updates and financial summaries, to support effective oversight and decision making.

· Maintain strong operational governance by identifying, managing and mitigating risks, and escalating issues appropriately.

· Oversee evaluation activity, ensuring evidence and insights to inform continuous improvement and future programme development.

Operational management

· Oversee data management processes to ensure accurate collection, monitoring and reporting of operational and performance data.

· Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of systems and tools that underpin programme delivery (e.g. CRM, dashboards, workflow).

· Design, refine and maintain operational processes that support high‑quality, efficient delivery and a positive customer experience across all workforce development activities.

Delivery management

· Lead the planning, implementation and delivery of workforce development products and services to ensure they meet agreed project objectives, quality standards and stakeholder requirements.

· Plan and oversee high‑impact events and training delivery, managing the full end‑to‑end customer journey from promotion and delegate engagement, through booking and delivery, to post‑event evaluation. Ensure all activity is scheduled and sequenced effectively around the academic year.

· Manage and support the team of trainers and coaches to deliver high‑quality, consistent and impactful training and engagement activity.

· Coordinate internal and external resources to ensure smooth, timely and cost‑effective delivery of programmes and services.

General

In addition to the key tasks and responsibilities set out above, employees at this level are expected to:

· Manage, support and motivate allocated staff to successfully deliver agreed activities and tasks.

· Produce specification requirements in line with procurement processes for outsourced activity.

· Contribute to organisational risk and issues management processes.

· Support delivery of WorldSkills UK’s strategic priorities and annual business plan.

· Ensure resources (staff, suppliers, partners, volunteers) are managed efficiently and effectively.

· Contribute to a performance‑driven culture with robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

· Demonstrate WorldSkills UK’s values in all aspects of the role, contributing to a collaborative, inclusive and high-performing organisational culture.

· Promote and comply with WorldSkills UK’s policies, including safeguarding, health and safety, equality, diversity and inclusion.

· Carry out any other duty as may be reasonably assigned that is consistent with the nature of the role and its level of responsibility. Any significant changes will be made in consultation with the post holder taking account of their experience, skills and capability.

Person specification

Key: [E] Essential / [D] Desirable.

Qualifications and experience:

· Experience of operational, project or programme management within education, skills or workforce development [E].

· Experience managing complex projects and multiple stakeholders in publicly funded or grant‑funded environments [E].

· Experience of event management or oversight of outsourced delivery [D].

Knowledge and skills:

· Strong programme and budget management skills [E].

· Ability to lead operational change initiatives and embed new systems and processes [E].

· Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex information and translate insights into action [E].

· Excellent risk management, problem‑solving and decision‑making skills [E].

· Ability to influence and motivate colleagues and partners, including those working remotely [E].

· Ability to build strong and effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders [E].

Personal qualities and attributes:

· Demonstrates professionalism, reliability and sound judgement [E].

· Organised and methodical, with a structured approach to planning and delivery [E].

· Able to work independently, using sound judgement and initiative, while collaborating effectively with others [E].

· Able to identify practical solutions and improve ways of working [E].

· ideas Adapts positively to changing priorities and ways of working [E].

· Works collaboratively with colleagues and partners to achieve shared goals [E].

· Able to motivate and support others to deliver high quality work [E].

Special circumstances:

· Able to work occasionally outside normal hours where required [E].

· Able to travel within the United Kingdom, where required [E].

· Able to undertake occasional overnight stays where required [E].

Summary of terms and conditions

· Permanent.

· The salary for this role is £50,000.

· WorldSkills UK offers a maximum employer’s contribution to your pension of 6% of your basic salary, on the condition that you make an employee contribution to your pension of at least 3%. You may choose to contribute a higher percentage of your salary to your pension, subject to statutory limits.

· Group Death in Service (Life insurance) 3 x annual salary.

· Health Care Cash plan.

· Normal place of work is Third Floor, 52-54 St John Street, London EC1M 4HF. This role is office based (as above) with flexible hybrid working. It is expected the postholder will attend the office at least once or twice a week (a minimum of four days per month).

· Full time working hours are a minimum of 35 hours per week, normal working hours are 09:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday although we pride ourselves on having a flexible approach to our working practices and service delivery and are happy to discuss flexible working options, with suitable candidates.

· 25 days’ annual leave [which will increase by one additional day for each completed year of service up to a maximum of 30 days] plus public and bank holidays.

· The post is subject to six months’ probationary period with two weeks’ notice during the probationary period and one month thereafter.

· The offer of appointment will be subject to satisfactory references.

· Salaries are paid monthly by direct transfer on or about 21st of the month.

How to apply

WorldSkills UK is committed to making appointments on merit by fair and open processes and use a blind recruitment approach. Please ensure that you submit your application in Word (curriculum vitae and cover letter) to help us in this process.

We recognise that no candidate is likely to meet every criterion in full. If your experience is not an exact match but you believe you can bring relevant skills and experience to the role, we encourage you to apply.

Applications should be by email and must include:

· Curriculum vitae outlining your full career history. Please remove identifying information such as your name, contact details, date of birth, nationality, photographs and links to personal profiles to support our anonymised recruitment process. This includes your name, email address, date of birth, nationality, languages spoken other than English, photographs, and links to personal profiles (e.g. LinkedIn). Applications that contain identifying information in the CV may not be considered.

· Supporting statement outlining your suitability for the role, addressing the points listed in the role description and person specification. Throughout the recruitment process we will be looking for clear examples and evidence of your experience, knowledge and skills.

· Separate document containing your name, contact details (email and phone number) and confirmation of your right to work in the UK.

For the full information on how to apply, read the job pack attached to the advert. 

Interview process and timeline

It is intended that the interview process will have two stages:

· Stage 1 – online via MS Teams. The interviews will be held on Tuesday 7 April 2026.

· Stage 2 – in person. Candidates progressing to the second stage will be invited to attend an in-person interview at our office: Third Floor, 52–54 St John Street, London EC1M 4HF. This stage of the interview process will take place on Wednesday 15 April 2026. Candidates will be asked to complete an interview task as part of this stage of the process, details of which will be provided to those invited to the interview.

Reasonable adjustments will be offered to all candidates during the recruitment process. For further information please contact our Senior HR Manager, Andreea Ojog.

Application deadline

The deadline for applications is Sunday, 29 March 2026 at 17:00. Please note that late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

This is an exciting role in a unique organisation.  Our vision is to provide an outstanding experience for all UCL students and to be one of the best students’ unions in the UK and the world.  We aim to build a vibrant and empowered student community with real influence in UCL and beyond, that enables students to enjoy their time at university; pursue their interests and passions; see the world in new ways; and develop the skills and experience to change the world for the better.

We are a registered charity employing over 150 career staff and 300 student staff, delivering a wide range of services and representative functions for UCL students. We have the widest portfolio of services of any student organisation in the country, managing UCL’s extracurricular programmes for sport, music, drama, dance, media, volunteering, academic societies and intercultural engagement; providing a wide range of fantastic social spaces; leading on student democracy and representation across UCL; and offering excellent student support services.

It's an exciting time to join our growing organisation as we lead the delivery of UCL’s groundbreaking new Student Life Strategy. This is enabling us to build more programmes to improve students’ mental and physical wellbeing, promote genuine equity for all, build students’ skills and confidence, develop their international connections and intercultural skills, and make a real contribution to our local community.

We support hybrid working. Excellent benefits including defined benefit pension scheme and generous holiday entitlement. We are proud of high levels of staff engagement and pride ourselves on being a great place to work. We will consider applications to work on a flexible and job share basis wherever possible. 

The role is full-time and permanent. This role is based at our Bloomsbury campus with flexibility to work from home on a 40/60 basis (40% working from the office).

We’re looking for an Education & Advocacy Manager to empower over 2,000 academic representatives to influence decision makers and shape the future of education at UCL. This is your opportunity to support one of the largest networks of elected academic representatives in the UK, at a global top 10 university, ensuring students are core to the learning experience across all stages and levels of study.

You'll lead strategies that strengthen student representation, ensuring students are central in shaping UCL’s academic experience. You’ll work closely with student leaders and university stakeholders to deliver meaningful change and enhance the student experience.

Do you have knowledge of student engagement practices and effective volunteer management? Do you have experience empowering others and shaping educational policy?

If the answer is yes, then we want to hear from you.

This role is essential in supporting the delivery of Battersea’s commitment to robust compliance with all legal and best practice regulations governing fundraising, animal welfare and grant-making. The post holder will do this by providing support to the Compliance Monitoring Manager, helping to deliver advice, guidance, training, monitoring and reporting to the various internal teams and external agencies.

What we can offer you:
In return for your commitment to our cause and to recognise the value of our employees, Battersea offers a range of benefits to support the wellbeing of our employees. These include:

• 28 days of annual leave (plus 8 days paid public holidays) per year.
• Discounted gym memberships and cycle to work schemes.
• Employee Assistance Programme and access to Wellbeing Resources.
• Generous pension contributions - up to 10% employer contribution.
• Free healthcare cash plan, where you can claim for a range of treatment including dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropody and acupuncture every year.
• Annual interest-free season ticket loans.

We are also committed to providing learning and development to our employees. During your time with us, we provide support for your professional and career development, including access to digital and in-person training programmes, leadership and management training, mentoring and much more.

Our hybrid working model:
We operate a 50% onsite hybrid working model, with our office-based staff splitting their time between site based and home working. This enables our office-based staff to balance the benefits of home working with onsite collaboration and maintaining a connection to our cause.

Diversity and inclusion:
We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive experience for all staff, volunteers and trustees and those hoping to join us. We operate an anonymised shortlisting process and actively seek to ensure our process is fair and equitable for all.

We understand the value of diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences to help us deliver even more for our dogs and cats, and we welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

As a Disability Confident Committed Employer we will ask about any adjustments you may need at application and/or interview stage, and if you are offered a role with us, we’ll talk to you about any workplace adjustments you may need to help you perform at your best. If you would like to talk more about this, please contact us. Greyscale copies of the recruitment pack are also available on request.

More about us:
At Battersea, we aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help. We give each one lots of love, expert care and get to know their characters and quirks so we can find them a new home that’s just right for them. Join us and help us be here for every dog and cat, wherever they are, for as long as they need us.

Acceptable use of AI:
At Battersea, we value expertise. We recognise each candidate that applies to us will have a range of expertise they can offer us, so we want to hear about this in your own words. We understand the support that generative artificial intelligence (AI) software can offer but it can also lead to numerous applications presenting as generic and impersonal. This makes it difficult to gain understanding of your unique experience.

To best showcase yourself, we encourage you to write your responses without the assistance of AI. If you require the use of AI software to aid in completing your application, we ask you use the generative responses as a prompt for writing your answers and avoid copying and pasting. You must also ensure the information presented in your application accurately reflects your experience.

Closing date: 1st April 2026
All applications must be submitted before the closing date advertised. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications is received.

Interview date(s): 9-10th April 2026

For more information about the role, please download our Recruitment pack from our Careers website.