Operations Manager

Your New Role:

Safety, integrity, passion, ownership, teamwork and customer service are the foundations of what National Highways is built on. We are proud of the road network that we manage and the way it connects millions of people every year and strive every day to ensure their journeys are safe and reliable.

We are looking for an Operations Manager to join us bringing their expertise during a challenging and exciting time in the business. This key role for Service Delivery will place you in charge of our road network in the East region.

This is a leadership role with directly management responsibility for a team of up to 6 On Road Team Managers and indirectly around 35 On Road officers. You will also act as a Duty Manager cover in our Regional Operations Centre (ROC) control room on a rota basis, where you will oversee daily operations on the network, covering immediate incidents alongside planned and unplanned events. You will work closely with our service providers to ensure our repair strategy is delivered effectively and efficiently. This exciting role will see you lead our planning in preparation for major events and delivering successful outcomes in response to significant incidents and severe weather whilst liaising with senior leaders. You must be a confident decision maker able to assimilate information from many sources and make sound decisions based on evidence and information and communicate these to others effectively. You will hold excellent communication skills at all levels.

This is a 24/7 role with managers working in shifts and on call to ensure continuous delivery of service. The role will focus on safety, network performance, restoration and delivering a positive customer experience.

What You’ll Lead On:

• Embedding a safety culture across all areas of your responsibility

• Provide 24/7 operational leadership of the region’s Strategic Road Network, directing and coordinating the deployment of available resources to maximise traffic flow and minimise the impact of planned and unplanned events on customers.

• Proactive management of the regional performance against agreed targets and performance indicators, taking positive action to mitigate known risks including planned events, severe weather, major planned works etc.

• Act as National Highways Tactical Commander during critical incidents, making sure plans are in place and actions taken to ensure effective and safe resolution of network operational issues, proactively informing, assuring and escalating to senior leadership as required.

• Building strong, effective partnerships and relationships with key stakeholders (e.g. regional emergency services) to enable National Highways to deliver better outcomes for our customers.

• Actively seek out, analyse and act on feedback from colleagues, customers and stakeholders to continuously improve how we work and the service delivered to customers.

• Be responsible for your teams performance, their ongoing development and engagement; foster a culture which promotes safety, high performance, recognises talent, and upholds best practice in people management
  

To be Successful:

• Ability to work at a senior level, influencing and driving successful outcomes.

• Leadership skills that inspire a team for continuous improvement.

• Ability to work in a complex service delivery environment to tight deadlines.

• Able to engage effectively with staff at all levels and with different technical understanding and convey complex and challenging information to a variety of audiences.

• Strong decision-making skills and ability to see the big picture.
  

Essential Criteria

• Full UK Driving License

• Competence in use of control room IT systems or willingness to train, achieve & maintain competence

• Experience of line management, preferably in a safety critical, operational environment

• Experience of emergency incident management, preferably in a safety critical environment
  

Desirable Criteria

• Understanding of asset management lifecycle, preferably in a highway’s environment
  

Mission:

Making sure our customers have safe and reliable journeys is at the heart of everything we do in Operations. We keep the roads open for business and play a key role in making sure the network we manage is fit for purpose today and for the future.