Operations Manager

Are you an experienced aviation or operational leader looking for your next challenge? Do you have experience leading high-performing teams in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment? Are you commercially minded, passionate about developing people and relentless when it comes to standards? If so, we'd love to hear from you. At Optime Group, we're continuing to grow our aviation operations across the UK and are looking for an Operations Manager to lead our North Region. Based from our Manchester office, you'll take ownership of a growing portfolio covering Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Scotland and Northern Ireland, working with some of the biggest names in UK aviation. This is a genuine leadership position with significant autonomy and direct exposure to the Operations Director. You'll lead an established team across Recruitment and Vetting and take responsibility for the complete journey from client requirement through to candidate selection, vetting, deployment, retention and successful workforce delivery. Key Details Salary £40,000–£45,000 per annum. Car allowance £250 per month Monthly performance bonus of up to £1,000. Based from our Manchester regional office. Travel to airports and client sites across the North Region. Manchester Liverpool Birmingham Belfast Glasgow Newcastle Edinburgh Direct responsibility for Recruitment and Vetting leadership. Genuine autonomy to lead and develop your region. Significant opportunity for career development within a growing aviation business. What You'll Be Doing Taking complete ownership of operational delivery across the North Region. Leading, coaching and developing your Recruitment and Vetting teams. Building strong relationships with aviation clients and becoming a trusted operational partner. Ensuring client recruitment requirements are understood and successfully delivered. Driving candidate quality with a Right Person, Right Role, Every Time approach. Ensuring exceptional vetting, compliance and onboarding standards. Monitoring fulfilment, attrition, vetting turnaround, candidate experience and client satisfaction. Identifying operational failures, understanding why they happened and implementing improvements. Creating a highly engaged team with clear objectives and accountability. Maintaining exceptional operational, compliance and professional standards. Developing capability through coaching, training and Success Passports. Understanding your region commercially and identifying opportunities for growth. Protecting existing client relationships while proactively identifying new opportunities. Managing resources and costs with a Think Like an Owner mentality. Working directly with the Operations Director to support Optime's wider growth strategy. What We're Looking ForWe're looking for somebody with strong leadership experience who is comfortable operating in a demanding, fast-moving environment. Aviation experience would be a major advantage, particularly within airport operations, ground handling, recruitment, workforce solutions or outsourced services. You'll ideally demonstrate: Experience leading operational teams. Strong people-management and coaching capability. Excellent client and stakeholder management. Evidence of improving operational performance. High personal standards and attention to detail. Confidence challenging poor performance and driving accountability. Strong problem-solving skills. Commercial awareness and an appetite for growth. Experience working with KPIs and performance data. The ability to manage multiple clients, locations and competing priorities. Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wants to take genuine ownership. How We LeadOur leaders are expected to demonstrate four core principles: Candidate Selection — Right Person. Right Role. Every Time. Relentless Standards — Excellence Sets Us Apart. Curious Leadership — Ask. Understand. Improve. Commercial Ownership — Think Like an Owner. You'll be measured not only on operational results but on how you engage your team, implement improvements, coach and develop people, maintain standards and contribute commercially. Why Optime?We're an established aviation workforce solutions business with operations across major UK airports and ambitious plans for continued growth. This is an opportunity to take ownership of an established region, work directly with senior leadership and have genuine influence over how your operation develops. We're looking for someone who doesn't just want to manage an operation. We want someone who wants to build one.