Head of Operations

Head of Business Operations

Location: Harwell, Oxfordshire
Salary: 70,000 - 90,000
Working pattern: Hybrid

A growing technology business in Harwell is seeking a Head of Business Operations to join its team in a newly created role. This is a key senior position supporting the Deputy Managing Director and helping shape Business Operations into a strategic, business-enabling function that brings structure, pace and clarity to the organisation.

The successful candidate will help turn business priorities into clear plans, actions and delivery rhythms, improve processes, remove operational friction, and support effective decision-making across the business. This role will suit someone who can work confidently across functions, influence stakeholders, and build practical, repeatable ways of working in a fast-moving environment.

Role overview

You will act as a senior operational partner to the Deputy Managing Director, helping to translate strategy into action and ensuring Business Operations supports delivery rather than slowing it down. The role will focus on improving workflows, strengthening governance, supporting audits and compliance activities, and helping teams work more effectively together.

You will also provide day-to-day leadership to the Integrated Business and Resource Planning Analyst, ensuring planning, resourcing and reporting activity aligns with business needs and supports operational decisions.

Key responsibilities

• Partner with the Deputy Managing Director to convert business priorities into clear operational plans, actions, owners and delivery rhythms.
• Establish practical frameworks for ownership, decision rights, escalation routes and handovers.
• Identify friction, duplication and bottlenecks, then work with functional leads to simplify and improve processes.
• Translate business strategy into operational delivery plans by identifying constraints and blockers early.
• Lead improvement workstreams that strengthen traceability, reduce manual effort and improve scalability.
• Provide leadership, direction and support to the Integrated Business and Resource Planning Analyst.
• Work with IT, Legal, HR, Finance, Site Operations and other process owners to improve systems and workflows.
• Support the effective use of ERP systems such as SAP where they underpin business operations, purchasing, finance, inventory, project controls or reporting.
• Support adoption of new ways of working through communication, guidance and training.
• Maintain proportionate governance tools such as action trackers, compliance calendars, evidence packs, version control and decision logs.
• Coordinate inputs to audits, assurance activities, management systems and certifications.
• Build handover and continuity arrangements that reduce reliance on informal knowledge or single points of failure.
• Provide trusted operational support to the Deputy Managing Director and help keep cross-functional activity moving.

Essential experience

• Experience in business operations, operational management, programme operations, process improvement or a similar cross-functional delivery role.
• Experience within an engineering, manufacturing, technology, aerospace or complex regulated environment.
• Ability to translate business priorities into practical plans and delivery mechanisms.
• Strong process improvement capability, with a track record of simplifying workflows and reducing duplication.
• Confident working as a senior partner to executive leadership.
• Strong stakeholder skills and the ability to influence across functions.
• A pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset with good judgement.
• Experience supporting governance, audit, assurance or compliance activities.
• Experience leading change management and helping teams adopt new ways of working.

Desirable experience

• Experience improving operational systems, workflows or digital tools in partnership with IT or process owners, including ERP systems such as SAP.
• Exposure to health and safety, quality, security, export compliance or ISO management systems.
• Experience in a scaling organisation where processes are still developing and need to become clearer and more repeatable.