Operations Manager

Position Operations Manager

Location Flexible working - home based with regular travel across Jobs Guarantee delivery areas to meet colleagues, employers and partners (South & West Scotland)

Salary £37,500 + excellent benefits

Hours 35 hours per week (flexible working)

Status Fixed Term to March 2029

Closing date 11 October 2026

Please note: We are recruiting in anticipation of a decision on our Jobs Guarantee bid due to the short mobilisation period. Any appointment and confirmed start date will therefore be subject to successful contract award and mobilisation requirements.

We are preparing for the potential mobilisation of the DWP Jobs Guarantee – an ambitious programme designed to help young people who have experienced long-term unemployment take the step into paid work and, importantly, succeed and progress once they get there.

Eligible young people aged 18–24 will receive a six-month funded job alongside tailored employability and wraparound support. The purpose is not simply to create a job start, but to help young people build the skills, confidence and experience that can lead to sustained employment.

We are looking for an Operations Manager who can take clear ownership of Jobs Guarantee delivery and make sure the programme becomes part of the wider Wise Group presence in the communities where we work.

As Operations Manager, you will lead the people, performance, partnerships and participant outcomes behind a successful Jobs Guarantee service.

You will create the conditions for teams to deliver at pace, build strong relationships with DWP, Jobcentres, employers and partners, and ensure young people receive the support and opportunities they need to succeed.

DWP expects the majority of participants to be matched to a job within four weeks and to have started work within eight weeks. At the same time, many of the young people joining the programme may have experienced significant and multiple barriers to employment.

Getting that balance right will be central to this role.

Our Relational Mentoring approach will sit at the heart of delivery. We want young people to have a trusted relationship around them while we bring together the employment opportunities, practical support and wider connections that can help them succeed.

Jobs Guarantee will also operate within communities where other Wise Group colleagues, relationships and activity already exist.

Your role is not to take ownership of those wider services or relationships. It is to make sure Jobs Guarantee actively connects into them.

You will work alongside other Wise Group operational leaders, each retaining clear accountability for their own services, while sharing responsibility for making our collective presence stronger.

You will understand what relationships and knowledge already exist before building new ones, share what Jobs Guarantee is learning and make sure relationships, intelligence and opportunities created through the programme add value to the wider Wise Group where appropriate.

What you'll lead

1. People, culture and performance

Lead, coach and develop Team Leads and colleagues across Jobs Guarantee.

Create clear accountability through the leadership structure and ensure Team Leads have the clarity, confidence and support to lead performance, quality and colleague experience within their teams.

Create a positive and accountable culture where people understand the purpose behind their work, know what is expected of them and are supported to deliver strong participant outcomes.

Lead through others, creating the conditions for colleagues to use judgement, solve problems and take ownership.

Make colleague development part of everyday leadership through meaningful coaching, regular conversations, feedback and clear individual accountability.

Create a culture of curiosity and connection where colleagues understand how their contribution connects to Jobs Guarantee outcomes and the wider Wise Group.

Give colleagues trust and flexibility while being clear about the ownership, connection and impact expected in return.

2. Participant outcomes and service delivery

Hold accountability for consistent, high-quality delivery throughout the participant journey – from first engagement through preparation, job matching, funded employment, sustainment and onward progression.

Maintain strong oversight of referrals, engagement, caseloads, job readiness, employment opportunities, matches, job starts, sustainment and progression.

Ensure participants receive personalised support that responds to their circumstances, strengths and barriers.

Make sure colleagues intervene early where someone is disengaging, becoming stuck or their employment is at risk.

Once participants enter work, ensure they receive ongoing wraparound support, with strong joint working between the young person, employer and Wise Group to reduce the risk of employment ending early.

Ensure the participant relationship remains central while the right support and opportunities are brought around them.

Use participant experience not only to improve Jobs Guarantee but also to understand what people are experiencing within individual communities – where barriers repeatedly appear, what is working well and where gaps may exist.

3. Employer and partner relationships

Build strong, trusted relationships with DWP, Jobcentres, employers, delivery partners and wider stakeholders.

Work closely with Employment Pathways colleagues to maintain a strong pipeline of suitable employment opportunities.

Understand where employer opportunities are strong and where gaps exist by geography, sector or participant need.

Make sure employer engagement is connected to participant demand and creates meaningful opportunities for young people.

Represent the Wise Group confidently in performance, partnership and delivery conversations.

Approach employer, DWP, Jobcentre and partner relationships as Wise Group relationships, rather than relationships belonging to Jobs Guarantee alone.

Understand what relationships already exist across the organisation before creating new approaches.

Share connections, intelligence and emerging opportunities so colleagues can build on each other's knowledge rather than inadvertently duplicating activity.

Where a relationship could create value beyond Jobs Guarantee, bring the right Wise Group colleagues around it.

4. Community, Place and enterprise working

Own Jobs Guarantee's integration into the wider Wise Group presence in place, while retaining absolute accountability for the performance of Jobs Guarantee itself.

Build strong working relationships with other Wise Group leaders operating within the same communities. Each leader will retain accountability for their own service while contributing to a shared understanding of the place.

Develop a strong understanding of Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Argyll & Bute, recognising that each has different communities, labour markets, partners, opportunities and challenges.

Bring together intelligence from participants, frontline colleagues, employers, Jobcentres and partners.

Help us understand:

What are people experiencing here?

Where are the recurring barriers or gaps?

What are employers and partners telling us?

What does our performance and participant data tell us?

What relationships already exist?

Who else within the Wise Group would benefit from this intelligence or opportunity?

Make local knowledge visible and useful across the enterprise.

Contribute insight from Jobs Guarantee to our developing Community and Place approach without creating competing regional accountabilities.

Success should mean both a strong Jobs Guarantee service and a Wise Group that is better connected, better informed and increasingly valuable as a partner within the communities where we work.

5. Data, insight and impact

Use operational and participant data to understand what is happening, why it is happening and what needs to change.

Maintain strong forward visibility of referral volumes, caseloads, employment opportunities, employment starts, workforce requirements and participant progression.

Use data to anticipate pressure and opportunity and inform timely decisions.

Understand performance at locality level as well as programme level.

Combine quantitative information with participant, frontline, employer and partner intelligence to build a richer picture of individual places.

Translate performance into meaningful insight for colleagues, senior leaders, DWP and partners.

Use evidence not simply to report activity, but to demonstrate what changed as a result of our work.

Make sure insight travels – from frontline delivery into organisational decisions and from organisational insight back into frontline practice.

6. Financial and commercial leadership

Lead budget management, forecasting and resource planning across Jobs Guarantee.

Understand the relationship between participant volumes, workforce capacity, programme activity, delivery costs and funding.

Maintain a clear view of current and forecast financial performance and identify emerging pressure or opportunity early.

Ensure strong processes and controls around the financial and administrative requirements of the programme.

Jobs Guarantee is grant funded, with significant evidence and reconciliation requirements, so operational performance, financial information and supporting evidence must tell the same story.

Use commercial awareness alongside operational insight to make sound decisions about resources, capacity and opportunity.

7. Governance, risk and quality

Maintain strong oversight of safeguarding, governance, contractual compliance, quality, data and risk.

Ensure issues are identified early, ownership is clear and actions are followed through to resolution.

Create a culture where quality and assurance are part of everyday delivery rather than something separate from it.

Use performance issues, participant feedback and quality findings as opportunities for learning and improvement.

Maintain clear oversight of key programme risks, including employment opportunity supply, delivery capacity, participant engagement and sustainment.

Create strong connections between operational, financial, workforce and quality intelligence so emerging risks are understood and acted on early.

8. Continuous improvement

Use participant experience, colleague insight, performance data, employer feedback and partner feedback to continually improve Jobs Guarantee.

Ensure participant voice and lived experience influence how the service develops.

Bring learning from Jobs Guarantee into the wider Wise Group and bring wider organisational learning back into Jobs Guarantee.

Create a culture where colleagues stay curious about what works, what isn't working and what could be done differently.

Look for opportunities to turn strong delivery and evidence into stronger relationships, improved services and future opportunity.

What you'll bring

We're looking for someone who can operate confidently across people, performance, partnerships and delivery.

You'll bring:

Strong people leadership, coaching and performance-management skills.

Experience of leading through others and creating clear accountability.

Strong operational judgement and the confidence to take ownership of complex, high-intensity delivery.

Experience of employment, employability, youth or another person-centred service would be valuable.

The ability to build credible relationships with commissioners, DWP, Jobcentres, employers and partners.

Strong financial and commercial awareness, including budget management and forecasting.

Confidence using data to identify issues, anticipate pressure and make decisions.

The ability to balance demanding performance expectations with high-quality relational delivery.

Strong communication and influencing skills.

The ability to work confidently alongside other operational leaders without creating competing ownership.

A strong understanding of place and the curiosity to understand what is different about individual communities.

The instinct to share relationships, intelligence and opportunity rather than holding them within one programme.

The ability to connect frontline insight, data and evidence to wider organisational decisions.

Resilience, sound judgement and a commitment to continuous improvement.

You don't need to have all the answers.

You do need to be comfortable taking ownership, leading through others, building relationships and turning complexity into clear action.

View the Role Profile for full details about this opportunity.

This role forms part of a bigger opportunity, click here to find out more about Jobs Guarantee and see all open roles.