Critical Operations Centre Manager

Job description

Critical Operations Centre Manager

Location: Stoke, ST1 5PZ
Hours of Work: 40 per week
Contract Type: Permanent

Our client, a leading provider of facilities services in the UK, is seeking a Critical Operations Centre Manager to lead the team responsible for a Service Centre providing oversight of critical sites across a 24/7, 365-day operational environment.

This is a highly visible leadership role with responsibility for ensuring the availability, resilience and performance of critical infrastructure services. The successful candidate will lead a team of approximately 16 colleagues, including supervisors and operatives, while driving operational excellence across a complex technical estate.

Working closely with engineering teams, suppliers and senior stakeholders, you will oversee service performance, manage major incidents, identify and mitigate operational risks, and support continuous improvement initiatives. This role offers the opportunity to shape and enhance monitoring capabilities, operational processes and service resilience within a business-critical environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, develop and motivate a high-performing operational team within a 24/7 service environment.
• Provide leadership and direction across proactive and reactive operational streams.
• Act as the senior escalation point during major incidents and critical service events.
• Ensure critical infrastructure and services are effectively monitored, identifying and managing emerging risks.
• Drive improvements in monitoring capability, alerting effectiveness, automation and operational visibility.
• Lead incident, problem, risk and change management activities to minimise service impact and improve resilience.
• Build strong relationships with engineering teams, suppliers and key business stakeholders.
• Deliver operational governance, reporting, performance management and continuous improvement initiatives.

Person Specification

• Proven experience leading operational teams within a Network Operations Centre (NOC), Technical Operations Centre, Service Operations Centre, Data Centre Operations or a similar environment.
• Experience managing business-critical services within a complex operational or technical setting.
• Strong understanding of incident, problem, risk and change management disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams through major incidents and high-pressure operational situations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to make effective decisions under pressure.
• Experience using operational performance metrics to drive service improvements.
• Exceptional communication skills and proven ability to lead, develop and motivate high-performing teams.

Reference 225700498