Head of Operations

The Head of Operations is a new role at Glider, created to lead the day-to-day running of our Delivery team, the largest team in the business. Reporting to the Operations Director, who also leads Product and Development, the Head of Delivery owns business-as-usual delivery: making sure every project is resourced, planned and delivered on time, to quality and profitably, and that the people behind it are well led, developed and continually improving.

The Delivery team brings together Senior Project Managers, Project Managers, Senior Information Controllers, Information Controllers and Digital Delivery Managers. Together they deliver handover information, O&M manuals, Health and Safety Files, asset data and Glider Nexus (CDE) deployments for clients across the built environment.

The key purpose of the Head of Operations role is to:

• Own the BAU running of the Delivery team, freeing the Operations Director to focus on strategy, Product and Development
• Ensure all projects are delivered to agreed scope, timescale, quality and margin
• Lead, develop and retain a high-performing, multi-disciplinary delivery team
• Build consistent, scalable delivery processes, standards and reporting as Glider grows
• Act as the senior escalation point for clients and project teams on delivery matters

Key Responsibilities

Delivery leadership and performance

• Own the delivery portfolio across all live projects, with clear visibility of status, risk, resourcing and financial performance
• Run the delivery operating rhythm: weekly portfolio reviews with Senior PMs and PMs, prioritisation and escalation
• Set, monitor and report delivery KPIs (e.g. on-time handover, first-time acceptance, utilisation, project margin and client satisfaction) to the Operations Director and SLT
• Ensure projects are delivered in line with ISO 19650 principles, client information requirements (EIR/AIR) and the MIDP/TIDP
• Lead the recovery of at-risk or escalated projects, stepping in with clients where needed
• Control project creep across the portfolio, making sure variations are captured, agreed and charged

Resourcing and planning

• Own capacity and resource planning across Project Managers, Information Controllers and Digital Delivery Managers, balancing workload and anticipating peaks from the sales pipeline
• Review new work at quote stage with Sales and Estimating for deliverability, resource and margin, and ensure a smooth handover from sale to delivery
• Build the business case for recruitment and lead the recruitment and onboarding of delivery roles

People leadership

• Line manage the Senior Project Managers and senior team leads, and through them lead the wider Delivery team
• Own performance management across the team: objectives, probation, annual and biannual development reviews, and any capability or conduct matters with HR support
• Build clear career paths and progression criteria across delivery roles (e.g. Information Controller to Senior Information Controller to Project Manager), with training plans to support them
• Create a positive, accountable team culture across a hybrid workforce, with attention to wellbeing, engagement and retention

Commercial and financial

• Accountable for the financial performance of delivery: project budgets, forecasting, margin and invoicing milestones, working closely with Finance
• Identify and deliver efficiency improvements that protect and grow margin

Process, quality and continuous improvement

• Own and continually improve delivery processes, templates, quality checks and standards
• Work with Product and Development to feed delivery insight into the Glider Nexus roadmap, and lead the responsible adoption of new features, AI-enabled solutions, automation and tooling within the team
• Ensure the team complies with Glider’s quality, information security, GDPR and health and safety policies

Clients and stakeholders

• Act as senior delivery contact for key clients, building long-term relationships and supporting account growth with the Account Management team
• Represent Delivery in operational and leadership meetings, working closely with Sales, Product, Development, Finance and the Asset Intelligence practice

Qualifications & Skills

Essential:

• Proven experience leading a multi-disciplinary delivery, operations or project team, including managing managers
• Strong background in the construction or built environment sector, ideally in information management, handover, O&M, BIM or digital construction
• Track record of running a portfolio of concurrent projects to time, quality and budget
• Commercial acumen, with experience of budgets, forecasting and margin management
• Experience designing and embedding processes, KPIs and management reporting
• A strong people leader: coaching, performance management and recruitment
• Confident and credible with senior client stakeholders, with excellent written and verbal communication
• Working knowledge of ISO 19650 and information requirements (EIR, AIR, MIDP/TIDP)
• Highly systems literate, comfortable with CDEs and data and reporting tools (Excel, Power BI or similar)

Desirable:

• Project management qualification (e.g. APM PMQ, PRINCE2 or PMP)
• Experience in a technology-enabled services or SaaS business, working alongside Product and Development teams
• Experience scaling a team through a period of growth
• Knowledge of COBie, the Golden Thread and Building Safety Act requirements, or ISO 55001
• Experience delivering for public sector or defence clients
• Experience using AI-enabled tools to improve operational delivery, reporting, decision-making or process efficiency, or a demonstrably forward-thinking approach to identifying and adopting emerging technologies
• Relevant degree or professional membership (e.g. CIOB, APM, RICS or CIBSE)

What success looks like in the first 12 months

• A single, trusted view of delivery performance, with agreed KPIs reported monthly
• Forward resource planning in place, looking at least three months ahead
• The Operations Director released from day-to-day delivery management
• A defined career framework, with a development plan for every member of the team
• Measurable improvement in on-time delivery and project margin against the baseline

Salary: £70,000 per annum plus eligibility for a 20% discretionary company bonus.

Working hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week Monday-Friday)

Location: Hybrid contract with 2-3 days in the Chelmsford office

Annual leave: 25 days’ annual leave (plus UK bank holidays)

This role may require some form of Security Clearance (SC) depending on the client or project. To meet the eligibility criteria for SC, candidates must have been resident in the UK for a minimum of 3 years. If clearance is required, Glider will support the successful candidate through the vetting process.

Preferred start date: 27 January 2027

Glider celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from all backgrounds. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please contact HR on 0203 826 8001 or email recruitment@glidertech.com.

To apply for this role, please send your CV and a covering letter to recruitment@glidertech.com.