Deputy Operations Manager - REQ001852

INTERNAL ONLY VACANCY. This post is open to existing Leeds City Council employees only. Applications will not be considered from external candidates.

Job title: Deputy Operations Manager, Active Leeds, CDD

Salary: PO5 £47,754 - £50,788 (pay award pending)

Hours: 37

Contract: Permanent

Location: City wide

As Deputy Operations Manager for Active Leeds you’ll thrive on driving performance through people and managing our key contracts

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About you

As Deputy Operations Manager you will bring to the role:

Experience of line managing PO level managers
Experience of dealing with complex HR case management.
A passion for people development
An attention to detail to managing contracts, ideally in PFI environments and key suppliers
Resilience to deal with a fast paced, customer facing environment, thriving on an exciting variety of day-to-day challenges.

About the role

As Deputy Operations Manager you’ll inspire a team of Site managers and department heads to support the council’s Marmot objectives, Child friendly city and Best City ambition of reducing inactivity levels across the city.

The role is integral to Active Leeds in supporting the 16 Leisure facilities we operate, delivering great customer experiences to our users. We have grown our user base to 30,000+ members and deliver swimming lessons to over 14,000 children pw, plus many other activities and community initiatives. As we say in Active Leeds, ‘Making a Difference’

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements

a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Upload your CV and complete a personal statement of no more than 500 words.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role contact Paul Street, Operations Manager, Active Leeds. Call 07500 448639 or email paul.street2@leeds.gov.uk

A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check against the Children’s or Adults’ barred list as applicable will be carried out on preferred candidates. Read our recruitment of ex-offenders policy.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.

This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £38,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Ensure you are eligible before applying.

Leeds City Council Job Description

Job Purpose: Lead, develop and be responsible for several of the leisure, sport and wellbeing facilities offer across the city. The lead role in the performance management of leisure contracts (inc PFI)

Responsibilities

Provide a lead role city wide for the key service areas of People Management and Quality (to include line management of the PFI projects).
Oversight of the commercial, Operations, Health and Safety and People aspects of the service at approximately 9 of the 17 facilities and line management responsibility for 6 Centre Managers
Deputise for the Active Leeds Operations Manager commensurate to the grade.
Build and maintain relationships with corporate services to ensure the centre management team have quality data with which to manage the relevant key areas in a timely manner. Play a lead role in developing and sharing best practice examples in the designated areas of responsibility.
Support Managers to implement HR policies and case management.
Lead officer for Leisure PFI projects, including stakeholder relationship management and contract management including; lifecycle works, annual reconciliation and contract variation processes. Liaison with central govt departments DHSC and DCMS.
Work with corporate services to ensure Active Leeds is pivotal in supporting the councils’ objectives in, improving attendance, increasing our NPS score and reducing downtime.
Line management of General and Centre Managers with an oversight of employment related matters within Operations such as development, appraisals, supervision, performance, sickness, disciplinary, grievance etc.
Delivery of income targets and cost-effective service solutions that contribute to, driving income and new business opportunities to lower subsidy level of the facilities.
Design mechanisms to ensure planning and collection of appropriate data to measure, monitor, evaluate and improve performance through a continuous process and report outcomes.
Ensure effective reporting, governance and compliance of facility management requirements.
Ensure Leisure, sport and wellbeing facilities offer excellent services, together with having oversight for the continued integration of the service into the broader work of the Council and its key partners.
Anticipate, plan and communicate strategic and service change and their impact on teams and partners/stakeholders including Trade Unions.
Ensure appropriate policies and procedures are in place and implemented to manage the Council’s assets, in respect of building and equipment repairs and maintenance, cleaning and security and compliant with all necessary statutory obligations.
Responsible for overseeing the Quality System and Quality Assurance processes to enable delivery of a safe, clean and quality environment for customers to enjoy a positive experience of all services offered.
Lead the service through Quality kitemark achievement e.g. Quest.
Ensure Councils Health, Safety and wellbeing obligations are met, regularly reviewed and improvement processes in place.
Devise mechanisms to ensure an effective register of risks is maintained, reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
Lead on improvement of the service operational management systems, processes and best practices.
Benchmark performance against other providers and complete appropriate industry accreditations to support the quality of service provided.
Provide visible and supportive leadership, which empowers, enables and develops staff to achieve their potential and drives a high performing culture whereby everyone ‘feels they count’ and diversity is valued.
Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders (e.g. health and wellbeing services, NGBs, senior colleagues, elected members and senior partners) to ensure that all who live, visit and work in the city have access to a high quality service that supports the delivery of the council’s wider outcomes.
Improve own practice through observation, evaluation, discussion with colleagues and appropriate CPD programmes.
Work collaboratively with colleagues, knowing when to seek help and advice. Working specifically with the HR team and trade Union colleagues to support case management.
Ensure key marketing, sales, training, programmes are effectively managed and implemented.
Contribute to the overall ethos, work, and aims of the service

The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the job evaluation outcome for this post.

Qualifications

Essential: Degree or Management Diploma level qualification in a relevant discipline or relevant leadership experience.

Desirable: Contract Management Foundation

Essential requirements It is essential that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria. Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the essential requirements.

Able to travel throughout Leeds City Council boundaries and move location within the service working at different sites /areas depending on need.
Able to work flexibly and effectively as part of a team and to demonstrate organisational and time management skills prioritising own and team’s work to meet conflicting deadlines, delivering objectives and outcomes
Able to communicate appropriately with a wide range of people, through a variety of different methods at all appropriate levels.
Able to accurately interpret, use information and enter and retrieve data and information from digital and manual systems producing and presenting statistics, reports and data.
Able to lead a team, support staff to feel motivated and engaged in the values, vision and direction of the service, promoting the values of the Council through appropriate behaviour and professionalism.
Able to deliver significant income targets working collaboratively with colleagues and control expenditure within a net managed budget with further efficiencies to deliver.
Able to constructively challenge working arrangements and programmes in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the service.
Able to work collaboratively, develop and manage productive working relationships that command respect, trust and confidence, delivering integrated and co-produced services across the council and city
Able to think creatively and facilitate/embrace the delivery of innovative change and new ways of working
Able to represent the service within the Council and externally
Knowledge of operational practices to support the development and growth of a new service, including digital applications.
Knowledge of recruitment, employment, training and performance review of staff
Knowledge of reviewing and analysing existing processes and establishing tasks, policies and procedures for all staff. Planning, setting goals and tasks and implementing systems to monitor performance.
Knowledge of contract and project management, monitoring and evaluation.
Knowledge of building management, including energy management, digital applications, repairs and maintenance management, planned maintenance programmes, lifecycle cost planning and responding to building related problems.
Knowledge of health, safety and wellbeing, risk assessments, safeguarding, prevent, equality and all statutory obligations associated with facility operation.
Knowledge of customer relationship management and current best practice.
Knowledge/practical experience of; the sport, leisure and wellbeing sector, national strategies, governing bodies e.g. Sport England, UK Active, NGBs (especially Swim England and British Diving), Public Health, UK Sport.
Experience of senior leisure management, to communicate effectively at a senior level and good presentation skills.
Experience of dealing with complex employment related issues including disciplinary, grievance and performance related matters.
Experience of managing a broad range of day-to-day maintenance issues across a wide range of facilities.
Experience overseeing operational service and delivery of excellent facility management processes.
Experience of dealing with planned/cyclical maintenance across a diverse leisure portfolio
Experience of managing, deploying staff and resources including, recruitment, training and performance review of staff.
Experience of financial management to include budget preparation, monitoring and forecasting.

Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics

Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health and Safety Policies.
Willingness to actively participate in training and development activities
Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
Participate in appraisal, training, and development activities.
Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity of Leeds City Council.
Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.

Desirable requirements It is desirable that the candidate should be able to demonstrate the following criteria. Candidates are not required to meet all the desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between candidates.

Able to prioritise multiple competing works to completion/Contract Management negotiations/qualification
Able to extract and analyse complex data/ PFI contracts
Able to work with Trade Unions

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