Operations Manager

Jaheziya; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading emergency services provider in the UAE is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to oversee the delivery of multiple projects. The role demands a hands-on leader responsible for operational readiness, budget control, and compliance with industry standards. Candidates should have 8–12 years of experience in multi-site operations, be fluent in Arabic and English, and possess strong stakeholder management skills. This position involves frequent travel across sites and on-call leadership for major incidents.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of experience in multi-site operations or contract management.
• Proven ownership of budgets and operational KPIs.
• Strong safety and quality mindset.

Responsibilities

• Own multi-site operational delivery and readiness.
• Lead workforce planning and hiring coordination.
• Drive continuous improvement and develop business cases.

Skills

Fluent in Arabic and English

Operational assurance

Stakeholder management

Workforce planning

Education

Degree in Operations/Business/Emergency Management/Engineering

Job description

Overview

The Operations Manager leads the daily delivery of multiple Emergency Services projects across UAE sites, ensuring safe, compliant, and high-performance operations that meet requirements. The role is hands-on across sites while also running the back-office operating rhythm, budget control, hiring coordination, procurement and subcontractor management, training compliance, reporting, and continuous improvement, plus identifying and progressing organic growth opportunities within existing accounts.

Key Responsibilities

• Own multi-site operational delivery, ensuring staffing, readiness, and response capability meet contract requirements.
• Maintain active on-ground presence through structured site visits, readiness spot checks, and coaching of site leadership.
• Lead operational assurance: inspections, drills, competency checks, incident reviews, corrective actions, and audit readiness.
• Manage client-facing operational governance (weekly/monthly), action tracking, escalation control, and performance reporting.
• Own contract OPEX discipline: overtime governance, consumables, subcontractors, forecasting, variance management, and cost controls.
• Lead workforce planning and hiring coordination with HR: requisitions, onboarding, retention actions, performance management.
• Ensure training and competency compliance across sites in coordination with the Training Academy; close gaps and maintain records.
• Coordinate procurement/logistics and vendor performance to prevent service interruptions and ensure value-for-money delivery.
• Oversee fleet/equipment readiness in coordination with Fleet/Assets; manage defect closure and maintenance planning.
• Drive continuous improvement and develop business cases for organic growth (added scope, training, technology enablement).
• Lead and manage Operations Administrators to ensure timely, accurate operational administration across sites (timesheets/attendance, overtime tracking, onboarding packs, documentation control, client deliverables, reporting inputs, purchase requisitions, meeting minutes and action logs).

Key Deliverables / Measures of Success

• Consistent achievement of contract KPIs (readiness/availability/response/compliance).
• Budget adherence and margin protection (controlled overtime, reduced wastage, clear forecasting).
• Staffing stability (coverage, time-to-hire, retention, performance outcomes).
• Training compliance and competency closure rates across roles and sites.
• Fleet/equipment availability and improved defect closure times.
• High client satisfaction and effective governance (actions closed on time, fewer escalations).
• Organic growth pipeline progressed and converted within assigned accounts.
• Improved administrative accuracy and timeliness (clean timesheets, reduced payroll/overtime errors, on-time reporting, audit-ready document control).

Candidate Profile (Essential)

• Arabic and English fluent (spoken and written).
• 8–12+ years’ experience in multi-site operations/contract management, ideally in emergency services, industrial services, aviation, defense, or oil & gas.
• Proven ownership of budgets, operational KPIs, workforce planning, and contractor/vendor management.
• Strong safety/quality mindset with demonstrable experience in operational assurance and incident management.
• Confident stakeholder manager, able to lead client forums and drive cross-functional execution.
• Demonstrated capability to lead operational administration teams and enforce disciplined reporting cycles.

Preferred

• Degree in Operations/Business/Emergency Management/Engineering (or equivalent).
• Experience in UAE regulatory and high-compliance environments; ISO/NCEMA/NFPA-aligned operations exposure.

Working Conditions

• UAE-based with frequent travel across sites.
• On-call leadership availability for major incidents/escalations as required.