Operations Manager

Newcastle University; Newcastle; On-site; AUD 80,000 - 103,000; Full time

Job summary

Newcastle University in the UK is seeking an Operations Manager to operationalise strategy across a school within the Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering. You will lead day-to-day operational activities, oversee front-of-house management, procurement, and digital/physical infrastructure, and drive continuous improvement.

You will manage a team of three Operations Managers, collaborate with NUIT for digital services, support space planning and projects, and report to the Deputy Head

Responsibilities

• Lead daily transactional and operational activities across a specific school, including purchasing, travel arrangements, deliveries, expense processing, and finance approvals.
• Provide line management to the School Operations team, fostering a collaborative, agile, high-performing culture, and coordinate school hubs.
• Manage activities such as Academic Workload Allocation modelling where relevant to the school.
• Act as liaison with University IT Service (NUIT) to ensure a fit-for-purpose digital experience for students and colleagues.
• Support infrastructure planning and implementation, including capital projects, space management, and relocation.
• Lead and deliver school/faculty projects, developing innovative ideas and monitoring resources for successful completion.
• Support Deputy Head of School Operations and School Executive in delivering the School’s strategic plan.
• Identify service shortfalls and propose improvements or innovative solutions to maximise service quality.
• Deputise for the Deputy Head of School Operations when appropriate.
• Act as first point of contact for resolving day-to-day operational issues.

Job description

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

The Role

To be responsible for operationalising strategy and policy across a specific school in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture & Engineering in core areas including, but not limited to: front of house management, support for a high quality digital and physical infrastructure, procurement, purchasing and delivery management. The Operations Manager will lead on all day-to-day operational activities, providing advice, recommendations and guidance to senior management and colleagues, developing and improving administrative processes to enable a high performing culture of continuous improvement in the operations team.

You will form part of a team of 3 operations managers across our schools and this team works collectively together to ensure the delivery of a high-quality service to students and colleagues, consistently delivered where appropriate and aligned with the school and faculty’s strategic goals.

For informal enquiries about the role, please contact Anna Gardner, [e-mail]

This post is full time for a duration of 12 months.

Key Accountabilities

• To lead daily transactional and operational activities across a specific school, including: purchasing, travel arrangements, deliveries, expense processing, and finance approvals. This includes working with operations managers in other schools to iterate and update processes to ensure they are consistent and fit for purpose, using digital technology where possible
• To provide line management and leadership to the school Operations team, fostering a collaborative, agile and high-performing team culture. To hold overall responsibility for the delivery and coordination of school hubs
• To manage and deliver key activities as relevant to a particular school e.g. Academic Workload Allocation modelling
• To be the key liaison with the University IT Service (NUIT) to ensure a fit for purpose digital experience is available for students and colleagues in the school
• To support infrastructure planning and implementation, including capital projects, space management, office allocation and relocation and space optimisation
• To lead and deliver school and faculty projects. To design and develop new and innovative projects and ideas, to request and closely monitor resource to ensure successful project completion
• To provide support to the Deputy Head of School Operations and School Executive in the delivery of the School’s strategic plan. To assist with the preparation and implementation of short, medium, and long term plans
• To be a positive change agent, identifying additional service requirements or shortfall in service and recommending improvements or innovative solutions to maximise service quality
• To deputise for the Deputy Head of School Operations were appropriate
• To act as the first point of contact for resolving day-to-day operational issues, particularly those that fall outside standard processes