23805 - Operations Manager

Ministry of Justice; Bury St Edmunds; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) in England invites applications for an Operations Manager role within National Services in Bury St Edmunds. Lead multi-disciplinary teams, align local delivery with national priorities, and drive performance, resilience and collaboration across stakeholders.

This is a senior leadership post requiring visibility and strategic oversight. You will champion change, develop talent pipelines, and translate national objectives into actionable local plans, ensuring

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a challenging operations or management role with the ability and willingness to adapt and learn at pace.
• Demonstrable people management and coaching skills, leading developing and managing teams to drive performance in a service-focused environment to deliver measurable results.
• A strong leader, with the ability to manage resource allocation, lead teams through change with the confidence to make informed and timely decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Ability to build relationships and manage key stakeholders at all levels, able to negotiate, persuade and influence
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to create a collaborative and inclusive culture
• Confidence to make independent decisions and resolve complex problems. This includes learning and using data driven tools to identify trends and challenges to generate solutions.
• Ability to collaborate across the business to deliver local priorities and HMCTS and MOJ strategic objectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead service delivery, providing teams with clear direction to increase productivity and deliver high-quality services.
• Support Deputy Head of Operations to translate national priorities into local plans and meet operational needs.
• Oversee day-to-day delivery of a high-quality, user-focused service with sound judgement and discretion.
• Foster robust succession plans and support progression through measurable development objectives.
• Provide visible leadership across operational areas, driving engagement, accountability and alignment with organisational goals.
• Embed inclusive leadership, champion change and drive continuous improvement through workforce planning.
• Communicate and deliver HMCTS and MoJ strategic objectives through actionable local plans.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Change management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Job description

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Our Operations Managers in HMCTS National Services play a vital role in delivering justice. This is a high-profile leadership position. You will proactively lead service delivery, providing teams with clear direction, ensuring that business activities are well-coordinated to increase productivity and deliver high-quality services. We are seeking an experienced leader who will lead by example, champion change, and cultivate a culture of resilience and adaptability, empowering teams to thrive while building strong, collaborative relationships with all stakeholders.

About us

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales as well as the reserved unified tribunals across the United Kingdom. Our roles support our service users and colleagues within HMCTS, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and making a difference in people’s lives to deliver justice.

National Services provides centralised support through Courts and Tribunals Service Centres, Business Centres and Enforcement Offices. We handle case administration, customer queries by phone, email, and webchat and enable self-service in our digital services.

About your role

The role of a manager is at the heart of HMCTS operations, shaped by the Civil Service Line Management Standards. It’s rewarding, challenging, and essential to our success.

We’re looking for managers with the experience and desire to develop high performing teams, providing clear direction on performance and attendance and creating a culture of fair reward and recognition.

You will be part of the management team in Bury St Edmunds. You will be responsible for the strategic oversight of operational delivery of the work undertaken at this National Services centre(s). You will work collaboratively with the other members of the Family leadership team across National Services.

You will support your Deputy Head of Operations to meet operational needs and deliver performance objectives by translating national priorities into local plans. You will lead the day-to-day delivery of a high-quality, user-focused service, ensuring the timely and effective resolution of issues through sound judgement and discretion while recognising and nurturing talent, developing robust succession plans, and supporting progression through clear, measurable development objectives.

The role provides visible leadership across operational areas, driving service delivery and team productivity. Your presence supports engagement, accountability, and alignment with organisational goals.

You will give clear direction and focus and align and co-ordinate activity to increase productivity and deliver a quality service across Family services within National Services directorate.

You will model inclusive leadership. You will identify development needs and implement targeted growth plans to improve individual and business performance, ensuring teams are equipped with the necessary skills, knowledge, and capabilities to excel.

Championing change and embedding a culture of continuous improvement, you will proactively use workforce planning, providing clear direction and focus to build teams that are resilient and adaptable.

You’ll foster a collaborative culture and communicate, support, and deliver HMCTS and MoJ strategic objectives, translating them into actionable local plans to deliver measurable results.

Please refer to the role profile attachment for to understand more about this key leadership position.

Essential knowledge, skills and experience

• Proven experience in a challenging operations or management role with the ability and willingness to adapt and learn at pace.
• Demonstrable people management and coaching skills, leading developing and managing teams to drive performance in a service-focused environment to deliver measurable results.
• A strong leader, with the ability to manage resource allocation, lead teams through change with the confidence to make informed and timely decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Ability to build relationships and manage key stakeholders at all levels, able to negotiate, persuade and influence
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to create a collaborative and inclusive culture
• Confidence to make independent decisions and resolve complex problems. This includes learning and using data driven tools to identify trends and challenges to generate solutions.
• Ability to collaborate across the business to deliver local priorities and HMCTS and MOJ strategic objectives.

Lead criterion at application stage: Statement of Suitability. A sift based on the statement of suitability may be held if a large number of applications are received.

As a leader, our HMCTS Leadership Development offer is designed to help you build a confident, capable team and make a real difference to how we work and grow. From bite-sized learning and interactive workshops to deeper insights through our Accountability & Decision-Making framework, we’ll equip you to lead with impact, inspire and drive performance across the organisation.

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

These operational roles are customer facing, requiring successful applicants to be office based to provide HMCTS services to the public.

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week Monday - Friday. HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy. Applications for part-time working will be considered however due to the nature of the role the minimum hours would be 30 hours per week over a minimum of 4 days.

Occasional travel to other courts

For this post, occasional travel to National Services will be required for cover when needed.