Area Operations Manager – Early Years

Nursery World Jobs; Slough; On-site; GBP 56,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

Nursery World Jobs is seeking an Area Operations Manager – Early Years to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight across multiple early years settings, ensuring high-quality care, education, and regulatory compliance.

You will support Early Years Managers, manage budgets of around the set annual revenue, drive continuous improvement, oversee OFSTED readiness and health and safety, and partner with families and agencies to deliver a consistent, high‑standard service across Slough.

Responsibilities

• Deputise for the Head of Service when required.
• Strategically manage daily operations for children’s centres/family hubs delivering early years provision, ensuring compliance and guidance to managers.
• Maintain budget within forecasts and ensure best value.
• Implement operational policies aligned with council policies and legislation.
• Support OFSTED inspections, quality assurances, and staff employment issues.
• Oversee safety, audits, training, recruitment, and staff deployment.
• Collaborate with multi-agency partners to deliver sustained, shared visions for family hubs.

Job description

Area Operations Manager – Early Years

Job Description

Position Pay Level: 9

Position Pay SCP: 42 - 47

Salary: £56,354 - £62,066 (fully inclusive of Local Weighting Allowance) DBS requirement: Enhanced,

Reports to: Head of Service Children’s Centres and Family Hubs Responsible for: Early Years Managers and Operations Officer Number of reports: 5 – 8 people

Financial Responsibilities: Strategic Leadership and associated budget with revenue targets of 2million.

Main purpose of Job:

As the Early Years Operational Manager, you will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight across multiple early years settings, ensuring high-quality care, education, and compliance with regulatory standards.

You will be responsible for supporting Early Years Managers and their teams to deliver outstanding practice, maintain safe and nurturing environments, and achieve strong outcomes for children’s learning and development.

This role also involves monitoring performance, managing budgets and resources effectively, implementing policies and procedures, and driving continuous improvement across all of our settings, By building strong relationships with staff, families, and external agencies, you will help to create a consistent, high-standard service that meets the needs of children, supports families, and aligns with the organisation’s vision and values.

Main Accountabilities:

• To deputise for the Head of Service when required.
• To strategically manage the daily processes for meeting all the operational needs of the children’s centres/family hubs delivery of early years provision, including ensuring legislative compliance and providing support and operational guidance to the early years managers.
• To manage the routine, response, and long-term maintenance needs of the children’s centres/hubs over seeing operating costs are kept within a budget and that best value is achieved.
• To ensure the implementation of operational policies and procedures, in line with Slough Borough Council’s corporate policies and all relevant legislation.
• To monitor and support early year’s managers to be financially viable and to meet occupancy targets.
• To implement strategies to ensure the long-term sustainability of the early years provision in children’s centres/family hubs including marketing and promotional activities.
• To manage all inspections and to support the early years managers and the family hub coordinators with OFSTED inspections, quality assurance accreditations and the full range of operational and staff employment issues related to managing a children’s centre/family hub provision.
• To oversee Health and Safety compliance within all children’s centres/family hubs.
• To ensure audits are undertaken and all staff are trained appropriately and there is process in place for monitoring this.
• To manage the processes for identifying recruitment needs and to oversee staff retention.
• To manage the weekly staffing for early years and the deployment of staff. Managing the booking of agency staff and the allocated budget approval process.
• Management and planning of training needs in the children’s centres/family hubs offering tailored and robust support based on internal audits.
• To work in partnership with multi agency partners to achieve sustained shared visions and actively support the development of family hubs.
• To represent children’s centres/ family hubs on boards, governing bodies, internal leadership meetings and wider forums, to present as required.
• Contribute and lead on services plans and long-term council objectives.
• To provide effective supervision to managers based on a clear vision of the outcomes to be achieved by the service and how the outcomes will be achieved.
• To provide high quality, inclusive early years provision across all sites.
• To perform any other duties that may become necessary to ensure the successful delivery of early years’ services, this includes working at any of the children’s centre’s/ family hubs across Slough.