Head of Operations (UK)

TPH Global Payroll and Accounting Solutions; Twickenham; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

TPH Global seeks a Head of Operations (UK) to own day-to-day UK business delivery, payroll reliability, customer success, finance operations and commercial activity. This hands-on role drives clarity, momentum and a scalable operating model, reporting to the Group CEO with strong cross-functional collaboration across time zones.

The role emphasizes operational control, client retention and organisational effectiveness, with high autonomy after a 90-day ramp and strategic oversight of UK

Qualifications

• Senior operational leadership track record in SME/scale-up environments.
• Ability to own problems and drive them to completion with urgency.
• Experience reporting to senior/remote leadership across time zones.
• Experience delivering service across multiple functions in deadline-driven settings.
• Experience line-managing a small, multi-functional team.
• Sound commercial judgement with lightweight cadence and controls.

Responsibilities

• Translate priorities into a UK operating plan with a weekly cadence.
• Be the senior day-to-day operational face for the UK with clear visibility.
• Oversee Payroll, Customer Success and finance operations with accountability.
• Ensure client service delivery reliability, retention and risk management.
• Collaborate with Sales, Onboarding and Service delivery to avoid handover failures.
• Maintain regulatory and financial controls in collaboration with leadership.

Skills

Senior operational leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic execution

Performance management

Reporting to leadership

People management

Commercial judgement

Operating system (EOS/Traction)

Education

Tertiary education

Tools

EOS/Traction

Job description

TPH Global is one of the UK's leading Accounting SaaS product and Payroll service providers for the film and TV industries. We work globally with leading brands, such as Netflix, Marvel, Disney and the BBC, and the team is driven by delivering quality and value to these clients, with a high level of service.

With offices in London and Australia, we continue to grow and expand our team. We work in a flexible hybrid model, based at our Twickenham office.

We're searching for a Head of Operations (UK) to take ownership of the day-to-day running of TPH's UK business. Reporting to the Group CEO (with a secondary line to the Group Head of Legal), you'll turn Group priorities into local delivery, hold payroll, customer success, finance operations and commercial activity together, and give our Australian leadership team clear, reliable visibility of how the UK is performing.

The Role

This is a hands-on leadership role in an established SME, not one run at arm's length through layers of management. The immediate priority is operational control, service reliability, client retention and organisational effectiveness. Growth matters, but it's the outcome of a well-run operation, not the immediate mandate.

Expect to move constantly between leadership, analysis, problem-solving and doing the work yourself, taking personal ownership of issues from the moment they surface through to resolution. We’re hiring someone who creates clarity and momentum without adding process for its own sake, and who wants to build the operating model rather than just run one someone else designed.

We’ll work closely together for the first 90 days, on purpose: high visibility so Australian leadership can trust what's happening in the UK during a genuine operational reset, and close support so nobody's finding their feet alone. From there, this becomes a genuinely high-autonomy role. You'll run the UK business with minimal day-to-day intervention, and sound judgement about what needs escalating to the Group Leadership and what doesn't.

We expect this role will see you:

• Translate Group priorities into a single UK operating plan and own the weekly cadence beneath it, so decisions get implemented, not just discussed, and cross-functional issues get resolved at UK level instead of defaulting upward.
• Act as the senior day-to-day operational face of TPH in the UK, giving Australian leadership genuine, decision-useful visibility through a concise scorecard covering service delivery, clients, people, finance and commercial activity, built to drive action and accountability, not administration.
• Manage the Payroll Manager and hold accountability for overall payroll service performance, including reliability, timeliness, accuracy and capacity, driving efficiency without compromising accuracy, security or client experience. The Payroll Manager retains ownership of processing and technical delivery.
• Oversee UK Customer Success across the full post-sale lifecycle, from onboarding through to retention, making sure recurring issues get traced to root cause, not just closed ticket by ticket.
• Manage the UK relationship-management function and (once appointed) the Business Development Manager, supporting real commercial rhythm and CRM discipline in place and resolving the handover failures that happen between sales, onboarding and service delivery.
• Hold accountability for local finance operations running reliably, including billing, collections and month-end, implementing the Group CFO's financial controls and maintaining the operational risk register alongside the Information Security Officer and Group Head of Legal. Day-to-day execution sits with the Payroll Manager and Senior Management Accountant.

To be effective, we believe you'll need:

• A strong track record in a senior operational role in an SME, scale-up or founder-led business, equally comfortable in strategy and in the detail.
• A track record of taking ownership of operational problems through to completion, not just coordinating activity around them.
• Experience creating visibility and reporting for senior or remote leadership, including managing up and working across time zones.
• Experience managing service delivery across multiple functions in a deadline-critical or client-service environment.
• Experience line-managing and lifting the performance of a small, multi-functional team.
• Sound commercial judgement, enabling you to build lightweight cadence, KPIs and controls without importing large-company bureaucracy.
• A strong track record matters more here than formal qualifications, though relevant tertiary education and familiarity with a structured operating system (EOS/Traction or similar) would both be a plus.

It would be a real bonus if you also had:

• Experience in payroll, payments, workforce services or another deadline-critical service environment.
• Experience running a UK subsidiary or country operation reporting to an overseas parent.

You’ll take a genuinely central role in a growing, global business, with real autonomy once trust is established and a fractional CFO and Group Head of Legal as functional partners.