Operations Assistant

Highways Magazine; Harrogate; Hybrid; GBP 21,000 - 25,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday entitlement 28–34 days

Local government pension scheme

Salary sacrifice

Learning & development

Health Assured

Job summary

Highways Magazine’s Harrogate hub is seeking an Operations Assistant to support the delivery of dependable passenger transport across Harrogate. You will assist the Operations Officer with transport requests, deputise as needed, and provide daily operational advice on rotas, scheduling changes, vehicle safety and service standards.

Join a close-knit team as they manage schedules, information distribution, and equipment stocks, ensuring uninterrupted journeys for the community.

Responsibilities

• Assist the Operations Officer with transport requests from colleagues and customers
• Deputise for the Operations Officer to supervise drivers and passenger assistants
• Provide daily operational guidance on rotas, scheduling, incidents and service standards
• Keep accurate, up-to-date vehicle schedules and monitor for cost-effective operation
• Distribute passenger information and care plans to ensure crews have correct details
• Ensure vehicles carry sufficient sundries and equipment
• Respond to unexpected events with practical solutions to maintain service delivery

Job description

Ready to keep our community moving? Are you the kind of person who naturally looks out for others and loves working as part of a close-knit team? Join our Harrogate based hub as our Operations Assistant and help orchestrate vital journeys every single day.

Across North Yorkshire, our Integrated Passenger Transport Operations Team keeps our community moving. Our extensive network of more than 120 vehicles, mainly minibuses, and approximately 340 drivers and passenger assistants work tirelessly to deliver safe, reliable transport where it’s needed most. From providing essential school and social care transport services to providing local bus connections, we help people access learning, employment, and social centres, we ensure nobody gets left behind.

We bridge the gap to critical community hubs, enabling independent access to education, supported employment, and day centres, and other meaningful activities in our community. The team delivers approximately 800,000 passenger journeys per year including 20,000 wheelchair user journeys.

The role

In this role, you will support the Operations Officer to deliver high-quality, dependable passenger transport across Harrogate. Your core duties will be:

• Assisting the Operations Officer in responding to transport requests from colleagues in Integrated Passenger Transport and customers requesting trips
• Deputise for the Operations Officer when required to ensure general supervision of drivers and passenger assistants
• Provide daily operational advice to drivers and passenger assistants on matters including rotas, changes to scheduling/incidents, vehicle safety, general health and safety and operational service standards
• To maintain accurate up to date schedules for the vehicles and monitor those schedules to ensure the cost effective and reliable operation of the fleet
• Monitor the distribution of passenger information and care plans to ensure bus crews have accurate information
• Ensure that vehicles have adequate stocks of sundries and equipment
• Respond to unforeseen events by providing solutions to ensure service delivery, for example, respond to absences, vehicle breakdowns or traffic delays

Working hours

Start times are either 7:00am or 8:30am, with lunch breaks of 30 minutes or 1 hour

A full UK Driving Licence is desirable but not essential for this position

What can we offer you?

In addition to your salary, we offer a range of great benefits to help you financially and make life a bit easier:

• Our holiday entitlement starts at 28 days rising to 34 days (pro-rata) per year with continued service, plus public holidays
• Pension: save for your retirement with our generous local government pension scheme
• salary sacrifice, employee cash back and discounts schemes
• Learning, development and career advancement opportunities
• Health Assured – confidential help and support for your wellbeing

This post involves access to vulnerable service users and if you were offered the position, you would be required to undergo an Enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) background check.

Contact and apply

For an informal discussion, please contact Julie Firth on [e-mail]

Key documents

• Job Description
• Total Rewards Brochure

Key dates

Closing date: 25 October 2026

Interview date: Week commencing 2 November 2026

Venue for interview: Harrogate Civic Centre