Operations Manager

Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries Cambridge; Cambridge; Presencial; GBP 45.000 - 50.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Monkey Puzzle Cambridge Nurseries is seeking an Operations Manager (Area Manager Level) to drive quality frameworks, people culture and leadership across three Cambridge settings. You will be a hands-on coach to managers, ensuring every setting is well-led, well-staffed and child-focused.

You will report to the Owner and Director, build HR foundations, oversee recruitment and staffing, and ensure inspection-readiness while guiding growth beyond three nurseries.

Responsabilidades

• Lead HR and people management across three nurseries.
• Build the HR foundations: policy suite, safer recruitment, supervision and appraisal culture, training and CPD calendar.
• Oversee staffing - ratios, deployment, cover, qualifications, retention.

Descripción del empleo

Operations Manager (Area Manager Level)— Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries Cambridge Group (Regent Terrace, Grange Road, Marleigh)

Monkey Puzzle Cambridge Nurseries is a family-owned group of three well-loved

day nurseries in Cambridge: Regent Terrace, Grange Road and Marleigh. Our

Nursery Managers are long-serving, came up through the group and run their

settings with genuine ownership and pride. Children are at the heart of

everything we do, and our people are how we keep it that way.

We have clear plans to grow beyond our three settings, and this role owns the

quality frameworks, training programme and policy library behind that growth. It

is not a role for someone who wants to maintain what exists: it is for someone

wants to build - the quality framework, the people culture, the leadership

team, the foundations of a growing group - as a coach to our managers, who own

their settings and whom you enable, support and hold to account.

This is a role for a leader who wants to be present. Success comes from fully

understanding each of our settings - the children first, then the managers, the

teams and our valuable families - until you know every nursery inside out. In

time you can monitor and keep nurseries in check from a step back, allowing

managers room to implement new systems, but you never stop knowing each setting

fully.

Key facts

• Reports to: Owner and Director; three Nursery Managers (and their deputies and teams) report to you
• Works closely with: our Enquiries Lead, also PA to the Director and Operations Manager
• Settings: Regent Terrace, Grange Road and Marleigh, Cambridge, with more planned
• Where you work: in person, in all settings every week - NOT remote or desk-based
• Contract: permanent, full time, 40 hours per week
• Salary: £45,000 to £50,000 plus quarterly bonus of up to £2,000 (£8,000 a year) linked to audit quality, occupancy, outcomes for children, retention and Ofsted readiness

Purpose of the role

The Operations Manager is the Director's right hand and the group's quality and

people lead (HR): ensuring every child receives consistently excellent care and

learning, each nursery inspection-ready any day, well led, well staffed and

commercially healthy.

Around all of that sits a bigger job: building our quality framework, people

culture and HR foundations, and the readiness to expand beyond three settings.

You are the trailblazer who sets the standard, builds what is missing and makes

it last - a coach to our managers, never running their nurseries for them.

Your responsibilities

People and HR — leading our people

• First port of call on performance, absence, grievance, disciplinary, recruitment, induction, supervision, wellbeing, conflict resolution; external HR advice as needed.
• Build the HR foundations: policy suite, safer recruitment, supervision and appraisal culture, training and CPD calendar. Oversee recruitment, induction and probation; plan staffing - ratios, deployment, cover, qualifications, retention.
• Champion wellbeing; keep