Operations Manager - Challenge Works - 12 Months Maternity Cover

Nesta; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 51,000 - 68,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Maternity cover

Job summary

Nesta is seeking a part-time Programme Finance & Operations specialist to manage Challenge Works budgets, support procurement and reporting, and help develop the CW team. You will co-create dashboards, coordinate with Finance, People and IT, and ensure smooth operations across Nesta’s internal systems.

The role requires strong financial governance, cross-team collaboration, and experience with tools like PowerBI, Asana, Salesforce and Google Workspace.

Qualifications

• Track record of monitoring project budgets, resource allocations, and operational data to minimise variance and produce leadership reports.
• Experience establishing and running established operational processes with minimal hand-holding.
• Excellent organisational skills to manage competing priorities and tight deadlines in a part-time role.
• Strong interpersonal skills for working with senior leadership and central support teams.

Responsibilities

• Own CW finances: budgets, income, expenditure, invoices, and central budget tracking.
• Provide budgeting guidance and signposting to teams on processes (budgeting, re-forecasting, reporting).
• Create dashboards and MI for leadership to guide strategy.
• Support recruitment and development of CW team; plan away days and L&D offerings.
• Maintain internal tools and process maps; coordinate with Nesta Finance and central teams.
• Organise meetings and record actions for Leadership Team; ensure follow-ups.
• Foster cross-team communications and explore AI opportunities to streamline work.

Skills

Budget monitoring

PowerBI

Operational data

Process improvement

AI tools

Asana

Salesforce

Google Workspace

Slack

Governance

Tools

PowerBI

Asana

Salesforce

Google Workspace

Slack

Job description

The Role

- what you’ll do

Manage CW finances through our programmes and proposals

• Go-to point of contact for our programme teams on their budgets:
  Checking variances and how these impact our overall Challenge Works financial positionAdvice and signposting to team members on our financial processes (budgeting, re-forecasting and tracking).Feed into CW-wide management information to guide strategic decisions
• Manage the Challenge Works central budget—overseeing the tracking of income, expenditure, and processing invoices accurately
• Work with the Head of Operations to improve financial monitoring across Challenge Works, collaborating with Nesta Finance to improve grant management and programme reporting.
• Consolidate utilisation and financial data into clear dashboards for leadership.

Develop our CW team

• Support the Head of Operations with resourcing our programmes and making recruitment decisions.
• Lead the recruitment process for all roles below band 5 and support hiring managers to get the best outcomes from their recruitment process.
• Support our team members and line managers with more complex HR queries and processes, liaising with the Nesta People Team.
• Manage the planning of Challenge Works team Away Days to build and maintain team culture and skills
• Responsible for organising the L&D offering for Challenge Works including running team-wide training based on operational or organisational initiatives (e.g. budget management, line management, feedback).

Help Challenge Works to run smoothly and keep us connected with wider Nesta

• Keep operations and systems running seamlessly - act as the go-to expert on our internal tools and systems and maintain the templates, guides and process maps that help the team deliver.
• Support leadership - Organise, attend and record actions for all Challenge Works Leadership Team meetings—taking minutes and ensuring action follow-ups.
• Keep internal communications flowing - manage team-wide operational updates so everyone stays informed and aligned across the right channels.
• Deploy AI effectively to deliver your own work and spot opportunities where it could help streamline processes for the team.
• Connect Challenge Works with central Nesta - maintain our strong working relationships across Nesta's central functions - including Finance, People, L&D, Legal, and IT to pull in specialist support whenever needed.

The Person - who you are

We are looking for someone with the following skills, experience and attributes:

• A track record of monitoring project budgets, resource allocations, and operational data (using tools like PowerBI) to minimise financial variance and deliver clear management reports for leadership.
• Experience hitting the ground running to run and maintain established operational processes without needing extensive hand - holding.
• Exceptional organisation skills to manage competing priorities and tight deadlines calmly, maximising output within a part-time schedule.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to build trust quickly with senior leadership, programme teams, and central support functions like Finance and People teams.
• A reliable completer - finisher who spots potential bottlenecks early, takes ownership of day-to-day issues, and keeps tasks moving forward independently.
• Confident using AI for efficiency whilst maintaining quality outputs
• Comfortable using project management platforms (such as Asana), CRMs (such as Salesforce), Google Workspace and Slack.
• Solid understanding of internal governance, contract/procurement good practice, and handling sensitive and confidential information with

What we offer:

Hours: 30 hours (4 days) per week

Reports to: Head of Operations

Salary: £50,700 - £67,800 pro rata (offers are expected to be made towards the bottom of the band)

Location: Hybrid with 2 days per week in our London Blackfriars office

Term: Fixed Term 12 months maternity cover