Operations Support Manager

Cambridge University Press & Assessment; Whittlesford; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave + bank holidays

Private medical and permanent health保险

Discretionary annual bonus

Group personal pension scheme

Life assurance up to 4x annual salary

Green travel schemes

Job summary

Cambridge University Press & Assessment seeks a capable leader to guide a team of Assessment Operations Coordinators and Senior Coordinators. You will oversee workload, quality, and delivery while managing recruitment, training, and performance support to sustain high-quality examination services.

You will identify risks, drive improvements, and ensure regulatory compliance across processes. Strong stakeholder engagement and change management are essential in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading operational teams and delivering high-quality service.
• Strong communication, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and drive process improvements.
• Experience identifying and mitigating operational risks and issues.

Responsibilities

• Leading and developing a team of Assessment Operations Coordinators and Senior Coordinators.
• Monitoring workload, quality, and delivery against deadlines.
• Managing recruitment, onboarding, training, and performance support.
• Identifying, investigating, and mitigating risks and issues.
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory and business processes.
• Creating, reviewing, and approving process documentation and work instructions.
• Driving continuous improvement to processes, documentation, and ways of working.
• Building strong relationships with internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Supporting resolution of customer queries and escalations.
• Delivering training, inductions, and ongoing capability development.
• Contributing to operational improvement initiatives and project activities.
• Promoting a positive, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.

Skills

Team leadership

Customer service

Stakeholder management

Problem solving

Communication

Change management

Education

Project management qualification

Tools

SAP

Visio

Job description

This role is responsible for leading and developing a team of Assessment Operations Coordinators and Senior Assessment Operations Coordinators to ensure the accurate, efficient, and customer-focused delivery of Cambridge English Qualifications examinations. The post holder oversees business-critical assessment processes, supports operational excellence through effective people management, and drives compliance with regulatory and quality standards while ensuring high levels of service for internal and external stakeholders. Working collaboratively across the organisation, the role combines day-to-day operational leadership with continuous improvement activity, including process documentation, training delivery, risk management, and operational change initiatives. The successful candidate will empower colleagues to perform at their best, contribute to strategic improvements, and help ensure the successful delivery of assessment services that support Cambridge's global mission. Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include:

• Leading and developing a team of Assessment Operations Coordinators and Senior Coordinators.
• Monitoring workload, quality, and delivery against agreed deadlines.
• Managing recruitment, onboarding, training, and performance support.
• Identifying, investigating, and mitigating operational risks and issues.
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory and business processes.
• Creating, reviewing, and approving process documentation and work instructions.
• Driving continuous improvement to processes, documentation, and ways of working.
• Building strong relationships with internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Supporting the resolution of customer queries and escalations.
• Delivering training, inductions, and ongoing capability development.
• Contributing to operational improvement initiatives and project activities.
• Promoting a positive, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

We are seeking a candidate with proven experience in leading operational teams and delivering high-quality service within a fast-paced environment. The ideal candidate will be able to manage multiple priorities, drive process improvements, and support colleagues effectively while ensuring operational standards are maintained. Strong communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills are essential, along with the ability to adapt to change and motivate others to achieve team objectives.

• Experience leading, motivating, and developing teams.
• Strong customer service and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience managing operational processes and procedures.
• Proven ability to identify and implement process improvements.
• Experience managing risks, issues, and competing priorities.

Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:

• Project management qualification or relevant project experience.
• Strong data analysis and reporting capabilities.
• Experience creating process and training documentation.
• Experience using SAP and/or Visio.
• Knowledge of Cambridge English Qualifications and assessment operations.

Potential 2nd interview if needed

At Cambridge, our work helps millions of learners worldwide demonstrate their English language skills and achieve their ambitions. We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge. This is an exciting opportunity to make a genuine impact through team leadership, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry. We are committed to an equitable recruitment process. As such, applications must be submitted via our official online application procedure.

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable and/or appropriate, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.

Applicants must therefore have an existing right to work in the UK to be eligible for this position.

Why join us

Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe – for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration. Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together.

We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background. We believe better outcomes come through diversity of thought, background and approach. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities, actively seeking to employ people from a wide range of different communities.

Rewards and benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package, featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Group personal pension scheme
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
• Green travel schemes