Senior Operations Lead

Hollybank Trustees Ltd; High Wycombe; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Royal London Pension Plan

Critical Illness Cover

International incentive trips

Quarterly company-wide recognition events

Social events

Job summary

A leading cybersecurity firm is seeking a Senior Operations Lead to drive operational excellence in Cyber Resilience Consulting. This role involves scheduling, resource coordination, and performance reporting with a strong focus on financial governance and operational frameworks. The ideal candidate will have significant delivery management experience and be capable of making independent decisions, impacting delivery efficiency and consultant utilisation. Competitive salary and hybrid working model offered.

Qualifications

• Significant operational or delivery management experience within professional services, consulting, technology, or risk environments.
• Demonstrable experience designing and improving operational frameworks.
• Proven ability to operate autonomously and make independent operational decisions.
• Advanced proficiency with PSA, scheduling, and reporting systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead scheduling and resource coordination across all Cyber Resilience Consulting engagements.
• Own operational KPIs and reporting integrity.
• Drive monthly performance reporting and financial insight.
• Design and mature operational frameworks that are auditable and scalable.
• Partner with Finance to produce structured monthly performance reports.
• Own KPI metrics like burn rate, schedule variance and capacity alignment.
• Drive change management and onboarding of new tools and processes within CRC.

Skills

Operational or delivery management experience

Experience with PSA, scheduling, and reporting systems

Strong financial and commercial acumen

Cross-functional stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder management

Financial acumen

Tools

PSA platform

Scheduling systems

Reporting tools

Job description

Location: Hybrid / High Wycombe, UK
Job type: Permanent / Full-time
Sector and subsector: IT | Cybersecurity
Salary: Competitive Salary

Senior Operations Lead

Location: High Wycombe

Hours: Full Time

Reporting To: Head of Cyber Resilience Consulting

About Saepio

Cyber security isn’t an add-on to IT. It’s a specialist discipline.

That’s why modern UK organisations separate the teams who run systems from those who protect them. And it’s why they choose Saepio.

We’re one of the UK’s most recognised cyber specialists and an NCSC Assured Service Provider, working with over 1,000 organisations who trust us to help them:

Cut through noise and see their real risk

Align policy, people and technology into one coherent strategy

Mature security operations without adding unnecessary complexity

Build cyber resilience that stands up to real-world pressure

We partner with the most advanced security platforms in the market and deliver high-impact events, campaigns and thought leadership that place Saepio at the centre of the UK cyber conversation.

The Opportunity

Saepio is seeking a Cyber Resilience Consulting Operations Lead to take full operational ownership of scheduling, reporting, performance governance, and delivery optimisation across the Cyber Resilience Consulting function.

This is not a client-facing project management role. It is the operational backbone of the consulting team.

The successful candidate will:

• Lead scheduling and resource coordination across all CRC engagements
• Own operational KPIs and reporting integrity
• Drive monthly performance reporting and financial insight
• Reduce schedule fragmentation and improve utilisation
• Ensure alignment between Sales commitments and delivery capacity
• Design and mature operational frameworks that are auditable and scalable

This role operates with a high degree of autonomy and directly impacts delivery efficiency, revenue protection, consultant utilisation, and operational risk control.

Core Responsibilities

1. Operational Leadership and Governance

• Conduct a full operational audit of the Cyber Resilience Consulting function
• Design, implement, and continuously refine structured, auditable delivery frameworks
• Establish clear and maintainable operational processes aligned to growth objectives
• Act as the senior operational escalation point across CRC engagements
• Exercise independent decision-making within agreed strategic boundaries
• Escalate material risks, delivery blockers, or structurally unresolvable issues to the Head of Cyber Resilience Consulting, providing clear analysis and recommended actions

2. Scheduling and Resource Optimisation

• Own end-to-end scheduling across the CRC team
• Reduce fragmented consultant schedules and improve structured allocation
• Optimise utilisation and protect delivery capacity
• Ensure smooth sequencing of engagements to minimise downtime and inefficiency
• Support capacity planning in line with pipeline visibility

This role directly influences margin performance and consultant productivity.

3. Sales Alignment and Expectation Management

• Act as the key operational interlocutor between Sales and Cyber Resilience Consulting
• Ensure sales commitments align with delivery capacity and capability
• Provide operational input into scoping discussions and timing commitments
• Establish structured ways of working between Sales and CRC to reduce friction
• Flag delivery risk early when pipeline demand exceeds capacity

The objective is seamless handoff from sale to execution without operational disruption.

4. Professional Services Automation (PSA) Stewardship and Reporting Integrity

While the PSA platform is shared across the wider organisation, this role holds functional ownership for CRC data integrity and reporting discipline.

Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring accurate time recording and utilisation tracking
• Standardising burn rate and schedule variance reporting
• Driving disciplined PSA adoption across the CRC team
• Improving reporting workflows to enable reliable decision-making
• Establishing auditable reporting controls

Advanced proficiency in project management and reporting systems is essential.

5. Financial Governance and Monthly Reporting

• Partner with Finance to produce structured monthly performance reports
• Support forecasting and variance analysis
• Provide clear narrative explanations of performance fluctuations, including root causes and corrective actions
• Move beyond reporting ‘over hours’ to insight‑led operational storytelling
• Contribute to revenue forecasting and margin protection initiatives

6. KPI Ownership and Performance Management

Own and continuously improve operational KPIs including:

• Burn rate and budget consumption
• Schedule variance
• Resource capacity alignment
• Delivery efficiency metrics

Translate performance data into structured improvement initiatives.

7. Change and Process Improvement

• Lead the operational implementation of new tools, workflows, and governance models
• Manage competing stakeholder demands across Sales, Finance, and Consulting
• Facilitate difficult operational conversations when required to protect delivery integrity
• Support onboarding, training, and process adherence within CRC

Skills and Experience

Required

• Significant operational or delivery management experience within professional services, consulting, technology, or risk environments
• Demonstrable experience designing and improving operational frameworks
• Strong financial and commercial acumen
• Advanced proficiency with PSA, scheduling, and reporting systems
• Experience managing utilisation, forecasting, and capacity planning
• Proven ability to operate autonomously and make independent operational decisions
• Strong cross‑functional stakeholder management capability

Certifications

PRINCE2, PMP, Agile or similar certifications are welcome but not essential.

Demonstrated operational impact is more important than formal accreditation.

Personal Attributes

• Operationally rigorous and detail‑oriented
• Commercially aware and outcome‑driven
• Confident engaging senior internal stakeholders
• Calm under pressure when balancing competing priorities
• Structured thinker with strong analytical capability
• Trustworthy and discreet with sensitive commercial information

Business Impact of the Role

This role directly contributes to:

• Improved utilisation and margin control
• Reduced operational fragmentation
• Stronger Sales‑to‑Delivery alignment
• Enhanced forecasting accuracy
• Increased audit readiness and governance maturity
• Scalable operational structure to support growth

What do we offer?

Having a happy and healthy team provides the foundation for our energy and drive

25 days annual leave plus additional half days for a ‘Duvet morning’ and your birthday.

Critical Illness Cover

Royal London Pension Plan

Strong learning and development culture to help you excel

International incentive trips for high performers

Fantastic social events e.g. Family Fun Day, Quarterly socials, Festive Party

Quarterly company‑wide recognition events e.g. lunch at Michelin star restaurants

Please note: To be eligible for this role, you must have the right to work in the UK on a permanent basis (e.g., Indefinite Leave to Remain or UK/EU Settled Status). Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.