Senior Operations Manager

Beacon Communication Services; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 400 000 - 500 000; Full time

Job summary

A growing operations firm in Cape Town is seeking an experienced Operations Manager to lead operational strategies and ensure profitable delivery across multiple teams. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills, a commercial background, and experience in finance management. This full-time role requires the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment while influencing teams at all levels. Relocation to Cape Town is required.

Qualifications

• 5 years business operations experience required.
• Proactive mindset with strong problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to influence at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Lead all Embelo operations for profitable delivery.
• Define business operational plans to align with strategy.
• Collaborate with leadership for effective processes.
• Support financial management from E2E perspective.
• Drive monthly financial reporting across companies.

Skills

Operational background

Leadership skills

Analytical problem-solving

Finance management

Microsoft Office proficiency

Interpersonal communication

Attention to detail

Experience in performance-led environments

Education

Bachelor's degree in Operations Management or Business Administration

Tools

Xero

Microsoft Excel

Job description

We are going through an exciting period of growth, building our operational capability in Cape Town to enable us to scale efficiently, we need a specific focus on our end-to-end processes including commercial and financial management. Now seeking an experienced, highly skilled and motivated Operations Manager with a strong commercial focus and operational background to define and implement best practice across a portfolio of fast growing and diverse group of companies. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Operations Manager who will relish the prospect of taking on a challenge and has the skills to drive forward future initiatives across all operations, enabling our business to ramp up significantly over the next 12 months, whilst maintaining a substantial focus on improving the valuations of each business within our portfolio.

Our portfolio is broad so the ideal candidate must feel confident working at all levels across multiple teams within an organisation from Board level to BAU Operations using your results driven mindset to deliver outstanding performances. You be able to will be able to demonstrate your experience of leading a commercially successful operation, along with the style and finesse to work with founders across multiple businesses, each with their own challenging agendas and timescales.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead all Embelo operations and capabilities to ensure smooth, efficient, profitable and scalable delivery.
• Define full business operational plans across people, finance, marketing, technology and other key areas to deliver against the Embelo strategy.
• Provide leadership for the immediate Embelo team and offer support across broader network as required.
• Collaborate with leadership teams and businesses across the network to define and embed effective end-to-end processes.
• Support the day-to-day running of each business from an E2E finance perspective including project financials, invoicing and billing cycle, cash flow management, budgeting and forecasting.
• Drive and own monthly financial and operational reporting across Embelo and the broader portfolio of companies.
• Lead and evolve our nearshore ways of working, ensuring a seamless experience for our people and our businesses.
• Review, recommend and support implementation of required software solutions, technology and AI strategy across the business.

Essential Knowledge and Skills

This role provides a unique opportunity for a proactive and driven individual.

We are looking for applicants who have

• Strong operational, organisational and commercial background with a proven track record of defining and implementing best practices within high performing organisations.
• Excellent leadership and people development skills, with the ability to grow and motivate teams.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and reporting skills with a data-driven / commercial approach to decision making.
• Good understanding of finance management ideally with hands‑on experience in accounting platforms (e.g., Xero or similar) including demonstrated experience preparing basic financial reports and managing operational budgets.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (particularly Excel).
• Confidence to challenge existing ways of working, recognise opportunities and propose innovative, value‑adding solutions.
• Proactive mindset with strong problem‑solving abilities.
• Experience in performance‑led or commercially driven environments.
• Experience of making operational decisions that consider financial and commercial impact.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Ability to work in a fast‑paced environment independently and collaboratively across teams and regions whilst meeting time‑sensitive deadlines.
• Detail‑oriented with excellent organisational and prioritisation skills.
• High level of integrity, discretion and professionalism in handling sensitive matters.
• Keen interest in technology and the scaled application of AI across operations and finance would be a distinct advantage but is not essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Operations Management or Business Administration or a related field or the demonstrated work experience to qualify you for this challenging / exciting role.
• Full-time.
• Ability to commute / relocate: Cape Town, Western Cape (required commute, planning to relocate before starting work). Business operations experience: 5 years (required). Work location: In person.