Interim Operations Director - #2163000

Our client is a growing, founder-led provider of supported living and accommodation services. Demand is up and the operation is stretched. They now need an experienced operations leader to step in, take hold of the day-to-day and get things running consistently across every service.

This is a hands-on interim role for 6-months. You will take operational pressure off the senior leader so they can focus on commissioners, strategy and the big decisions. Your job is to lighten their load, not add to it.

What you will be doing as Operations Director

• Leading and supporting a team of service managers and holding them to deadlines and standards.
• Running a weekly operational performance meeting and a simple management rhythm that sticks.
• Getting a grip on staffing levels, agency spend, vacancies and rota pressures.
• Handling operational escalations and keeping a close eye on incidents, safeguarding and complaints.
• Making sure audit actions and agreed improvements actually happen at service level.
• Bringing in standard operating arrangements across services.
• Coordinating service mobilisations and keeping services ready for commissioner visits.
• Driving the roll-out of new operational systems.
• Improving communication between central teams and frontline services.
• Flagging emerging risks early, along with the decisions that need to be made.

About you

You have run multi-site operations at a senior level, ideally in supported living, supported housing, social care or complex accommodation. You know both regulated and non-regulated services, and you are used to staff-intensive delivery.

We would especially like to hear from you if you have:

• Managed managers and noticeably improved how they perform.
• Handled workforce planning, rotas, agency control and recruitment.
• Put operational systems and processes in place that people actually use.
• Worked directly with commissioners.
• Steadied an organisation that was growing fast or under pressure.
• Worked well in a founder-led business.

CQC or NHS knowledge is a plus. You do not need a nursing or clinical quality background.

How you work matters as much as what you have done. You are visible, calm under pressure and happy to spend time in services. You make decisions within your authority, challenge managers fairly and keep things simple. You know when an issue is yours to fix and when it needs executive, legal or clinical input. If your instinct is to write a strategy document before anything else, this probably is not the role for you.

If you can step in quickly and make a visible difference from week one, we would like to talk to you. To apply, or for a confidential conversation, contact Lisa Easthope at [email protected]