Head of Monitoring Services in North East

ABOUT ARGENBRIGHT SECURITY EUROPE LIMITED

Argenbright Security Europe Limited (ASEL) is a leading managed security services provider operating across the United Kingdom. We deliver high-quality, technology-enabled security solutions to a diverse portfolio of clients spanning retail, commercial, industrial, and public sector environments. Our services encompass manned guarding, mobile patrol, CCTV and surveillance, access control, and integrated security management.

As a business committed to operational excellence and client satisfaction, we are investing in the continued development of our internal infrastructure, including the professional leadership of our warehousing and logistics function to support our national operations.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Head of Monitoring Services is responsible for the leadership, management and operational oversight of the organisation's Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) and associated monitoring services.

Reporting to the Business Services Director, the post holder will ensure the effective implementation and day-to-day management of the governance framework established for the ARC, supporting the Business Services Director in maintaining overall governance and executive oversight of the monitoring function.

The role will provide strategic and operational leadership of Monitoring Services, ensuring that the ARC consistently operates in accordance with NSI Gold requirements, applicable British and European Standards, company policies, customer requirements and recognised industry best practice.

The Head of Monitoring Services will have responsibility for operational performance, people leadership, service quality, compliance assurance, audit readiness, resilience, risk management and continuous improvement, escalating material risks, compliance concerns and significant operational matters to the Business Services Director.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. ARC Compliance and Governance Support

• Lead the day-to-day implementation and management of the ARC governance framework under the oversight of the Business Services Director.
• Support the Business Services Director in maintaining effective governance and assurance arrangements across Monitoring Services.
• Maintain operational compliance with the requirements applicable to the organisation's NSI Gold approval.
• Ensure appropriate policies, procedures, work instructions and operational protocols are implemented, maintained, reviewed and consistently followed.
• Provide the Business Services Director with appropriate assurance reporting covering compliance, performance, risk, incidents and emerging issues.
• Coordinate operational preparation for NSI and other relevant external audits and assessments.
• Ensure audit findings, observations and corrective actions are appropriately investigated, managed and progressed to closure.
• Maintain appropriate operational evidence and records demonstrating compliance.
• Work closely with the Business Services Director, Compliance and other relevant functions to maintain alignment with the organisation's wider governance and Quality Management System.
• Escalate significant compliance failures, emerging risks or matters that could affect NSI approval to the Business Services Director promptly.
• Monitor changes to relevant standards, industry requirements and guidance and advise the Business Services Director of their potential operational impact.

2. Operational Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and direction for the 24/7 monitoring operation.
• Ensure sufficient management, supervisory and operator coverage is maintained across all shifts.
• Establish clear operational standards and expectations across the ARC.
• Ensure alarm, CCTV and other monitored events are handled accurately, consistently and within required response parameters.
• Ensure appropriate escalation arrangements exist for critical incidents, system failures and customer-impacting events.
• Maintain effective management oversight across days, nights, weekends and public holidays.
• Conduct regular reviews of operational performance, incidents and service quality.
• Ensure appropriate handover arrangements exist between shifts and management teams.
• Provide senior escalation support for significant operational incidents where required.

3. People Leadership and Management

• Lead, manage, coach and develop the Monitoring Services management and operational teams.
• Establish a clear management structure with defined responsibilities and accountability.
• Ensure managers and supervisors conduct effective one-to-ones, performance reviews and team briefings.
• Set clear individual and team objectives linked to operational and organisational priorities.
• Monitor attendance, conduct, capability and performance and address concerns promptly and consistently.
• Develop succession plans for key operational and management roles.
• Identify skills gaps and establish appropriate development plans.
• Promote a culture of professionalism, accountability, customer focus and continuous improvement.
• Ensure colleagues feel able to raise operational, compliance or safety concerns without unnecessary barriers.
• Recognise strong performance while constructively addressing poor performance.
• Work with HR on recruitment, employee relations, workforce planning and organisational development.

4. Training and Competence

• Ensure all monitoring personnel are appropriately trained and competent before undertaking unsupervised duties.
• Establish and maintain a documented competency framework for ARC personnel.
• Ensure induction, refresher and role-specific training is completed and appropriately recorded.
• Maintain training matrices and competency records.
• Ensure training reflects changes to systems, customer requirements, procedures and regulatory standards.
• Conduct or commission competency assessments where required.
• Ensure lessons identified through incidents, complaints and operational reviews are incorporated into training.

5. Service Performance and KPIs

• Develop, maintain and report meaningful operational performance indicators covering alarm and CCTV handling, operator errors, procedural non-conformances, incident escalation, customer complaints, service availability, system downtime, staffing, absence, turnover, training compliance, audit actions and customer service performance.
• Analyse trends rather than relying solely on headline results and implement corrective or improvement plans where performance falls below expectation.
• Provide regular performance reporting to the Business Services Director and other senior stakeholders.

6. Incident Management

• Maintain effective arrangements for identifying, escalating and managing significant operational incidents.
• Ensure serious incidents are immediately escalated through the appropriate management structure.
• Lead or oversee investigations into significant monitoring failures, missed alarms, incorrect escalation, customer-impacting incidents and procedural breaches.
• Ensure investigations identify root causes rather than simply individual errors.
• Establish corrective and preventative actions and monitor these through to completion.
• Ensure appropriate customer communication and internal reporting following significant incidents.
• Ensure lessons learned are communicated throughout the monitoring operation.

7. Business Continuity and Resilience

• Maintain effective business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements for Monitoring Services.
• Ensure the ARC remains capable of delivering critical services during foreseeable operational disruption.
• Maintain and regularly test contingency arrangements.
• Ensure appropriate resilience exists for critical systems, communications, utilities and operational resources.
• Conduct planned business continuity and disaster recovery exercises.
• Document outcomes and ensure identified improvements are completed.
• Ensure managers and operators understand their responsibilities during contingency situations.

8. Systems and Technology

• Maintain appropriate management oversight of all technology supporting monitoring operations.
• Work closely with IT, suppliers and technical teams to maintain reliable monitoring infrastructure.
• Ensure system changes are appropriately assessed, tested and controlled before implementation.
• Monitor system availability and recurring faults.
• Support the introduction of technology that improves service quality, resilience and operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to use automation, analytics and artificial intelligence appropriately within monitoring operations while maintaining suitable human oversight and governance.
• Ensure technology-related risks are appropriately recorded and managed.

9. Customer and Stakeholder Management

• Maintain strong working relationships with internal stakeholders and monitoring customers.
• Support customer meetings and service reviews where senior monitoring representation is required.
• Ensure customer concerns relating to monitoring services are investigated promptly and professionally.
• Work collaboratively with Operations, Commercial, Compliance, IT, HR and other business functions.
• Support mobilisation and onboarding of new monitoring customers and services.
• Ensure operational capability and capacity are properly assessed before new services are introduced.
• Provide subject‑matter expertise during tenders, customer presentations and business development activity where required.

10. Risk Management

• Maintain an effective operational risk‑management framework for Monitoring Services.
• Identify emerging risks and ensure appropriate controls are implemented.
• Escalate significant risks to the Business Services Director and wider senior management team.
• Maintain appropriate risk registers and action plans.
• Ensure changes to operating models, systems, customers or staffing arrangements are properly risk assessed before implementation.

11. Continuous Improvement

• Develop a culture in which operational processes are routinely challenged and improved.
• Use performance data, incident trends, customer feedback and employee feedback to identify improvement opportunities.
• Benchmark performance and working practices against appropriate industry standards.
• Lead improvement projects within Monitoring Services.
• Simplify and standardise operating procedures wherever appropriate.
• Identify opportunities to improve productivity without compromising safety, security, compliance or service quality.

12. Financial and Resource Management

• Support preparation and management of the Monitoring Services budget.
• Ensure staffing and overtime are effectively controlled while maintaining operational resilience.
• Review supplier and technology expenditure relevant to the ARC.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and value for money.
• Contribute to business cases for investment in monitoring technology, infrastructure and people.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

• Significant management experience within an Alarm Receiving Centre, Remote Video Response Centre, Security Operations Centre or comparable 24/7 critical monitoring environment.
• Demonstrable experience of managing monitoring operations within a regulated or independently audited environment.
• Strong knowledge and practical experience of NSI requirements applicable to Alarm Receiving Centres.
• Experience of preparing for and participating in external audits.
• Experience managing managers, supervisors and operational employees.
• Experience managing 24/7 shift-based operations.
• Demonstrable experience investigating operational incidents and implementing corrective actions.
• Experience developing and monitoring operational KPIs.
• Experience managing customer-impacting incidents and service issues.
• Experience developing operational procedures and implementing effective governance controls.
• Experience of business continuity, disaster recovery and operational resilience.

Essential Knowledge and Skills

• Strong understanding of ARC operations, compliance and assurance.
• Working knowledge of applicable ARC standards, including BS 5979 and/or BS EN 50518 as relevant to the organisation's certification scope.
• Understanding of ISO 9001 quality-management principles.
• Strong knowledge of alarm and CCTV monitoring processes.
• Excellent people-management and leadership skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and root-cause investigation capability.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate with frontline employees, customers, auditors and senior executives.
• Ability to interpret operational data and translate findings into practical actions.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Ability to remain calm and make sound decisions during significant operational incidents.
• High level of personal integrity and discretion when handling sensitive security information.

Desirable

• Previous responsibility within an NSI Gold approved ARC.
• Experience acting as a key management contact during NSI audits.
• Experience managing remote CCTV monitoring operations.
• Experience of Immix or comparable monitoring platforms.
• Experience implementing AI-supported video analytics or alarm-filtering technology.
• Experience managing significant operational transformation or technology change.
• Experience managing large numbers of monitored customer connections.
• Relevant management or leadership qualification.
• IOSH Managing Safely or equivalent.
• Quality-management, internal-auditor, business-continuity, risk-management or relevant security-industry qualification.
• Evidence of continuing professional development within security monitoring, leadership or operational management.

Mission, core values & competencies:

Embracing the company’s core values and principles in order to achieve the overall mission of the organisation. Take personal responsibility for own career development by continually assessing and adjusting personal performance and behaviour against the objectives agreed in your ASEL Integrated Security Solutions Colleague Development Plan

Equality & Diversity

Argenbright Security Europe Limited is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that reflects the diverse communities we serve.

ASEL values the diverse skills and experience of its employees and is committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all. Our objectives are that all individuals shall have equal opportunities for employment and advancement on the basis of their skills, aptitudes, and abilities.

ASEL is committed to the engagement and retention of the best possible talent and to creating an environment that encourages excellence through inclusion, equality, diversity, leadership, and management.

Benefits:

• Access XD recognition - rewards and discount platform
• Apprenticeship
• Employee of the month scheme
• 110% Club of outstanding performers who can receive large prizes and monetary rewards
• Stream - a flexible wage application whereby you can pull your wages out sooner than payday
• EAP - Employee Assistance Programme
• Progression opportunities within the company
• Ongoing training

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