Senior Probate Operations Manager in Cheshire, Chester

Contract: Full-time, Permanent

Location: Maidenhead (Hybrid - 3 days on-site, 2 days from home)

Salary: Up to £80,000 per annum depending on experience

About us:

All of us will deal with death at some point in our lives. It's a fundamental part of being human - yet the legal services that should support people at that moment, particularly probate, have changed very little in decades. Too often, families experience unnecessary delay, complexity and confusion at a time when clarity and care matter most.

Dignity Legal Services is being built to change that. We are a new legal services business within the Dignity Group, created to fundamentally improve how probate services are delivered at scale. Dignity is the UK's leading provider of end-of-life services, helping more than 70,000 families arrange a funeral every year. Probate is at the heart of the group's strategy in 2026.

We are building Dignity Legal Services from the ground up, powered by Farewill's market-leading probate technology and expertise. This gives us the rare opportunity to combine the backing, customer reach and stability of a large established group with the pace, ambition and product-led mindset of a start-up.

The impact potential is significant. By rebuilding how probate works, we have the chance to make a meaningful difference to thousands of families every year - delivering a service that is faster, clearer and more human, at scale.

The role:

We're looking for a highly driven, operationally focused leader to take ownership of how our probate service is delivered as we scale rapidly over the next 12-24 months. As Senior Legal Operations Manager, you'll be responsible for designing and running a clear, scalable probate operating model. You'll lead and grow a team of probate case managers, bring consistency and structure to delivery, and work closely with legal, product and technology teams to modernise how probate is delivered - including exploring how automation and AI can reduce time to complete probate.

Probate is a complex and often daunting process for customers. This role plays a critical part in making it simpler, faster and more transparent, while maintaining strong quality and regulatory standards as volumes grow.

Key responsibilities:

• Design and implement a single, scalable operating model for probate delivery.
• Lead, manage and develop a growing team of probate case managers.
• Reduce time to complete probate while maintaining high quality and compliance standards.
• Define, embed and continuously improve clear processes, workflows and service standards.
• Establish QA frameworks and performance metrics across the probate journey.
• Use data to identify bottlenecks and drive operational improvements.
• Work closely with Product and Technology teams to implement tooling, automation and AI-led improvements.
• Recruit, onboard and develop high-performing team members.
• Provide clear operational reporting and recommendations to senior leadership.

What we are looking for:

• Proven experience designing and running operational processes in a regulated or professional services environment.
• Strong people leadership experience, including managing and scaling teams.
• High level of technical and data literacy, with a genuine interest in automation and AI.
• A delivery-focused mindset with a bias towards action and continuous improvement.
• Comfortable challenging existing ways of working and driving change at pace.
• Experience in legal services or probate is beneficial but not essential - mindset and capability matter more than tenure.

What We Offer:

• Annual salary of up to £80,000 depending on experience.
• 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays.
• BUPA Healthcare (Self).
• X2 Life Assurance.
• Pension Scheme.
• Hybrid flexible working (3 days in our Maidenhead office).
• Significant scope for growth and responsibility as the business scales.

What are the next steps? To be considered for this role, please submit your application via the 'apply' button, where a member of our Talent Team will review your application.