Operating Model Manager - Birmingham Regional Centre - Arena Central

About the job

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As an Operating Model Manager, you will work as an internal consultant helping HMRC's Chief Digital and Information Office (CDIO) strengthen how it delivers value across technology services, digital products, and platforms. You will lead large and complex pieces of work end-to-end: shaping the problem, running rapid diagnostics, designing practical options, aligning stakeholders and getting changes implemented so teams can adopt and sustain them. This is not "advice-only" consulting - you will stay with the work through to outcomes.

CDIO is moving to a Products and Platform-based organisation, with value delivered through Value Streams and a standard process framework. In this role, you will help make this shift real by clarifying accountabilities, improving governance and prioritisation, removing friction in delivery flow and making performance visible.

This role suits someone who enjoys solving ambiguous problems, brings structured thinking, and has a strong bias for delivery. You will use evidence, data and insight to identify what is getting in the way of faster flow and effective delivery, then work with leaders and teams to improve operating model components (such as governance, processes, ways of working, tooling, culture, people and supply chain within CDIO). You will also help make improvements visible by identifying clear measures of progress and value (for example, clearer ownership, reduced cycle time and benefits tracking).

Job description

At this level, you will deliver operating model improvement interventions across CDIO. You will work across operational and strategic priorities across a portfolio of engagements that improve how we define, govern, prioritise and continuously improve services, products and platforms. You will often lead workstreams where delivery is shared, setting direction, assuring quality, and supporting others to deliver work that is evidence-based and ready for senior decision-making.

Your work will typically include:

• Diagnose and frame: run focused diagnostics (for example interviews, data review, and workflow/hand-off analysis) to build a clear "current state" picture, identify root causes, and design a clear "future state" and enabling transition(s) states.
• Design improvements using CDIO's service/product/platform model: develop practical design options that clarify service boundaries, product ownership, platform guardrails.
• Turn decisions into action through governance, operating rhythms, backlogs and simple measures.
• Improve product/service lifecycle flow: make flow visible across the service/product lifecycle, reduce hand-offs and delays and help teams manage dependencies between product, platform and enabling teams (for example architecture, security, commercial and finance).
• Mobilise, implement and embed: plan and deliver adoption activity so changes stick, teams sustain improvement and approaches can be scaled where appropriate.
• Evidence value and progress: define success measures and produce clear, concise reporting that shows whether decisions are progressing to implementation and improving outcomes (for example clearer ownership, reduced cycle time, improved throughput, better decision latency, benefits/value tracking).
• Build "intelligent customer" capability: facilitate workshops, coach leaders and colleagues and strengthen repeatable standards, artefacts and ways of working so teams can sustain continuous improvement beyond your engagement.

Essential Criteria

• Experience working with digital, technology, product or platform teams (or equivalent) to improve ownership, prioritisation, dependency management, and delivery flow.
• Experience using data and insight to define problems, design options and measure whether changes improved outcomes (for example, clearer ownership, reduced handoffs/cycle time, or benefits/value tracking).
• Experienced facilitator, able to handle difficult conversations and influence senior stakeholders with clarity and tact (including appropriate challenge) - while maintaining momentum, taking initiative and seeing work through to completion.
• Evidence of using/applying agile ways of working and continuous improvement methodologies (for example Lean, value stream mapping, flow metrics, OKRs) in the context of operating model transformation.
• Experience of applying operating model improvement approaches using systems thinking and/or behavioural science including evaluating whether interventions delivered intended outcomes.
• Experience working in or with large, complex organisations and cross-functional teams where trade-offs, constraints and competing priorities must be managed to drive change at pace.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience working in a consultancy-style environment (internal consultancy, delivery improvement team or external consulting), balancing multiple stakeholders and priorities.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Benefits

Alongside your salary of 58,541, HM Revenue and Customs contributes 16,959 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs. We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days. Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary. Family friendly policies. Personal support. Coaching and development.