Head of Operations | London | Odgers Executive Search

The Head of Operations is accountable for effective, compliant, and continuously improving business processes through leadership of the Operations team in a complex and fast-paced professional services environment. The role ensures operational excellence by embedding robust business processes, driving change adoption, strengthening business engagement, establishing meaningful metrics and KPIs, building organisational capability through training and digital literacy, and ensuring regulatory and compliance obligations are met. The role acts as a strategic partner to a broad set of senior leaders and stakeholders, translating organisational strategy into executable operational outcomes while maintaining stability, governance, and resilience across the business. The Operations team will continually assess, refine, measure and improve business processes, become an integral part of practice teams and work collaboratively with International and other business division operations leads, driving consistent business outcomes, managing and planning change, training, adoption and benefit realisation.

Responsibilities

• Leadership, performance, and capability of the Business Operations Manager team.
• Operational delivery, stability, and continuous improvement across the business.
• Oversight of change initiatives impacting business operations.
• Establishment and maintenance of operational metrics and KPI frameworks.
• Business engagement, prioritisation, and demand management.
• Training strategies, onboarding, and digital literacy uplift.
• Regulatory compliance, operational risk management, and audit readiness.
• Escalation and resolution of significant operational issues and risks.

About you Competencies

• Leadership & Strategy: Provides clear direction, prioritisation, and purpose to operational teams. Aligns operational execution with organisational strategy and objectives. Coaches and develops leaders within the Operations team. Navigates ambiguity and complexity with clarity and pragmatism.
• Change & Transformation: Leads operational change, ensuring readiness, adoption, and sustained outcomes. Balances transformation delivery with business-as-usual stability. Proactive and positive.
• Operational Excellence: Designs and embeds scalable, efficient, and controlled business processes. Uses data and insight to drive performance improvement.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Builds strong relationships with senior leaders, partners, and regulators. Acts as a trusted advisor on operational risk, performance, and change impact. Able to manage a broad and diverse set of senior stakeholders.

Candidates should bring

• Knowledge of Operating model design and business operations management.
• Change management frameworks and adoption techniques.
• Business process management and continuous improvement methodologies (e.g. Lean, Six Sigma).
• Performance management, metrics, and KPI frameworks.
• Regulatory, risk, and compliance principles relevant to our sector.
• Learning, capability development, and digital literacy practices.
• Governance, assurance, and audit requirements.
• Digital and data concepts, sufficient to lead technology-enabled change.

Skills

• Ability to deal effectively with ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty.
• Strategic planning and operational execution.
• Leading and developing multi-disciplinary operational teams.
• Change impact assessment and benefits realisation.
• Process design, documentation, and optimisation.
• Defining, analysing, and interpreting KPIs and performance data.
• Stakeholder management and executive communication.
• Risk identification, mitigation, and compliance oversight.
• Designing and sponsoring training and capability uplift initiatives.
• Influencing without authority and managing competing priorities.

Behaviours

• Demonstrates accountability and ownership for outcomes.
• Operates with integrity and a strong mindset.
• Is outcome-focused, pragmatic, and data-driven.
• Communicates clearly, confidently, and transparently.
• Encourages collaboration and constructive challenge.
• Shows resilience and calm under pressure.
• Actively promotes learning, inclusion, and digital confidence.
• Seeks continuous improvement rather than accepting the status quo.
• Manages ambiguity and complexity and provides team clarity.
• Able to quickly make decisions, gain consensus and influence without authority.

About us

Odgers is one of the world’s leading Global Executive Search firms. Our reputation for excellence and integrity has been established over 60 years and we are a partnership-driven by the client, candidate, and employee experience. We function as trusted advisors to our clients and candidates and engage with a diverse range of leaders for the most influential roles across a wide variety of industries. The service we deliver is creative, insightful, and most importantly, in partnership; we pride ourselves on maintaining personal relationships. At Odgers, we are proud of our progressive, diverse, meritocratic, and collaborative culture where you will find support, training and career development working with colleagues striving for excellence in all they do. We are UK headquartered with colleagues across 58 Offices in 32 countries specialising in over 50 sectors and functions.

Hybrid Working

Our Hybrid working policy is based on the principles of empowerment, mutual trust and flexibility, recognising that we work best when we make choices about when, where and how we work. At the same time, we are reminded that time together is so important. We are a client-service business in which our relationships and our culture provide a significant advantage. Our offices remain critical to how we work; they are a place for collaboration, learning, and support and an anchor for the culture of which we are so proud. We operate a hybrid working model which would typically see you spending a minimum of 3 days working from the office and the rest remotely. Your work pattern will be reliant on business demands, and we would expect you to manage your time accordingly.

At Odgers, we are committed to fostering a work environment that is safe and respectful of all individuals. We have and will always stand with and support the inclusion and equity of our colleagues, candidates and clients and are committed to improving diversity in all its forms within Odgers. Unlimited embodies this philosophy and our commitment to inclusion. We have several initiatives that ensure equity is practised at all levels of our organisation, including our Allies programme, an equitable recruitment process designed to ensure opportunity, our Next Generation council and a meritocratic promotion process.

Sustainability

Modern businesses have a duty to be environmentally responsible and operate sustainably. We believe this represents not only sound commercial sense but also recognises our ethical responsibility to minimise the impact of our activities on the environment and to leave a positive legacy for future generations. We have committed to, and set, science-based decarbonisation targets, and have received verification of these goals from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). These targets will hold us accountable to our sustainability strategy while enabling us to measure our progress. This is complemented by us continuing to provide sustainability insight to our clients and cultivating a track record within sustainable businesses and in placing sustainability leaders.

Corporate Social Responsibility

We take Charity seriously – but like to have fun too. Our CSR team are always thinking up new events and activities to get involved in and raise funds for our chosen charity British Heart Foundation. We also have a variety of social clubs and learning opportunities to suit everyone such as the Brunch and Learn Session, Odgers choir, the book club or one of the many sports clubs.

What’s on offer?

A competitive base salary, supplemented by our benefits package and discretionary bonus:

• 25 days Annual leave + 3 gift days for the Christmas closure + bank holidays
• Private Medical Insurance with Bupa and cash plan with Simply Health
• Group Company Pension
• Season Ticket Loan & Cycle to work scheme
• Give As You Earn
• Group Income Protection
• Group Life Assurance
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Charity Day
• Wellbeing Programmes, support and speakers
• On-boarding, induction training and ongoing professional development
• Corporate member discounts and benefits available through Bupa and Simply Health including Gyms Discounts

Applications

We are committed to ensuring everyone can access our website and application processes. This includes people with sight loss, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments. Should you require access to these documents in alternative formats, need to apply in a different format or need any reasonable adjustments made for any interview please contact our Talent Team.

If you have any comments and/or suggestions about improving access to our application processes, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Eligibility

You must be eligible to live and work in the UK.