Operations Manager in Birmingham

On behalf of Homes England, we are looking for an Operations Manager (Inside IR35) for a 6-month contract working on a hybrid basis with an expectation of 50% attendance in the Birmingham office. Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency, plays a central role in tackling the housing challenges the country now faces. We have the appetite, influence, expertise, and resource to drive positive market change, and our mission is to ensure more homes are built in areas of greatest need, improve affordability and create a sustainable housing market.

Following the publication of the government's Levelling Up White Paper, Homes England has also been tasked with a core role in spearheading regeneration, partnering with places to reduce economic disparity, empower local leaders and create equal opportunities across the country to ensure communities reach their full potential. The Help to Buy team helps people realise their aspirations for full home ownership; and the stability and benefits this brings. Although the Help to Buy scheme is closed to new customers, we provide an administration service for our customers that supports them manage their loan.

The Manager - Processing Operations reports to the Senior Manager for Processing Operations for the Help to Buy Programme. The role sits within the Customer Excellence team within Home Ownership which is part of the Social Housing, Safety and Ownership Directorate. The Manager is responsible for the management and oversight of post-sale servicing processes and procedures ensuring these are responded to in line with our policy and delegations with a focus on providing a customer centric approach.

The role plays a crucial part in ensuring the loan book is managed effectively and in line with our managing public money obligations, working closely with both internal and external stakeholders. The role requires the ability to manage high volumes and complex matters which are often of critical personal significance to Help to Buy customers ensuring the resources of the team are co-ordinated across the processes, working flexibly to deliver key priorities.

Key relationships

• The role holder will need to create and uphold strong working relationships with the following internal teams and external suppliers/stakeholders;
• Mortgage Administrator - work closely with our Mortgage administrator to ensure efficient processing and provide subject matter expertise
• Supplier Relationship Management - providing feedback regarding and seeking support from our 3rd party mortgage administrator
• Home Ownership Legal - utilisation of legal counsel to provide advice and support
• Customer Relations - supporting complaint cases with investigations and processing urgent requests
• Home Ownership Policy - sharing policy related queries and feedback to ensure responses are in line with policy and to identify potential policy changes
• Home Ownership Governance bodies - working with business control, risk, Anti Economic crime (AEC) teams to manage risks and incidents and highlight scheme abuse/fraud cases

Key skills, knowledge and experience

• Experience in reading valuation reports, working in a contract management environment and coordinating business requirements. A thorough knowledge of equity loans is essential and experience of Help to Buy is desirable.
• Experience of line managing a team including conducting appraisals, setting objectives and performance management.
• Friendly self-starter with a 'can-do' attitude and the ability to work flexibly as part of a dynamic and fast-paced team.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal with the ability to communicate clearly at all levels.
• We work in an agile environment. You must be at ease with rapidly changing deadlines, workloads and goals. Managing time effectively so that deadlines get met, working well under pressure and the ability to multitask.
• Exceptional organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and communicate a range of projects and tasks.
• IT literate with strong competence in Microsoft suite (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), plus experience SharePoint and online collaboration tools.

Main responsibilities

• Managing the redemption-related processes (down valuations and Discharges), ensuring processes are followed and our security is protected and only removed once the loan has been fully and correctly settled.
• Managing the deeds process, liaising with Help to Buy legal team and our Mortgage Administrator to ensure the procedure is followed and documents are signed/sealed correctly.
• Ensuring processes, guidance and business rules are documented and reviewed periodically to ensure they are accurate and up to date.
• Workflow management - ensure queries and work queue items (received via the Mortgage Admin mailbox or System queues) are managed efficiently, prioritising work to ensure items are actioned in line with our internal timescales and processes.
• Identifying and managing escalations and exceptions in line with the agreed processes, ensuring data is captured accurately for audit purposes and to support volume and trend analysis.
• Managing potential breaches of terms and conditions, scheme abuse, fraud etc in line with our agreed policy and processes.
• Managing risk and incidents, working with 1st and 2nd line colleagues to ensure our risks are understood with appropriate controls in place and incidents are raised and managed to continually improve our risk position.
• To build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, communicating effectively and providing subject matter expertise.
• Continuous Improvement - Using expertise to identify opportunities for change to improve operational efficiency and reduce risk, linking in with the continuous improvement and change processes.
• Developing data capture and Management Information to improve assurance, operational management and performance reporting.
• Participating in audits of the Mortgage Administrator. Applying a standardised approach to monitor performance. Identifying issues and bringing to the attention of Senior Manager as required.
• Effectively manage staff following HR processes, ensuring priorities and objectives are clearly set and that staff are effectively performance managed.
• Deputise for the Senior Manager at the monthly internal governance forums, presenting the monthly operational data and insight.
• To provide assistance and support to the Heads of service and other members of the Help to Buy leadership team where required in accordance with business needs.

Essential criteria

• Operational management experience
• Financial services experience
• Experience in mortgages / equity loans / mortgage administration
• Leadership Management experience
• Excellent organisational skills
• Stakeholder engagement skills

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

As a Disability Confident employer, Homes England encourage applications from disabled and neurodivergent candidates. Applications from candidates who identify as having a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be prioritised for review. Where application volumes are high, additional role-specific and desirable criteria may be applied as part of the shortlisting process.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following: this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different.