Operations Lead

The Company

Smurfit Westrock is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging solutions, bringing together innovation, expertise and scale to help customers solve complex packaging challenges. With more than 96,000 colleagues, over 500 packaging and other facilities, 57 mills and operations across 40 countries, we combine global capabilities with local knowledge to create solutions that contribute to a more sustainable future.

Smurfit Westrock is a global leader in sustainable paper and packaging solutions, bringing together innovation, expertise and scale to help customers solve complex packaging challenges. With more than 96,000 colleagues, over 500 packaging and other facilities, 57 mills and operations across 40 countries, we combine global capabilities with local knowledge to create solutions that contribute to a more sustainable future.

The circular economy is at the heart of our business. We use renewable, recyclable and recycled materials to design and manufacture packaging that protects products, supports our customers’ sustainability ambitions and creates value throughout the supply chain.

The team

You will join our Security Operations organisation, working closely with Cyber leadership and colleagues across the wider Cybersecurity function.

The team helps Cyber achieve its strategic and operational objectives by providing visibility of risks, issues and dependencies, improving how resources and investments are managed, and ensuring that priorities are translated into measurable plans and outcomes. Its work supports effective decision-making, operational resilience and the successful delivery of security initiatives across the organisation.

This is a highly collaborative environment. You will connect Cyber teams, project managers, vendors, business partners and senior leaders, helping everyone remain aligned on priorities, responsibilities, resources and delivery expectations.

Role Summary

This is a senior and influential role with responsibility for project portfolio delivery, strategic planning, financial oversight, resource coordination, vendor management and stakeholder engagement.

The role is important because it provides the operational structure and visibility needed to deliver Cybersecurity priorities successfully. You will help the team establish clear objectives and key results, understand its capacity, manage risks and dependencies, and deliver projects effectively and within budget.

You will be doing

• Partnering with Cybersecurity leaders to develop and maintain strategic plans, roadmaps and objectives and key results, ensuring that team priorities align with wider organisational goals.
• Managing the delivery of projects across the portfolio, including plans, budgets, risks, dependencies, governance, documentation and performance measures.
• Establishing clear and effective ways of working that support collaboration, accountability and consistent delivery.
• Providing visibility of workforce capacity and resource allocation across a portfolio of up to 50 resources, including identifying future resource requirements and supporting onboarding and transition planning.
• Managing team budgets of up to $10 million and associated project budgets of up to $50 million, including forecasting, variance management and analysis of actual expenditure.
• Producing clear updates on project progress, strategic objectives, key performance indicators, risks and achievements for Cybersecurity leaders and senior stakeholders.
• Building effective relationships with internal teams and impacted business partners, ensuring that dependencies are understood and completed at the right time.
• Supporting vendor selection and management, including requests for proposals, contract discussions, quarterly business reviews, performance reporting and vendor audits.
• Ensuring that suppliers and partners meet agreed commitments, deliverables, timelines and contractual requirements.
• Identifying risks, issues and delivery barriers, coordinating the appropriate response and escalating matters when required.
• Capturing lessons learned and using performance insights to improve project delivery, operational processes and portfolio governance.
• Partnering with team leadership to support an inclusive, collaborative culture where people are informed, connected and able to contribute effectively.

The impact you will make

You will create greater clarity, control and alignment across the Security Operations portfolio. By connecting strategy, people, budgets, suppliers and delivery plans, you will help Cybersecurity teams focus their efforts on the work that matters most.

Your contribution will help the organisation to:

• Deliver complex projects on time and within agreed budgets.
• Align team objectives and key results with broader organisational priorities.
• Improve visibility of progress, performance, risks and dependencies.
• Make informed decisions about resources, investments and competing priorities.
• Strengthen vendor performance and commercial accountability.
• Introduce new tools and processes that improve operational effectiveness.
• Build consistent, scalable ways of working across a global Cybersecurity environment.

Success in the role will mean that leaders have the information they need to make effective decisions, teams understand their priorities, resources are used responsibly and strategic Cybersecurity initiatives move from planning into successful execution.

Essential Qualifications, Skills And Experience

To succeed in this role, you will need:

• Significant experience managing complex technology projects or project portfolios, ideally gained over approximately 10 years or through an equivalent depth of relevant experience.
• Extensive experience working directly with IT, Cybersecurity or other technically complex teams.
• Strong financial management experience, including responsibility for substantial project budgets, forecasting, variance management and financial reporting.
• Demonstrable experience managing suppliers, contracts and vendor performance.
• Experience supporting strategic planning and developing, managing or reporting against objectives and key results.
• The ability to coordinate multiple projects, priorities, stakeholders, risks and dependencies within a complex organisation.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including the confidence to provide clear and concise updates to senior leaders.
• Experience of resource and capacity planning across programmes, portfolios or multidisciplinary teams.
• A bachelor’s degree in an IT, manufacturing or related discipline, or substantial equivalent professional experience. The job description identifies 15 years of related experience as an alternative to the degree requirement.
• A practical, collaborative and improvement-focused approach, with the ability to bring structure and clarity to complex situations.

Location and hybrid working

This role is based in the UK. We support flexible and hybrid working, with regular attendance at the relevant office to build relationships, collaborate with colleagues and remain connected to the wider team and business.

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