Operational Lead

Our growing Technology team plays a key role in ensuring OS is at the cutting edge of geospatial capability and is looking for people to join them. Its mission is to work across the business to provide customer centric design and technology services.

Join us and you'll have an opportunity to make an impact. To empower projects that deliver real-world benefits across Britain and internationally. To hear our customers say they couldn't have done it without us. And to be central to OS's vision: to be recognised as world leaders in geospatial services; creating location insight for positive impact.

About the role

Are you a strategic and process-driven leader with a passion for ensuring smooth software delivery, both for new features and ongoing maintenance Business as Usual (BAU)? We're seeking an experienced Operational Lead to guide our software delivery teams and streamline operational excellence across the entire software lifecycle. If you thrive in fast-paced environments, enjoy transforming chaos into efficiency, and possess a strong understanding of both BAU and new development, this is the role for you!

You will take ownership of a number of existing services and systems. You will be responsible for ensuring that product delivery dates and operational level agreements are met for several regular product refreshes. Clear and timely communications of progress and effective stakeholder management is essential.

You will take responsibility for managing incidents, changes and running costs, to ensure that systems experience minimal downtime and that maximum efficiencies are achieved. Where appropriate, you will escalate significant risks or issues to the Capability Delivery Manager.

With people leadership experience, you will lead a specialist team to deliver system maintenance requirements against your prioritised roadmap in line with business needs. Working together with the Capability Delivery Manager, you will establish and agree your team's needs for skills and resource. You will engage and influence stakeholders to establish maintenance priorities using your communication and influencing skills. An organised and proactive approach with a 'can do' attitude is essential for success.

What You'll Do

• Collaborate with development and product teams: Bridge the gap to maximise efficiency and timely delivery for BAU, Security and new initiatives.

• Drive continuous improvement: Identify and implement best practices across the entire software delivery lifecycle (SDLC), encompassing both BAU and new processes.

• Own and manage operational processes and procedures: Design, document, and refine workflows to eliminate bottlenecks and ensure smooth execution of both BAU and new activities.

• Manage resource allocation: Anticipate team needs and ensure effective staffing for both BAU and new work.

• Track KPIs and metrics: Report comprehensive insights on BAU and new activities to inform decision-making.

• Champion incident management: Facilitate swift resolution of issues for both BAU and new deployments, fostering a culture of proactive problem-solving (for example ITILV4)

• Manage conformance of operational services to security standards

• Lead cost optimisation of existing systems, including Azure Hosting and on premises solutions

• Create plans and support/maintenance roadmaps for services/systems

• Have responsibility for the management and people leadership of the team, including coaching and development of team skills to meet business needs.

What You'll Bring

• Proven experience as an Operational Lead, Delivery Manager, or equivalent role in a software development setting, with a strong understanding of both BAU and new delivery methodologies.

• Understanding of agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, etc.) and their application in both BAU and new contexts.

• Strong grasp of CI/CD principles and automation tools relevant to both BAU and new scenarios.

• Ability to analyse complex datasets related to BAU and new operations and turn them into actionable insights.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, able to effectively manage diverse stakeholders involved in both BAU and new initiatives.

• A "can-do" attitude and a focus on collaborative solutions.

• Understanding of 'Secure From The Start' software development practices

• Experience in security compliance for operational systems

Desirable Skills

• Experience with cloud-based platforms (Azure).

• Any ITIL-related or project management certifications would be a plus.

• Familiarity with Snyk & Tenable technologies

• Understanding of Geospatial Data

We'll give you

• Salary - £ 39,925 -

• Performance related bonus

• A competitive pension scheme

• We adopt flexible working and can consider different working hours dependent on the role and your personal circumstances

• 25 days annual leave - (rising by 1 day each year to 30 days after five years) bank holidays and an extra 3 days over Christmas

• Plus, a suite of excellent additional benefits

Location: We embrace a hybrid working model at OS and understand there is no one size fits all in relation to how we work. We have a fantastic HQ in Southampton, Hampshire where you can choose whether you work from home, one of our regional offices or spend more time at OSHQ.

Security

OS conducts DBS background checks for all joiners and some of our roles require additional security clearance, including to SC or DV level in some cases. We will tell candidates at the appropriate time during the recruitment process if additional clearance will be required for this role.

Closing date: Sunday, 24 March 2024

We believe diversity and inclusion is about working together - in an encouraging and respectful environment to reach our full potential.

We believe combining different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives will help us reach our vision and be trusted and admired across the globe for setting the standards and leading the way.

We are looking for passionate people from a range of backgrounds and welcome applications from any race, age, gender, background or religion.