Head of Operational Excellence

Salary: £75,000-£80,000 per annum
Location: Remote-first, with travel to the Nottingham office and customer sites as required
Employment Type: Permanent
Security Clearance: Active SC clearance preferred. Candidates without current clearance must be eligible and willing to undergo UK security vetting.

The Opportunity

We are seeking an experienced Head of Operational Excellence to drive continuous improvement, cross-functional integration and AI-enabled business transformation within a specialist technology and security organisation.

This is a strategic leadership role focused on ensuring that business operations are efficient, consistent, secure and continuously improving. You will work closely with the Managing Director, Senior Leadership Team and functional leaders across Sales, Business Development, Engineering, Professional Services, Product, Marketing and Operations.

You will act as the organisation’s operational integrator, bringing together processes, knowledge management, certifications, compliance and ways of working to improve performance and deliver measurable business value.

A key initial priority will be leading AI-enabled transformation across Sales, Commercial and Business Development, helping the organisation use its knowledge, data and expertise more effectively while maintaining the highest standards of security and governance.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement

• Drive effective integration across business functions, identifying and removing duplication, inefficiencies and operational barriers.

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that deliver measurable gains in productivity, quality and consistency.

• Identify and prioritise activities that deliver the greatest value to the organisation and its customers.

• Establish consistent processes, governance and performance measures across functions.

Certifications, Assurance and Compliance

• Oversee the organisation’s certification and accreditation portfolio, including ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22301, TickITplus, CRTF and relevant defence cyber certifications.

• Maintain compliance, audit readiness and continuous improvement across applicable standards and frameworks.

• Work with subject matter experts to maintain high-assurance operational standards aligned with MOD, NCSC, NATO and secure-by-design principles.

• Coordinate internal audit programmes, corrective actions and assurance reporting for the Managing Director and Board.

Knowledge Management

• Own the approach to capturing, maintaining and exploiting organisational knowledge and intellectual assets.

• Develop and maintain effective knowledge resources covering case studies, proposals, bid libraries, propositions, playbooks, competitor intelligence, customer insight and reusable collateral.

• Establish processes to capture learning from projects, presales, Sales, Business Development and Professional Services.

• Ensure information is accessible, secure, version-controlled and actively reused, while protecting intellectual property and sensitive data.

• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, continuous learning and translating expertise into customer and commercial value.

AI-Enabled Business Transformation

Initially focused on Sales, Commercial and Business Development, you will lead the design and implementation of AI-enabled capabilities across:

• Market intelligence, segmentation and research.

• Prospect and customer insight.

• Sales and presales collateral creation.

• Proposal development, quality assurance and governance.

• Internal knowledge discovery and exploitation.

• The responsible use of external knowledge and public large language models (LLMs).

You will define and govern the organisation’s approach to safe and effective AI adoption, establishing an operating model covering governance, training, tooling, security, probity and continuous improvement.

You will also guide internal teams and external technical specialists in implementing appropriate AI capabilities, including small language models (SLMs) and LLMs, ensuring technology augments existing expertise and decision-making.

A core objective will be to demonstrate measurable business benefits from AI adoption while maintaining robust security, data governance and intellectual property protection.

Leadership and Stakeholder Management

• Act as a trusted adviser to the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team.

• Lead cross-functional transformation programmes, influencing stakeholders and ensuring initiatives are delivered and adopted.

• Challenge established practices constructively while maintaining strong working relationships and a collaborative culture.

• Commission and manage external specialists, analysts and consultancies where additional expertise is required.

• Build engagement across all levels of the organisation to ensure improvements are understood, embedded and sustained.

• Represent the organisation at relevant industry forums and events.

Essential Experience and Skills

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Significant operational leadership experience within the technology and/or security sectors.

• A proven track record of leading cross-functional transformation and continuous improvement programmes.

• Experience overseeing certifications, audits, assurance activities and compliance frameworks.

• Experience implementing AI-enabled business processes or leading digital transformation initiatives.

• Strong analytical, communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills.

• The ability to influence senior stakeholders, challenge existing ways of working and drive change across multiple functions.

• A pragmatic, commercially focused approach, with the ability to translate strategic objectives into measurable operational improvements.

Desirable Experience

• Experience supporting MOD, NCSC, NATO or secure government supply chains.

• Knowledge of secure AI adoption, data governance and intellectual property protection.

• Familiarity with operational improvement methodologies such as ITIL, Lean, Six Sigma or Kaizen.

• Experience commissioning and managing external technical or specialist expertise.

• An understanding of AI/ML tooling and LLMs in high-assurance environments.

Personal Attributes

You will be a collaborative and influential leader who can combine strategic thinking with practical delivery. You will be comfortable working across organisational boundaries, building trust with technical and commercial teams, and turning complex challenges into clear, actionable improvements.

You will demonstrate:

• Focus: Prioritising what matters most and delivering high-quality outcomes.

• Adaptability: Embracing change, solving complex challenges and continuously improving.

• Respect: Building trust, valuing different perspectives and creating an inclusive environment.

• Collaboration: Bringing people together to share expertise and achieve common goals.

What’s on Offer?

• Permanent position with a salary of £75,000-£80,000.

• Remote-first working with flexible arrangements.

• A senior leadership role with direct exposure to the Managing Director and wider leadership team.

• The opportunity to lead meaningful operational and AI-enabled transformation.

• Work within a specialist technology and security environment supporting government, defence and critical national infrastructure.

• A collaborative culture focused on technical excellence, innovation and continuous improvement.

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.

If you need any help or adjustments during the recruitment process for any reason, please let us know when you apply or talk to the recruiters directly so we can support you.