Job Title: Head of Operations
Salary: The starting salary is £80,260, which includes allowances totalling £2,928. This salary is negotiable upon selection
The salary is broken down as £77,332 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £89,320. Plus, a location allowance of £1,928 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.
Location: Kilburn
Background to the Role:
Met Business Services (MBS) is a new way for the Met to deliver enabling services to all of our officers and staff. MBS is a front-line focused services organisation that sets our people up to succeed, reduces admin, delivers modern user centric end to end solutions and provides a single source of truth for all HR, Finance and Commercial data, providing a critical cornerstone to fix our foundations.
MBS will help every person and supplier working with the Met by:
- Building a modern and efficient industry-standard business services directorate, building and pooling key specialist capabilities, strengthening HR, Finance and Commercial functions whilst removing functional silos;
- Designing end-to-end services, building them the needs of the users rather than in functional process silos and seamlessly integrating them regardless of how they are delivered; and
- Providing easy-to-use interfaces and ‘one-touch’ services for end-users that leverage the potential of contemporary technologies like automation and low-code workflows.
This is an exciting time to be part of MBS – we are building new capabilities and new ways of working that will directly help the frontline to focus on what matters and make a real difference to London. The Met as a whole is transforming to deliver on our goals of More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards, and being part of establishing this new organisation puts you at the heart of that journey with tremendous potential for growth both within the team and across the Met. The value and purpose of MBS is wired into the heart of the Met, with opportunities to collaborate across the organisation, drive innovation to get the right outcomes and support our people in policing London.
Role Description:
The Met Leadership have approved the design and implementation of a centralised service delivery model (Met Business Services – MBS), to replace functional services with business services, breaking down silos and building end-to-end services around user requirements. The initial scope of the MBS model will be MPS Commercial, Finance and HR scope of services functions with the flexibility and scalability of bringing additional new services into it.
A key enabler of the MBS led transformation is the implementation of a new “Operations” Capability within Met Business Services. The MBS Head of Operations will be responsible for overseeing the delivery and optimisation of technical support and service operations. This includes ensuring operational excellence, maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction, and driving continuous improvement within the team. The role requires a strategic leader with strong technical expertise, operational management skills, and a customer-focused mindset.
They will have oversight and management of the people, processes and 3rd party suppliers required for all aspects of MBS from a day-to-day perspective, initially covering HR, Finance and Commercial products and services, with the view to support other services in the future as they on board into MBS.
The MBS Head of Operations will oversee daily operations, implement processes, tools and technologies and ensure compliance with industry standards. They will report directly into the Assistant Director of Solutions who will have senior strategic oversight and accountability for all aspects of services, operations and technology across MBS; control and responsibility will remain with the MBS Head of Operations. They are responsible for promoting process excellence and encouraging cross-functional and cross-process collaboration.
Key Responsibilities:
What does the average day look like? Your core duties will include (but are not limited to):
Strategic vision and support – Met Business Scope of Services
Develop and implement a strategic vision for the technical service and operations team in alignment with the new Met for London priorities:
- Understands the MPS priorities through extensive collaboration.
- Provides support regarding monitoring and improving Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), evaluating service performance and operational efficiency.
- Plans and manages team resources to meet current and future operational demands.
- Analyses customer feedback to understand the pain points and frustrations to drive out improved solutions that gain the right outcomes.
- Leads, motivates and mentors the technical leads within Service and Operations, ensuring that regular 121’s are efficient and effective.
- Acts as a key point of escalation for complex technical issues or disputes.
- Fosters a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability.
- Drives continuous improvement in technical solutions that supports New Met for London priorities.
- Oversees daily operations to ensure service levels are met or exceeded.
- Supports the Portfolio, Service and Release Management Leads regarding implementation of processes, tools, and technologies to optimise service delivery.
- Ensures compliance with industry standards, regulations, and company policies.
- Maintains a technology landscape that provides the right, customer-centric services and products to meet the needs of the MPS, aligning to the New Met for London strategies.
Provide Operational Excellence
Develop, implement and cultivate IT frameworks, policies and procedures for efficient operations:
- Identifies and adopts industry best practices and technology.
- Drives operational performance, including cost control, resource optimisation and productivity improvements.
- Ensures business continuity through risk management and contingency planning.
- Oversees the delivery of services to ensure they meet established standards and KPIs.
- Monitors customer feedback and resolves service issues promptly to maintain high satisfaction levels.
- Innovates and optimises service delivery processes to enhance quality and reduce costs.
- Improves current and future service-level agreements (SLAs), always ensuring compliance.
- Builds and maintains strong relationships with colleagues and suppliers to support the multi-partnership approach to identifying and delivering innovative solutions
- Supports the test lead with planning and provisioning to ensure that environments are ‘fit for purpose’ as per IT framework expectations.
- Oversees daily operations to ensure service levels are met or exceeded.
- Maintains high levels of customer satisfaction and drives continuous improvements via the grass roots of the team.
Leadership of the Service & Operations Teams
Lead and motivate the service and operations team to drive a culture of continuous improvement that delivers service excellence and value for money;
- Creates an environment where trust and open communication is encouraged, giving everyone a voice to be creative and work as a single cohesive team.
- Provides guidance, support and mentoring to their teams; including career development and ensuring professional accreditation for key positions.
- Fosters a culture of high-performance, innovation and continuous service improvement embracing MBS, MPS and Met values,
- Drives initiatives that improve service delivery, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
- Collaborates with the senior leadership team to define service and operational priorities.
- Leads, mentors, and manages the team leads to foster a culture of excellence and accountability.
- Demonstrates a flexible and adaptable approach to managing change and ambiguity, ensuring this culture is driven throughout their teams.
- Sets team goals and monitors performance through structured feedback and appraisals.
- Ensures that the team are set up for success by implementing best practices, continuously improving the current landscape and future proofing changes where applicable.
- Ability to present complex technical concepts in a clear, customer-friendly manner.
Supplier Management
Oversee the management of partners, both internal and external, supporting the delivery of operational and service excellence.
- Agree clear ways of working and set out expectations with all suppliers from the outset.
- Build strong relationships with suppliers to support the multi-partnership approach to managing our technical products and services that we provide our users.
- Promptly address risks/issues affecting successful and commercial binding outcomes.
- Ensure supplier deliverables are executed on time and to the right quality, and address failures proactively using the appropriate channels.
- Drive customer satisfaction with suppliers by ensuring timely and effective resolution of any issues that may arise.
- Gather customer feedback and translate insights into actionable improvements.
- Drives test environment uptime and availability with suppliers by reducing average resolution time for environment related issues.
Additional Information:
You may in addition be required from time to time to undertake additional duties necessary to meet the needs of the Met; such duties to be commensurate with the responsibilities and grading of the post.
The requirement for this role will be to have 3 days in the office per week.
Please note that if selected you will be expected to remain in this role for two years before applying for any other internal roles.
How to apply
To begin your career at the Met, please click the "apply button “. The application process requires a comprehensive CV, a Personal Statement, and an online application form. In your Personal Statement, you should explain your interest in the position and illustrate how your skills and experiences make you a suitable candidate. Please note that you should not submit two copies of your CV, and ensure that your documents are saved in either PDF or Word format, clearly labelled as CV and/or Personal Statement.
Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 5th December 2025.
Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager.
Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview. Interview dates will commence a week to 10 days after hiring manager review.
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