The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Early Years Operations Manager
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By grounding strategic decisions in clear evidence, we're all in to help give every young child the best start in life across Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.
Working Style
You’ll be based in the Borough for three days a week, playing a key role in supporting high-quality early years services for children and families across our boroughs. Working collaboratively with colleagues and partners, you’ll lead and support the effective management, monitoring and use of early years data across a range of service functions. Your work will help ensure data is accurate, timely and used effectively to inform decision-making, identify priorities, monitor impact and drive service improvement. You’ll play an important role in strengthening our early years system so that children have the best possible start in life, are ready for school and have the opportunity to achieve positive outcomes.
What you’ll be doing
You will lead on the strategic use of data, intelligence and evidence to drive performance management and continuous improvement across our Bi-Borough Early Education and Childcare Service. At the heart of your role, you will develop and manage a whole-system performance and outcomes framework for children aged 0 to 5, ensuring our planning aligns directly with our Best Start in Life Strategy. You will hold overall responsibility for statutory early years data functions, including childcare sufficiency assessments, funded entitlement monitoring and national data returns.
A typical day will involve balancing strategic analysis, operational problem-solving and partnership working. You will monitor key performance measures, conduct market sustainability analysis, resolve data quality issues and prepare clear dashboards, reports and briefings for senior leaders and governance boards. Working closely with Business Intelligence, ICT, commissioning teams, Family Hubs and local early years providers, you will translate complex datasets into practical insights that identify inequalities, target resources effectively and build data confidence across the service.
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For further details, please review the Job Description and Person Specification.
What you’ll bring
You hold a relevant professional qualification or have equivalent substantial experience in a performance and intelligence function within Children's Services or local government. You bring a solid understanding of the policy and legislative framework surrounding early years, childcare and safeguarding. Your background showcases advanced analytical, statistical and forecasting skills, alongside hands-on experience in managing large datasets, quality assurance, data visualisation and statutory reporting.
You possess strong problem-solving capabilities, exceptional attention to detail and the ability to explain complex statistical information clearly to professional and non-technical audiences alike. Organised and adaptable when managing competing priorities, you build positive, trusting relationships with internal colleagues and external partners. Crucially, you bring a constructive approach to challenging existing data gathering when it does not add clear value, always demonstrating our core values of Putting Communities First, Respect, Integrity and Working Together.
Why join us
At RBKC, we’re all in – investing in our people, our communities and our future.
You will join a collaborative and ambitious team where your analytical expertise directly influences decisions that support babies, young children and families across two London boroughs. We offer a competitive Grade G salary, ongoing professional development and a supportive environment where innovative ideas are welcomed. You will also benefit from flexible working options and comprehensive wellbeing support within an organisation that actively promotes equality, inclusion and career growth.
About us
Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough.
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As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all.
In this role, getting stuck in is the mindset for getting things done, whether you are analysing childcare sufficiency trends in the office, collaborating with Family Hubs or working alongside local early years providers. Navigating statutory data requirements, complex datasets and service demands across two boroughs is not always smooth sailing, but every ounce of effort pays off. When you commit fully, analytical challenges become opportunities for growth that directly inform our Best Start in Life Strategy and target support where it will have the greatest impact for children and families.
Interview Details
In-person interviews on Wednesday 14th October 2026
An Enhanced DBS is required for the role
Ready to join us?
We’re all in – are you? If you share our values and have the skills to contribute, we’d love to hear from you.
Please apply online explaining how you meet the requirements set out in the person specification and job description.
We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.
We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.
We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.
We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices.
New hires will normally start at the minimum of the pay scale. However, a higher starting salary may be negotiated where a candidate demonstrates exceptional skills, knowledge, or experience.
Employees receive annual salary increments until they reach the top of the pay scale, as well as any agreed cost of living pay awards.
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