First Bus
Operations Manager
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We have a fantastic opportunity for an Operations Manager to join our Chelmsford depot on a full time permanent basis.
Reporting to the General Manager, the Operations Manager is accountable for all aspects of operational performance for the depot. As a champion of our customers, the successful candidate will build and maintain a customer centric culture.
You will support your team in delivering excellent customer experiences, while leading a governance agenda that supports legislative and policy compliance. Through your leadership, the Operations Manager will establish and develop an engaged, talented, and high-performing operations team, nurturing an innovative and continuous improvement culture.
Key Responsibilities
- Ensure cost-efficient delivery of a safe, punctual service
- Dynamically analyse and manage information, systems, and data both retrospectively and proactively to ensure continuous improvement of service performance
- Drive engagement with drivers, management team, and customers
- Ensure collaboration between operational and engineering team members, fostering excellent working relationships between drivers and Supervisors to ensure a consistent customer experience
- Manage service delivery team across all assigned depots in accordance with FirstGroup policies, standard operating procedures, and all relevant legislation
- Deliver agreed plans and budgets, including established level of service and service quality
- Ensure staff planning at the depot meets the operating requirements of the business
- Ensure an effective working relationship with recognised trade union representatives and officials
- Manage and plan collision reduction and staff/passenger injury reduction
- Manage and deliver agreed key performance indicators
- To effectively manage the teams in all areas of people management; development, absence management, and compliance
- Ensure positive working relationships are maintained between operations, commercial, and engineering functions
- Liaise with external bodies to improve performance of lost miles and punctuality
- Ensure all cash handling procedures are followed
- Act as the ‘Transport Manager’ for the company as defined by the Traffic Commissioner
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Skills/Experience
- Proven leadership skills are essential to provide strategic and day-to-day direction to your team and be an effective manager of collective relationships in a unionised environment
- Strong influencing and negotiation skills
- Excellent customer service focus
- Team builder and driver of high-performance teams
- Certificate of Professional Competence in Passenger Transport would be desirable
- A willingness to study for CPC is essential
- Passion for safety and driving to deliver a high-performing safety behavioural culture
- Budgetary and financial experience with a capability in logical system analysis to communicate results in formats comprehensible to all disciplines
- Ability in endorsing commitment to set long/short-term objectives
- Mentoring/coaching skills in the progression of the deliverables of the business
- Self-reliant and straightforward communicator with skill sets to promote the customer-facing business in a positive light with the capacity to inspire in a structured and encouraging way
- Aptitude to build and maintain stakeholder relations, indicative of a professional leader
- Capacity to manage and commute between multi-site operations, providing cover when required
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Salary
- £55,000 plus up to 15% annual bonus
- £4,000 Transport Manager supplement
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