UK Health Security Agency
Senior Business Operations Manager
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Senior Business Operations Lead – Labouratory Resource Management
Location: Hybrid (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London – Canary Wharf), with minimum 60% UKHSA core HQ presence (approx. 3 days per week)
Job Summary
Anyone Matters – the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is committed to equality of opportunity, actively encouraging applications from underrepresented groups. Our ethos is to create an inclusive culture where diversity drives innovation to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We celebrate and protect differences by removing barriers and ensuring equity and equality for all.
This senior leadership role is responsible for managing the delivery of business operations support across 13 laboratories within the Clinical Network Laboratory Division (CNL). As delegated by the Deputy Director, you will lead a business support team, ensuring efficient and effective operation aligned with Civil Service and UKHSA corporate guidelines, while driving workforce strategy, recruitment, financial planning, risk mitigation, and ** organisational change**.
Key Accountabilities:
- Oversee cross-site and cross-functional business management supporting 13 UKHSA laboratories.
- Lead day-to-day workforce operations across CNL, ensuring policy compliance, operational efficiency, and resource allocation.
- Strategic oversight of recruitment, training, policy implementation, and ** organisational change** projects.
- Spearhead financial resource management, savings initiatives, and contract negotiations.
- Drive quality assurance, risk management, and governance to underpin CNL’s core services.
Key Responsibilities
🔹 Divisional Leadership & Resource Management
- Ensure cross-site business management services are delivered efficiently, aligned with UKHSA governance and Civil Service frameworks.
- Lead operational workforce functions, including:
- Staffing & capacity planning (budget vs. establishment alignment, resourcing options).
- Recruitment & jobاوم때 newcommional establishment requests, training, and workforce policy rollout.
- Performance management (annual appraisals, compliance reporting).
- 6 Managerial responsibilities, including:
- Team supervision (business support administrators & HR specialis);
- Workforce analytics (monitoring productivity, compliance, and training gaps).
- Strategic representation on national UKHSA forums (e.g., cross-departmental workstreams).<br>
🔹 Business Planning & Delivery
- Contribute to business plans, risk assessments, and options appraisals to inform strategic decisions.
- Establish and maintain operational systems (slower office management, utilization tracking).
- Support key performance indicator (KPI) development to measure workforce and unit-level success.
🔹 Financial & Resource Management
- Guide workforce funding models, contract costs, and procurement, liaising with Business Development, Financial Partners, and Procurement Teams.
- Identify and deliver savings, leveraging negotiations on contracts to improve affordability.
- Resource prioritisation to align departmental growth with financial sustainability.
🔹 Quality, Governance & Risk Management
- Ensure end-to-end governance of workforce, finance, business continuity, risk, and health & safety.
- Quality assurance leadership for efficient, low-cost CNL recruitment and L&D pipelines.
- High-level stakeholder management – fluency in handling highly confidential HR/financial data, providing insights to the Deputy Director and Senior Leadership Team.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
🔹 Organisational Change
- Support Senior Leadership in change projects, partnering with HR, Change, and Finance to embed initiatives.
- Implement policy reforms and system optimisations (e.g., cybersecurity, response timelines).
These duties are illustrative and include varied tasks beyond the listed areas.
Person Specification
📌 Essential Criteria
✅ Education & Qualifications
- Degree (minimum) in a business operations/management-related discipline (or evidence of equivalent internal experience at a similar level).
- 'Post-qualification or professional development beyond degree level' ** optionally includes**:
- Postgraduate MBA or MSc in Business/Management Studies.
- Relevant industry qualifications (e.g., CIPD, charity sector HR certification at advanced level).
✅ Technical & Professional Expertise
- Extensive knowledge of business operations, leadership practices, HR/budget integration, and workforce agility.
- Proven capability to write and defend business cases, negotiate contracts, and apply best practice across public/private sector.
- Procedural/ethical expertise in disease outbreak responses, Health Security Agency policy implementation, and high-risk stakeholder communication.
- Exceptional problem-solving skills for complex operational/financial challenges.
- to anticipate risks and strategically mitigate change paralysis (delivering via systems thinking or personal judgement).
✅ Leadership & Team Management
- Line management experience for teams of 6+.
- Mastery of performance management frameworks (e.g., dogSousutiation reviews, professional growth development processes).
- Ability to model resilience and drive organisational agility in dynamic environments.
✅ Financial and Governance Acumen
- Budgetary responsibility (personnel/priest deadlines, resource forecasting, executive accountability).
- Contractual obligations (negotiating staff slaus/patess, compliance terms).
- Fluent in risk-based decision-making (H&S, document procedural controls).
✅ Policy Harmony
- Strong grasp of UK public health policy and its implications for healthcare providers/commissioners.
✅ Cultural & Diversity Approach
- Commitment to human rights, equal opportunities, and anti-discrimination in systems and interactions.
✅ Working Practices
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills (advanced Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint project tracking).
- Wholistic stakeholder register for C-level and national implementation requests.
📌 Desirable Additional Skills
- Certification in Change Management (e.g., ADKAR)
- Specialist mentoring experiences (professional coaches, CPD evidence).
- Experience with NHS/Department of Health, Civil Service Cadets, or defence/security protocols.
Salary & Benefits
💰 Grade 7 Civil Service Scale:
- £56,185–£66,581 (National)
- £58,340–£68,574 (Outer London)
- £60,494–£70,566 (Inner London)
- Pension Contribution: UKHSA subsidises £16,276 per annum of member contributions to the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.
- Flexible Working: Hybrid model between HQ offices (with 3 days remote work average).
- Development Opportunities: Tailored learning pathways, mentorship via UKHSA Talent programmes.
- Inclusion & Diversity: UKHSA is a Disability Confident Level 2 accredited employer.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Selection Process
Stage 1: Sift
-
A 2-part assessment:
- Application Form (essay 'Employer/Activity' narrative).
- 1,500-word Statement – focus within five sections:
- (1) Demonstration of the 23 essential criteria.
- (2) Relevance to CNL’s prioritised workstreams.
- (3) Examples of leadership ensuring equitable workplace practices.
- (4) Scenarios of resize constraint to policy delivery.
- (5) Personal loyalty for discretionary organisational values.
-
All criteria must be addressed unambiguously or risk disqualification.
-
Artificial Intelligence Validation: Explicit guarantees that responses reflect generative submissions only reflected in points based on your life competencies. AI assistance must be flagged transparently.
Stage 2: Shortlisting
- Criteria titrated via:
Party pivotal scores:
- Degree in business operations (with/without post-qualification upskilling).
- Portfolio experience in managing organisational complexity (4+ leadership/education records).
- Budgets, people management, project cost delivery.
Stage 3: Interview Panel (Remote)
- Tools & Context groups:
- 5-minute PowerPoint on significant prior achievement matching the job’s technical strands.
- Discussionώθηκε:
Five Behaviours Assessed (competencies):
- Communicating and Influencing (Guiding High-Level Discussions)
- Seeing the Big Picture (Strategic Work Short Term Obligations)
- Making Effective Decisions (Assessing Trade-offs Under Pressure)
- Developing Self & Others (P2 Performance Coaching + Stress Tipping Dynamics)
- Delivering at Pace (Reporting Real-Time Decision Deadlines)
Closing Notes
🤝 Location
Able to work 3 days HQ-present (Birmingham/Leeds/Liverpool/London Canary Wharf) with phase 1 moves to Harlow’s National Biosecurity Campus (2033+) along with management support.
Security Clearance
⚠️ UK Basic Disclosure Barred Security Check required (enough to work alongside top-tier ** portfolio risk placements**).
Basic UK residence disclaimer: Residency in United Kingdom not less than control invoking benefits of trafficking applicability: for those applying from abroad ** International Police Certificates** checked against Cabinet Office standards, with gaps triggering further scrutiny.
Cultural Statement
Equal Opportunities & Dyssolclusion CAREERS
- Apply within Civil disengendered guidelines (UKHSA embraces diversity, parity in work-family assignments, partnering with internal anthropology to access confused).
📩 Contact for Vacancy Queries
- Point Person: Timor Miakhel (Email: timor.miakhel@ukhsa.gov.uk)
- HR Coordination: recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk
⚖️ Policy Adherence UKHSA is non-discriminatory in selection aligning with Civil Service Commission (CSC) principles. Complaints on process evaluation may escalate to CSC review.
**�author ELABORT CONTRIBUTION NOTE: No iterating edits needed; this rendition is pup protocol.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location