Head of Operations

**Who are we?**

Tram Operations Limited (TOL) is a FirstGroup subsidiary that is proud to operate the London Trams service for Transport for London (TfL). The tram service with its 39 tramstops provides inter-urban, cross-borough services, in Southwest London, for customers travelling between Wimbledon and New Addington or Beckenham Junction and Elmers End to Croydon.

London Trams provides excellent connectivity with 7 National Rail stations in the region, such as East Croydon, Wimbledon, Elmers End and Beckenham Junction. The system also connects with many bus routes.

With over 22 million passenger journeys a year, London Trams has some of the busiest routes in the country, operating over 4,200 services each week across the tramway. Travelling with trams is environmentally friendly and seen as relaxing, fast, and efficient with excellent travel connections.

As a business we operate in a very open and supportive culture.

**First Tram Operations** is part of FirstGroup, the largest rail operator in the UK and second largest bus operator in the UK outside London. FirstGroup operates services throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 30,000 employees providing services that make travel smoother and life easier. FirstGroup works hard to reduce its impact on the environment, introducing cleaner and more environmentally responsible methods of transport.

**About the job**

A vacancy has arisen at Tram Operations Limited (TOL) for the position of Head of Operations. This is an excellent opportunity, reporting directly to the Service Delivery Director, and a key member of the Executive Team, you will be responsible for all aspects of operational performance and improvement of the Tram service. This role forms part of the TOL Board.

The Head of Operations leads a team of Service Managers, Tram Driver Managers, Controllers and Tram Drivers. This role is integral to the business and is a safety critical role.

They are responsible for the safe and efficient management and co-ordination of tramway activities and driver management including delivery of service to meet specified performance targets.

The jobholder needs to have gravitas, confidence, be articulate and a good communicator with excellent interpersonal skills, across all grades and stakeholders. This role has the daily challenges of conflicting pressures, deadlines and ensuring adherence to legislative and company requirements.

**Your main responsibilities will be**:

- Be responsible for ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the tramway within the scope of the Company's responsibilities.
- Be responsible for providing adequate resources to meet the safety and service requirements as set out in the Operating Agreement between TOL and London Tramlink.
- Develop and implement operational change strategies that align with TOL and FirstGroup goals and objectives.
- Drive a Just Culture and one of continuous improvement in process and operations to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance quality. Within the Operations team and wider workforce.
- Create operational initiatives within the team (such as FOCOS 100).
- Ensure resources are managed; including personnel; headcount and equipment to meet operational needs.
- Review and develop KPIs for TOL to track and report on operational performance.
- Analyse and report on trends and developments to improve operational delivery.
- Regularly review data against agreed budget and deliverables
- Responsible for developing Operations Team through periodic performance appraisals and succession planning.

**As a minimum, you will need to have**:

- Good working knowledge of safety, operational & personnel issues in a regulated environment.
- Be highly experienced in a Senior Management position
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate a team to achieve results.
- You will be able to think strategically, be analytical in your approach with an ability to problem solve and develop effective solutions.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential in this role to effectively communicate with team members, senior management and external stakeholders.
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
- Accurate numeric and literacy skills. Including attention to detail.
- Good literacy in IT skills, especially Microsoft Office Programmes / Excel and Word in particular.

We value our differences such as age, gender, LGBTQIA+, ethnicity, religion, and disability. We maintain a zero tolerance towards any form of prejudice towards our colleagues, customers, and future talent.

We celebrate and encourage diversity of thought, progressive ways of working and seeing all our colleagues grow and thrive.

We review all roles and job descriptions to ensure they are accessible and, where possible, we support and provide flexible working options; we recommend that you refer to each vacancy description for further details.