Senior Business Operations Manager

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UKs largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social, and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

This post sits within the division of Social Surveys Telephone and Ports Collection, which encompasses the Telephone Operations Community who are based within our HQ offices. The division incorporates the Survey Enquiry Line, who support field interviewers and the public who call in requesting assistance.

The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest profession in the Civil Service. ODP’s 200,000+ members work in a wide range of operational delivery roles across government, providing essential services that support and protect UK citizens at home and overseas. They help to make ONS a great place to work.

As a member, ODP supports you by providing learning and development opportunities, career pathways, tools, and resources to help develop your skills and progress your career. This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, innovative, and inclusive Civil Service profession that sits at the heart of public service delivery.

This is a 12-month post with the possibility of extension or to be made permanent.

Job description

Telephone Ops (TO) is undergoing a transformation exercise as a result of the recently completed Telephone Services Review (TSR). The TSR was initiated in order to primarily review the People, Processes and Technology within TO and provide a set of recommendations to support our people better by, amongst other areas, providing improved capacity and resilience within the operation, develop and improve our Management Information (MI) and aim to improve the use of technology.

In order to fully support the implementation of the TSR recommendations, this role is being introduced to work alongside the existing Head of Telephone Operations to focus on some of the key areas identified that require focus and improvement. Whilst there will be a separation of key responsibilities, a close working relationship will be required between the successful candidate and the present SEO.

The Role:

The Senior Business Operations Manager will lead and coordinate key operational functions across the organisation, ensuring robust governance, continuity, and performance. This role is pivotal in driving operational excellence, managing risk, and enabling data-driven decision-making through effective use of technology and management information. There are also plans to implement a new telephony system into TO in the next year and responsibility for the successful introduction of this service will form a crucial part of this role.

A close working relationship with the existing Head of Telephone Operations will be essential in driving the required changes and improvements recommended by the TSR, alongside maintaining BAU. There will also be a need to work closely with the TSR team on the implementation of the TSR recommendations.

Regular travel will also be required between the Titchfield and Newport sites.

Typical Assignments:

• Develop and test a business continuity plan for a critical service area
• Develop risk mitigation plans for high-priority operational risks
• Map and document end-to-end processes
• Facilitate feedback sessions with teams to co-create improvement actions
• Analyse performance trends and produce insights for strategic planning
• Understand and use data to inform work and drive performance and improvements to systems or services
• Ensure that working practices are documented and guidance notes are kept up to date and correct.

Key Responsibilities:

• Business Continuity: Create operational continuity plans ensuring they meet corporate and directorate requirements.
• Risk Management: Confidently take decisions to positively impact services whilst being accountable for the management of risks.
• Technology Oversight: Act as a strategic partner in technology initiatives, ensuring operational needs are met and systems are fit for purpose.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Design, implement, and maintain SOPs to standardise and improve operational processes.
• People Survey Lead (TO): Coordinate and lead the People Survey activities and processes for the business area, ensuring high engagement and actionable insights.
• Data Retention Governance: Serve as the data custodian, ensuring compliance with data retention policies and governance standards.
• Asset Management: Oversee the lifecycle management of operational assets, ensuring accurate tracking and optimisation.
• Management Information (MI): Development and review of MI systems, processes, and practices to ensure improvements adopting a continuous improvement approach.
• Telephony: Lead on the proposed change to telephony systems within TO, ensuring a smooth implementation and changeover from the existing service.

Spans of Control:

Operational Oversight

• Oversee multiple operational domains: risk, continuity, data governance, SOPs, MI, and asset management.
• Requires coordination across functions.

Strategic Influence

• Acts as a strategic partner in technology initiatives and MI development.
• Influences decision-making at senior levels.

Cross-Team Leadership

• Lead initiatives like the People Survey across the TO.

Governance Responsibilities

• Custodian of data retention and compliance.

Person specification

Essential Skills Criteria:

• Communicates a clear sense of purpose, provides a direction that stakeholders understand and engage with.
• Encourages an open approach to seeking out and acting on feedback to bring about continuous improvement in own and team’s performance.
• Communicates and builds relationships across teams to deliver excellent service, quality and performance.
• Thinks analytically, using trends and insights from data to support decision-making and forecasts.
• Confidently take decisions to positively impact services.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

Stage 1: Application

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application and Sift

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word-count allowed is 1250 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.

Stage 2 – Interview

If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.

Interviews may be in person or via Microsoft Teams.

Our main locations are Newport (South Wales) and Titchfield.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Important Dates:

The Sift will be conducted from: 23/02/2026

Interviews will be conducted from: 05/03/2026

These dates are subject to change

For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Operations Team
• Email : RecruitmentOperations@ons.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : RecruitmentOperations@ons.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaints@ons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission

Attachments

ADVERT 4B_FIXED_TERM_BETWEEN_1_AND_2_YEARS – ONS_NATIONAL Opens in new window (pdf, 70kB)