About your role

Your key focus will be to own the continued delivery and implementation of our new operating model - the largest programme of change in the charity to date. In addition to this, you help turn our strategy into practical, coordinated plans that guide day‑to‑day service delivery, and provide strong operational leadership, making sure that our services remain efficient, impactful and of a high standard.

You also uphold excellent dog wellbeing and ethical practice, ensuring we continue to operate above recognised standards. You manage budgets, people and resources with care to keep our operations sustainable and effective. With a strong focus on quality and impact, you support ongoing learning and improvement across our services. You also play an important role in organisational governance, contributing through forecasting, clear reporting and collaborative, thoughtful leadership.

About you

You bring a calm, structured approach to leading operational activities, with a strong ability in using data and insight to guide decisions. You’re analytical and are comfortable interpreting trends, identifying patterns and turning evidence into practical improvements. You take a thoughtful and measured approach to planning, forecasting, reporting and assessing service performance. You also lead through others, using a coaching style that helps our people think things through, build confidence and take ownership of their work. You care about quality, consistency and ethical practice and you communicate clearly, building trust across teams and balancing support with constructive challenge. You bring a grounded, purposeful leadership presence that provides clarity and direction and fosters cross-team collaboration and clear thinking in a busy environment.

Your responsibilities

As our Director of Operations & Delivery, you'll

Own the continued delivery and implementation of our new operating model, providing strategic and operational leadership through a period of significant organisational change
Translate the overarching organisational strategy into clear operational plans, setting clear priorities, measurable goals and timelines that guide delivery across teams.
Coordinate cross‑team activity to make sure that programmes are aligned, well‑sequenced and delivered efficiently.
Provide day‑to‑day leadership and oversight of all operational services, ensuring they run safely, consistently and to agreed standards.
Maintain and continuously strengthen standards of dog wellbeing, training and ethical practice, ensuring compliance with or above ADI/AASI expectations.
Oversee operational budgets, resource allocation and forecasting to make sure that our services remain sustainable and aligned with charity purpose and priorities.
Lead the development and monitoring of service standards, impact measures and quality assurance processes to ensure strong outcomes and continuous improvement.
Use data, insight and performance reporting to identify risks, inform decision‑making and support operational planning.
Produce clear, timely reports and analysis for the executive team and board, supporting effective governance and organisational oversight.
Lead on the delivery of ad-hoc initiatives, new ways of working and general programmes of change within your department.
Provide strong operational leadership, fostering a culture of accountability, learning and ethical practice.

Your skills, experience and approach

It's essential that you:

Have significant operational leadership experience, ideally in a multi‑service or complex delivery environment.
Have demonstrable experience of leading change across services or teams, with the ability to guide people through uncertainty, communicate clearly and embed new ways of working in a steady, supportive way.
Take an analytical and data‑driven approach, with the ability to interpret trends, assess performance and use insight to inform decisions.
Have experience of translating strategy into clear operational plans, priorities and measurable goals.
Have confidence in working with digital tools, CMS, data systems and/or operational dashboards.
Have a demonstrated ability to manage budgets and resources, including forecasting and monitoring expenditure.
Bring experience of leading service quality, performance or impact measurement, with a track record of driving continuous improvement.
Are skilled in cross‑team coordination, making sure that services are aligned, efficient, and well‑connected.
Have an interest in or understanding of safeguarding, ethical practice and/or animal welfare standards.
Are a clear, confident communicator and able to produce high‑quality reports, analysis and operational insights for senior leaders and boards.
Take a coaching‑style leadership approach, supporting others to think clearly, develop capability and take ownership.
Have a calm, structured, and reflective working style, with the ability to navigate operational complexity with sound judgement.

It's beneficial if you:

Have experience of working in a charity, health, social care or community‑based service environment.
Have knowledge of canine wellbeing standards, training or the wider canine sector (including ADI/AASI frameworks).
Have experience of designing or implementing quality assurance systems or service‑wide improvement frameworks.
Have familiarity with impact measurement tools, evaluation methods or outcomes‑based reporting.
Have experience of managing or contributing to organisational governance processes.
Have a background in operational risk management or compliance.
Are familiar with innovation approaches/methodologies such as test‑and‑learn or service design.
Have experience of using Microsoft Dynamics365.

Other requirements

You must have the right to live and work in the UK.
You must be comfortable working around dogs.
Driving the charity’s vehicles is part of the role so a full driving licence is preferred, but we will work with you to find alternative solutions if reasonable adjustments are required. You must be over 21 years of age to drive our charity vehicles.
As you will be working with vulnerable people, you will be required to undergo a DBS check. This will be renewed every 4 years.
You’ll be expected to have a good understanding of safeguarding issues and how they should be applied to the work of the charity and its partner organisations. Full training on this will be provided during your induction.
Given the nature of the role, sometimes you may need to work flexibly, and this may occasionally involve working evenings and/or at weekends. You’ll be given time off in lieu (TOIL) for this.

How to apply

Recruitment for this role is being handled exclusively through our recruitment partners, Charisma.

Applications should be submitted through the Charisma website (if you click on the 'Apply Now' button, you'll be taken to the correct page).

For an informal and confidential discussion about the role, please contact: Katherine Anderson-Scott, Executive Director at Charisma Charity Recruitment 01962 813300 or info@charismarecruitment.co.uk

We're sorry, we aren't looking to work with other recruitment agencies on this vacancy.

Closing date

The closing date/time for applications is Sunday 26th July at 11:59pm

Interviews

1st stage interviews will be held on Teams during w/c 10th August 2026.

2nd stage interviews will be held in person at our Banbury National HQ during w/c 17th August 2026.

Director of Operations & Delivery