Operations Director

Compass Group; England; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food service company seeks an experienced Operations Director to oversee multi-site delivery of food-led Soft FM services. The role includes managing client relationships, driving business performance, and nurturing service excellence. Candidates should have a strong background in service delivery, coaching, and leading large teams. This position offers competitive salary, benefits, and opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Company car

Pension contribution

Access to training programs

Qualifications

• Ambitious and keen to grow your career.
• Excellent understanding of Soft FM services and experience in food-led support.
• Experience leading large teams across multiple locations.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for multi-site delivery of food-led Soft FM services.
• Manage client and stakeholder relationships to ensure service excellence.
• Collaborate with HRBP to develop a strong people strategy.

Skills

Strong influencing skills

Coaching and people development

Stakeholder management

Tactical planning

Excellent communication

Job description

Operations Director

Somerset and Gloucestershire

An opportunity has arisen for a talented Operations Director to join us in ESS where you will play a key role within the leadership team, and our shared commitments.

• Competitive salary + Company car + benefits
• Compass exclusive offers on PerksAtWork
• Access to a wide range of programs to train and develop you
• Pension contribution

As an Operations Director you will be responsible for multi-site delivery of a wide range of food‑led Soft FM services, and managing client and stakeholder relationships whilst ensuring contractual compliance and adherence to company policies. Appropriately drive and review business performance and growth and nurture a service‑led culture within which your large team deliver their best to our clients and customers every day. You will work closely with a wide stakeholder group to deliver collaborative, winning solutions in an exciting Defence environment. You will drive value, be innovative and strive for service excellence. Develop and deliver strong leadership to your team of General Managers and support them in their development and performance through growth.

• Exercise tight control of your P&L, with experience of when and where to make the right interventions and appropriately manage all risks and opportunities.
• Collaborate with our regional HRBP to develop and execute a strong people strategy across your region. You will be coaching, and developing people to grow as individuals and within teams, raising levels of employee engagement as well as building a rich and talented succession plan.
• Champion the development and execution of a first‑rate food and retail services ensuring high satisfaction rates from those who use our services, listen to the voice of our customers and, work with our brand and other subject matter experts, generating innovative new offerings.
• Grow and maintain strong, collaborative and enduring relationships with our senior client base.
• Ensure consistency and exceptional service is delivered across all our service streams to all our customers every day, placing service excellence at the heart of everything we do.
• Cohesively form a key part of the Regional Senior Leadership Team, working collaboratively and supportively with your Business Director as well as other Operations Directors and SMEs to ensure achievement of shared objectives.

Who You Are

• You will be ambitious and keen to grow your career. Success in this role will help you achieve your life goals.
• Excellent understanding, and appreciation of what is entailed to successfully deliver Soft FM support services. Previous experience of delivering food‑led support services will be very useful, but we believe this role will appeal to a wide range of more senior professionals used to building on the strength of people and logistics to deliver a customer and client‑led suite of services.
• Previous experience in a broadly similar service delivery sector. A military background might be of some advantage, and this role will suit someone with first class experience of, and a commitment to, delivering first class support services.
• Strong influencing, coaching and people development skills.
• Tactical nous, the ability to plan appropriately and the capability to execute plans to time, budget and resulting in desired outcomes.
• Experience of leading and managing large and complex teams over multiple geographical locations to deliver first class results.
• A self‑starter. Excited about food, service and people and has their finger on the pulse of what is current and trending.
• Strong record of winning leadership.
• Able to build positive, collaborative relationships quickly with colleagues and clients.
• Able to drive change with effective project and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proactive, pragmatic, and commercial approach