Operations Manager

Operations Manager - £35K to £40K

This small Mayfair based consultancy is searching for an Office Manager/Operations Manager to bring order to their finances, office and international operations. You will be responsible for the smooth running of the office environment, project operations and some PA support.

The team work on major international strategic communications projects with a strong political and cultural emphasis.

The PA element is less than 15% of your time, the CEO is relatively self-sufficient and does not expect you to arrange his personal life. There will be some diary management, mainly when it involves team members/clients/suppliers. They have a travel agent so organising their international travel will not eat in to your time either, and they have habitual patterns so they can look after themselves in-country.

Supplier management will take up as much as 1 to 2 days per week, they work with a vast array of suppliers in the UK and overseas; both for office and project. So on-boarding new suppliers, keeping tabs on performance, allocating to resource centres will all come under your remit.

Whilst they are a talented group, projects often require bringing in external consultants, managing the administration of this will also be part of the role, invoice-to-project allocation, payment approval, main point of contact, etc.

Managing these suppliers, contractors, consultants and additionally their clients/competitors on a contact database will fall to you. No specific system is in place, so your experience and expertise will be invaluable.

They have external accountants who handle the core finance responsibilities but, but being on the ground, you’ll work with them providing, receipts, costings, some invoice support and petty cash. Experience of this is essential, if that extends beyond these basics there is room to tune the responsibilities.

There’ll be a fair amount of small meetings and events to organise. No major conferences, more liked 15-head briefings, lunches etc.

There’ll be some day-to-day of office fabric but everything is new and set-up, plus they have a great landlord so heavy weight facilities management experience is not needed.

Your experience? A similar role in: governance, diplomatic service, professional services, management consultancy, communications and PR with an international element are all in the right ball-park. You should be comfortable operating at a diplomatic/ministerial level and will have some knowledge of protocols, the level of discretion required and cultural sensitivity. Project Management experience also essential.

Thanks for your time, please forward your CV in the first instance.