Head of Operations

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Head of Operations

Application Deadline: 18 March 2025

Department: Domestic Bursary

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Brasenose College

Reporting To: Domestic Bursar (with close liaison with the other College Officers and DB Heads of Department)

Compensation: GBP 46,725 - GBP 55,755 / year

Description

We have an exciting opportunity to join the Domestic Bursary at Brasenose College, as Head of Operations. This newly created position will be a focal point for daily college operations, ensuring the smooth running of the College. Brasenose College offers a friendly community of c. 250 employees (academic, professional and domestic staff) located in beautiful historic buildings off Radcliffe Square in the heart of the city.

The post holder will be directly responsible for all aspects of college accommodation in and out of term, whether that be student, Fellow, or commercial guests, alongside other trading activities. The role, whilst operational, has the strategic responsibility to ensure efficiency and commercial effectiveness, maximising the opportunity available to Brasenose College. The Head of Operations has a management team for accommodation, housekeeping and conferences, and the postholder will play a central role establishing the operational planning, cross team collaboration, and communicating at committee level as well as general staff updates. The postholder from time to time may be expected to deputise for the Domestic Bursar as part of the Domestic Bursars direct reporting team.

The role is offered as a full-time, permanent contract, working 35 hours per week, with an unpaid hour for lunch. Due to the nature of this role, some weekend work is to be expected.

Interviews are expected to be held in week commencing 24th March 2025.

Job Description

The Role

Overview: To be a focal point for daily College operations in support of the Domestic Bursar, ensuring the smooth running of the College throughout the year, both in term and during vacations with their different profile of activities. Directly responsible for managing all aspects of the College accommodation, including delivery of serviced accommodation to students, Fellows and commercial guests, overseeing the administering of student rents and room allocations, marketing and selling College facilities to commercial clients and leading other trading activities to maximise the College's commercial income. The role, whilst operational, has the strategic responsibility to ensure efficiency and commercial effectiveness to maximise the opportunity available to Brasenose College.

Scope:

Rooms: 517 rooms over 4 sites, plus 6 Fellows houses/flats

Income: GBP 4.2m (GBP 2.5m accommodation and GBP 1.7m of commercial income)

Costs: GBP 0.9m (GBP 0.75m salaries and staff costs, GBP 0.15m of other costs)

The postholder will be responsible for:

• All aspects of managing the rooms stock cross the colleges sites, ensuring appropriate office and residential accommodation is provided to academics, students and staff and maximising commercial opportunities when rooms are not required for the core charitable purpose of the college
• Ensure clear communication with all users of the rooms, both internal and external
• Ensure effective communication and co-ordination between departments and with external contacts.
• Provide line management for the Conference and Events Manager, Accommodation Manager, motivating, supporting them, setting clear objectives to help deliver high standards and to identify and implement improvements. These two teams are responsible for up to 35 staff, largely making up the busy cleaning team in addition to the events coordinator, conference coordinator and conference and events administrator.
• Ensure the team have clear roles, standards and procedures.
• Ensure that all aspects of operational delivery within these areas are fully risk assessed and reviewed in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• Actively seek an efficient delivery to maximise commercial opportunities and manage budgets

The post holder will be responsible to the Domestic Bursar and will deputise in their absence.

Job Description - Duties and responsibilities

Accommodation for Students, Academics and Staff

• To lead on rents and room rates for approval and once agreed ensure that these are accurately implemented and invoiced, and corresponding tenancy agreements are drawn up.
• As secretary of Rooms Allocation Committee to support the Domestic Bursar by managing the process of allocation of Fellows' teaching rooms and Fellows' property and the ballot for each process.
• To ensure effective coordination with the College Office on the use of rooms for teaching and other academic purposes.
• To liaise effectively with external property agencies where appropriate.
• To oversee the operating strategy to service and maintain the quality standards of the accommodation across the estate.

Conference & Events

• To develop the commercial aspects of college operations, identifying alternative channels for new business to maximise revenue to meet agreed financial objectives.
• Responsible for sales and marketing of College facilities and rooms to commercial clients during summer and Easter each year. These commercial activities include but are not limited to conferences, B&B rooms, events and filming income.
• Accountable for the delivery of all College's internal hospitality and commercial events, including the College Ball.
• Accountable for organising appropriate insurance cover and licences, delegating to the Conference Manager as appropriate.
• To support the activities of the College's Development Office which is a key internal customer of the College's accommodation and conference function. The Development team's work enables significant (multi million) philanthropic income for College, and this role is key in supporting the hospitality they provide for alumni and friends of college.

Leadership, Staff Management, Development and Training

• To line manage the Conference Manager and Accommodation Manager to enable them to work autonomously and develop as effective managers within their areas of responsibility.
• To provide motivational and inspiring leadership of the Accommodation and Conference teams through the year, ensuring delivery through the HODs of high standards in all areas, taking responsibility for decision-making to facilitate operational change and to support the generation of innovative solutions to problems through the application of specialist knowledge and professional judgement.
• To support the DB with emergency planning and team briefings and business continuity arrangements.
• To oversee headcount and staffing planning and allocation through the year within their departments, including oversight of decisions relating to recruitment, induction, probation, training and performance management.
• Provide guidance for your direct reports and establish a coaching style of leadership amongst senior team members.
• To work proactively to foresee potential issues and to plan strategically for contingencies and to communicate these effectively.
• To keep up to date with best practice in the industry and relevant legislation, attending training as necessary.
• To demonstrate a commitment to promoting a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including the undertaking of appropriate training as and when asked to do so.

Administration/Management

• To provide support and to lead, as appropriate, on departmental budgets, forecasts, feasibility studies and strategic planning, and to report and provide analysis and documentation as required
• To communicate about the teams' work appropriately to the rest of the college's community.
• To handle any complaints in a sensitive, professional and timely manner; to ensure relevant departments are made aware of both the issue and the action taken to inform improvements.
• To work autonomously to drive change, to encourage creativity and collaborative working and to lead a culture of outstanding customer service to internal and external customers.
• To be 'systems lead' for all accommodation and conference IT systems and to work with College's IT team to identify where changes could be made to improve efficiency.
• To keep relevant policies, procedures and systems and their implementation under review to ensure best practice and efficiencies in line with new developments, including new technological solutions.
• To provide performance data, management information and written performance reports as and when required, including collation and presentations. This may require convening and co-ordinating working parties and committees from time to time.
• To ensure all personal data relating to individuals is kept confidential in accordance with College policies and relevant data protection regulations.

General

• To take operational lead roles in the delivery of large events and supporting the wider heads of departments understanding of roles and responsibilities in head of department briefings.
• To continually review and lead on all Health and Safety within departments of responsibility, closely collaborating with College Health and Safety leads.
• The post holder will also develop an understanding of other areas of College and their specific needs in order to build collaborative working relationships.
• To represent the Domestic Bursar at meetings where required and disseminate information across departments.
• In the absence of the Domestic Bursar to act as the point of contact for all Domestic Bursary matters.
• To be contactable in emergency situations and, when necessary, to attend on site.
• To take part in supporting the College with robust planning in the event of incidents and take an operational role, should an incident occur.
• Occasionally to work evenings and weekends when required to provide the necessary overview of operations and maintenance of standards and customer service.
• To be willing to undertake other reasonable duties as directed by the Domestic Bursar or Bursar.

Person Specification and Criteria

Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the criteria set out in the section below and candidates should ensure that their application form provides evidence of how they meet these criteria.

Essential

• Previous leadership experience of more than one operational department in a hospitality environment, with ability to set high standards and engage and motivate hospitality staff to work together to deliver their best.
• Excellent understanding and experience of maximising revenue from conference events and accommodation charges or related activities.
• Proven experience of working calmly under pressure, with excellent prioritisation and organisation skills and ability to meet deadlines.
• Experience in developing and implementing marketing strategies that promote the organisation through various forms of media, social media and published literature.
• Creativity, and imagination to identify and implement new ideas to re-energise the College's commercial delivery.
• Evidence of willingness and ability to take ownership and responsibility, with accountability for outcomes.
• Demonstrable problem-solving skills developed in both customer-facing and operational roles to ensure smooth operations and maintain relationships.
• Excellent IT skills including a high level of competence in using Microsoft Office, particularly Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and databases. Openness to adopting new IT/tech approaches and systems for example to support efficiencies.
• Ability to develop and utilise data for the purposes of developing sales and operational plans.
• Excellent financial planning and budget management skills and reporting.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to support internal and external communications, in person and in writing. Ability to demonstrate professionalism, personal integrity and authority.
• Willingness to provide leadership presence for conference operations including availability and hands-on approach, working evenings and weekends when required to provide the necessary overview of operations and maintenance of standards and customer service.

Desirable

• A degree in Hotel Management (or equivalent qualification) with at least 5 years post qualification experience.
• A good understanding of the provision of conference and accommodation services in an educational setting.
• A track record of delivering high standards of customer service within a large organisation, in an education setting or other hotel environment.

Summary of Terms and Conditions of Employment

Appointment: This is a permanent full-time post and there will be an initial probationary period of six months. The appointment will be conditional on verification of the successful candidate's 'Right to Work' checks in advance of employment commencing and subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and medical clearance through the University's Occupational Health Services.

Salary: Equivalent to Grade 8 of the Brasenose College salary scale, currently GBP 46,725 to GBP 55,755 pa depending on experience. Advancement up the scale is on merit.

Hours of Working: Full time 35 hours each week. Due to the level of the post, the hours of work are not prescriptive and the post holder is expected to be flexible to meet the demands of the job. Evening and weekend working as required.

Benefits:

• Pension - Eligibility to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). The successful candidate will be entered into this scheme automatically on joining, but on-going membership of the scheme is optional.
• Salary Exchange Scheme - Staff who join USS will also be enrolled into the Salary Exchange Pension Contributions Scheme on or around three months after joining.
• Annual leave - The paid holiday entitlement for a full-time contract is six working weeks (30 days) annual leave (5 days to be taken over Christmas break when College is closed) plus 8 Statutory Bank Holidays. Annual Leave shall be taken at mutually convenient times agreed in advance with the Domestic Bursar. Bank Holidays which fall within the full terms of the University of Oxford are normally worked, for which compensatory time- off in lieu will be given. The holiday year begins on 1 January and ends 31 December. For part years of service, the entitlement will be calculated as 1/12th of the annual entitlement for each completed month.
• Meals - Employees are entitled to take lunch free of charge when the kitchen is open.
• Welfare Support - Employee Assistance Programme - a free confidential telephone helpline and online medical guidance. Free annual flu jab.
• Cycle to Work Scheme/Bike Loan - monthly deductions from salary.
• Sports Facilities - Access to the University Sports club.
• University Card - for discounts in shops, cafes and restaurants and University Leisure facilities.

Other Information: No smoking is allowed on any of the College sites.