Operations Manager

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Brighton & Hove City Council is delivering a major transformation of its waste and recycling services, including the introduction of Alternate Weekly Collections (AWC) alongside weekly food waste collections.

We are seeking an experienced Operations Manager to play a critical role in round design, modelling and implementation, ensuring our collection services are efficient, resilient and fit for the future.

This role will be central to redesigning collection rounds, supporting large-scale service change, and leading operational delivery through a period of significant transformation.

What you'll be doing

As Operations Manager, you will:

• Lead on the design, modelling, testing and validation of waste and recycling collection rounds, including refuse, recycling and food waste
• Use operational data, digital systems and performance insight to reconfigure rounds, reduce inefficiencies and improve service reliability
• Support the implementation of Alternate Weekly Collections, working closely with programme leads, trade unions and frontline teams
• Manage and motivate operational teams through change, ensuring health & safety, equality and service standards are maintained
• Work collaboratively with strategy, digital, fleet and finance colleagues to ensure round designs are deliverable and sustainable
• Contribute to Cabinet-approved programmes and provide clear operational advice to senior managers and Members
• Identify risks associated with service change (e.g. missed collections, side waste, fly-tipping) and put mitigation plans in place

What we're looking for

You will have:

• Significant experience managing waste, recycling or operational frontline services
• Proven expertise in collection round design, route optimisation or service modelling
• Strong analytical skills, with experience using data to drive operational decisions
• Experience leading teams through large-scale service change
• A sound understanding of health & safety, workforce engagement and operational risk
• The ability to work confidently with senior stakeholders, Members and trade unions

Experience of implementing fortnightly collections, and working with digital collection systems would be highly desirable.

Encouraging a diverse workforceOur city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you've submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional informationYour starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.