Operations Manager (Customer Services)

About The Role

Working Hours: 35 Hours Per Week

Contract Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Additional Payments: Essential Car Allowance

Closing Date: 23 July 2026

Closing time: 11.59pm

Interview Method: Face to Face

This role is subject to -

2 References - where possible we require 3 years' history.

Essential Car Documentation- This post is a designated Essential Car User. Therefore, you must always hold a full valid driving licence and provide your own car for use at work. You will receive the Essential Car User Allowance.

Bereavement Services plays a key role within the Neighbourhood Directorate, providing high quality services to bereaved families. We provide in the region of 3000 burials and cremations each year, along with supporting families with a diverse range of memorialisation products and services.

We are custodians of an infrastructure consisting of 105 hectares which is predominantly green space within the City’s neighbourhoods and continually strive to provide safe spaces for those who visit our cemeteries. If you share Manchester’s clear ambitions in delivering high quality services for the residents of the city, we want to hear from you.

If you are successful, you will join a team of dedicated managers and officers who deliver high quality customer services across all our cemeteries, ensuring bereaved families are front and centre to everything we deliver. Reporting to the Bereavement Services Manager you will play an integral role within the management team assisting in developing and growing the service.

You will be required to form relationships with stakeholders such as Funeral Directors and work with community groups to assist in identifying improvement and projects that will enhance the service.

For an informal discussion, please contact the hiring manager, Diane Murphy at diane.murphy@manchester.gov.uk to arrange a convenient time to discuss the role.

About the Candidate

We would love to hear from you if you have experience of:

Essential requirements for the role

• Communication: Ability to advise others and deal with sensitive issues in difficult situations inside and outside own area, negotiating riskier demands. Able to effectively transfer key and complex information to all levels of staff, adapting the style of communication as necessary and ensuring that this information is understood.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to translate analyses into business cases which define potential benefits, options for achieving the benefits development of new or changed processes, and associated business risks.
• Planning and Organising: Excellent time management skills, creating own work schedules, prioritising, preparing in advance and setting realistic timescales for own self and others. Has the ability to visualise a sequence of actions needed to achieve a specific goal and how to estimate the resources required.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making: Strong decision making skills with the ability to resolve complex issues in a pressurised environment. Continually performs at high levels of achievement, demonstrating tenacity, energy and commitment to achieve desired results.
• Creative Skills: Ability to find creative solutions where there are no existing parameters or procedural framework
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to contribute to the development, implementation and evaluation of strategy to shape future plans.
• Financial Management: Ability to monitor and maintain expenditure, ensuring that financial targets are met, and being accountable for any areas where budget and expenditure exceed their agreed tolerances.
• People Management: Ability to inspire individuals to give their best to achieve a desired result and maintains effective relationships with individuals and the team as a whole, to ensure that the team is equipped to achieve objectives set according to the overall business need. Including managing sickness and performance, undertaking 1-1s and actioning any identified training requirements.

Ability to use varying IT software including excel, word etc as well as delivering new IT solutions, including assisting in project management and undertaking training with officers.

The role holder will be required to have previous local authority experience, as well as holding, working towards or willing to work towards NEBOSH qualification. Have the ability to effectively manage budgets

The role holder will be required to hold a full driving licence and will work across two sites, North and South of the city.

About Us

We’re the local council for one of the UK’s most vibrant and diverse cities.

Working for Manchester isn’t just a job – it’s an opportunity to contribute to a city that leads change and transforms lives. Whether it’s strengthening communities or driving innovation in public services, you’ll play a vital role in creating opportunities and shaping a brighter future for everyone.

Our Manchester is our vision for a fairer, greener, and healthier city – a vision shaped by the people of Manchester. It guides everything we do at the Council and is brought to life through the Our Manchester behaviours:

• We take time to listen and understand
• We work together and trust each other
• We show that we value our differences and treat each other fairly
• We ‘own it’ and we’re not afraid to try new things
• We’re proud and passionate about Manchester

Benefits we offer

• Generous holiday allowance - Enjoy up to 26 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays. Increasing to 31 days after five years of local government service. Want more leave? You can purchase up to two additional weeks.
• A buzzing pension - You’ll be enrolled in the UK’s largest local government pension scheme, with plenty of options to top up your benefits. Includes life cover of three-times your salary as a lump sum.
• Enhanced parental and carers leave - Take advantage of our enhanced family leave options, designed to provide ample time for you to bond with your new born or support your family during critical life events.
• Brilliant perks - Access a range of discounts, from saving on the weekly shop to holidays and days out with MCR+. Plus discounts on phone contracts, cycle to work scheme, free flu jabs and eye tests, and more.
• Learn and grow - We are dedicated to nurturing talent and providing you with the tools to thrive. Take part in a diverse set of learning opportunities, from workshops and training sessions through to apprenticeships and qualifications. All this begins with our comprehensive onboarding process.
• A Good Employment Charter member - We are committed to offering secure, flexible work and embedding fairness into everything we do. We review pay annually, recognize three trade unions, and are constantly working to offer the best possible health and wellbeing support throughout all stages of your working life.
• Up to 3 days volunteering leave - Give back to the community with three days pro-rate of paid volunteering leave, in addition to existing benefits.

Creating an Inclusive Team at Manchester City Council

At Manchester City Council, we’re dedicated to creating a workplace that truly reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We actively welcome applications from people of all ages and backgrounds, particularly from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, Disabled people and young people.

Support During the Process

• Interview Adjustments: Let us know if you need any adjustments to demonstrate your suitability during the interview.
• Accessible Formats: Our ReciteMe tool can be accessed through the "Accessibility tools" button at the top of our careers page. This tool offers features like text-to-speech, translation into multiple languages, and adjustable text size and colour to make our site more accessible for everyone.

Guaranteed Assessment Scheme

We guarantee assessments for applicants who meet the recruiting panels minimum shortlisting requirements for the role and identify with at least one of the criteria below:

• Members of the Armed Forces members or veterans
• Current or former care leavers
• Have a disability or long-term condition
• If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme or any MCC positive action programme

If you have completed the GM Elevate (Leadership Development) Programme, please indicate this within the Supporting Statement section of your application.

When You Join Us

We’re a Disability Confident Employer, offering

• A workplace adjustment hub which provides specialist support, advice and guidance to ensure you have the adjustments needed to thrive at work.
• Disabled Staff Network, Neurodiversity Staff Network and Mental Health Staff Network that provides a safe inclusive space to share experiences and opportunities to influence council practice.
• A strong commitment to ensuring all information adheres to accessibility standards and that our workplaces are accessible and disability-friendly.

For more information about the role or any adjustments, email jobs@manchester.gov.uk.

What we will need from you if you’re successful

In accordance with Home Office guidance, successful candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK before commencement of employment. This is not a role we consider to be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route based on Manchester City Council policy. Candidates are therefore encouraged to consider their own right to work options without the requirement for Manchester City Council sponsorship.

Pre-Employment Checks

If you are successful in securing a position with us, the pre-employment checks required will depend on the role you’ve applied for. As a guide, these checks may include:

• Proof of Right to Work: You’ll need to provide documentary evidence of your right to work in the UK. Please note, visa sponsorship is not guaranteed for this role.
• References: We’ll require references from your current and previous employer(s).
• Proof of Qualifications: Evidence of qualifications relevant to the role will be required.
• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check: A criminal record check may be necessary, depending on the role.
• Proof of Manchester Residency: For some roles, you may need to demonstrate that you reside within the boundaries of Manchester City Council.
• Police Vetting: Some roles may require police vetting to ensure suitability for accessing sensitive law enforcement systems or information.
• Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Clearance: BPSS clearance is primarily used for roles that involve access to government data, systems, or assets. It ensures that individuals meet basic security requirements and can be trusted with sensitive information
• Driving Licence: If the role requires driving, we’ll need evidence of your valid driving licence.

These checks are an important part of our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of our workforce and the community we serve.

Other relevant information

We want everyone to be able to be themselves at work and give their best. If you need additional support to undertake the duties of the role, we’ll make every effort to source any necessary aids, adaptations or equipment. If, however, any task proves to be unachievable, we will look at redesigning parts of the role.

For more information about the role, please ensure that you read the role profile attached.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience.

Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

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