Operations Manager

The Operations Manager is a key member of the Operations team, responsible for keeping some of TransitionZero’s day-to-day operations running with minimum friction. The role spans governance, grant management, vendor and contract management, compliance, travel, insurance, and office management – a broad remit that requires someone equally comfortable reviewing a contract, project managing, and sorting out a broken laptop.

Reporting to the COO, you’ll work across the organisation and need to build strong working relationships with teams at all levels. You’ll be expected to bring a continuous-improvement mindset to your work, and flag issues early rather than let them escalate.

Compliance, Governance & Legal - 30%

You own the infrastructure that keeps TransitionZero legally sound and operationally resilient. This isn’t a role for someone who hides behind process – it’s for someone who understands the rules well enough to apply them with judgement.

• Keep TransitionZero’s legal entities in good standing, working with our Financial Controller to ensure filings, corporate records and administrative infrastructure are maintained.

• Review vendor and funding documentation (contracts, NDAs, grant agreements) against established playbooks, flagging issues and owning straightforward negotiations.

• Set up a program of light-weight but impactful training on key topics like data protection and information security. 

• Maintain TransitionZero's internal policy library - keeping documents current, accessible, and actually used.

• Support the Financial Controller and COO on audit preparation and budget development.

Grant Management - 25%

Grants are central to how TransitionZero operates. You’ll own the process that kicks off once we renew or sign a grant, to keep tabs on deliverables and reporting to ensure we stay on track. You don’t need a background in grant management to do this work - it’s project management by another name.

• Own the grant reporting process – coordinating cross-team inputs, managing deadlines, and ensuring narratives clearly demonstrate impact.

• Maintain oversight of project plans across all live grants, flagging risks and keeping stakeholders on track.

• Manage grant travel approvals, reviewing requests against funder requirements and internal policy.

• Ensure partner paperwork and documentation is accurate, complete, and up to date.

IT and vendor management - 25%

You will develop TransitionZero's internal operations tech stack, including project management tooling, workflow automation, and integrations between systems. On the vendor side, you’re the person who makes sure we’re getting value and staying compliant.

• Act as the internal point of contact for evaluating and onboarding new tools - running lightweight assessments against cost, security, and fit before anything gets procured or embedded.

• Identify where new tooling might not be needed but manual processes can be automated. Build the solutions, experimenting with AI technology to reduce human effort.

• Oversee our vendor list, ensuring the right people have access to tooling and our vendor relationships are managed proactively. 

• Lead our relationship with our external IT helpdesk provider, and ensure new starters are set up properly from an IT perspective on day 1.

• Oversee IT security, cyber compliance, and data protection, embedding a culture of proactive risk management.

• Own the annual insurance renewal cycle, maintaining a clear picture of coverage and flagging gaps in good time.

Office & team operations - 20%

You’re the person who makes the day-to-day work for everyone else. That means keeping the office running and creating the conditions for a connected, well-functioning hybrid team.

• Manage the office environment and the relationship with our workspace manager – handling day-to-day issues and leading on lease or renewal negotiations.

• Own hardware: coordinating repairs, replacements, and equipment procurement so staff are never blocked by broken kit.

• Maintain and improve Notion as TransitionZero's operational backbone - including travel workflows, policy libraries, and project tracking - ensuring it reflects how the organisation actually works.

• Develop and improve our cross-functional processes to ensure we operate effectively and keep continuously improving. 

• Organise monthly team socials and lead the planning and logistics of the annual company offsite – venue, travel, budget, and agenda coordination.

You take the mission personally. That means fully committing even when the picture is incomplete, delivering value incrementally and urgently, and holding yourself – and others – to a high standard. You don’t accept mediocre work, but you also don’t faff around: you’re biased towards action, and you know the difference between rigour and unnecessary process.

This is a compliance and governance-heavy role, and you’re comfortable with that – but you approach it with a lowest-effort/highest-impact mindset. You look for ways to make things repeatable and scalable, not to build bureaucracy for its own sake. You’re self-aware: you give and receive feedback well, know your strengths and gaps, and make confident decisions despite uncertainty.

You like to win as a team. That means collaborating effectively, pivoting quickly when the mission demands it, and staying laser-focused on what actually moves the needle. You thrive under pressure, lean into change, and bring optimism and curiosity to problems that don’t have obvious solutions.

Essential

• 2–4 years of experience in an operations, business operations, or adjacent role.

• Proven ability to make good judgement calls - able to apply learnings in one area to another. 

• Project management skills - understanding of how to set up a project both from a management and reporting perspective but also how to organise the project team.

• Strong organisational skills – able to manage multiple workstreams and balance the reactive work while keeping the proactive projects moving forward

• Clear, confident communicator with internal and external stakeholders, including vendors, auditors and funders.

• Loves change and thrives with automation; building and maintaining automated workflows is part of the job

• A bias to action – you spot problems early, take ownership, and don’t wait to be told.

• Process-oriented – you look for the lowest-effort/highest-impact way to make things work, and you build for repeatability.

• Comfortable with feedback – you give it, receive it, and act on it.

Desirable

• Experience with contract drafting, review, or negotiation.

• Experience with IT security, cyber compliance, or data protection frameworks.