Head of Service Operations

Bath Permanent Competitive Ref: 419173

Introduction

Are you a proven operational leader who thrives on creating exceptional customer experiences, building high-performing teams and driving continuous improvement?

Nigel Wright Group is delighted to be partnering with BWS Group on the appointment of a new Head of Service Operations. This is a unique opportunity to join a growing and ambitious organisation at a pivotal stage in its development. BWS Group is seeking an outstanding Head of Service Operations to lead and transform its customer-facing service operation. This is a pivotal leadership role with the opportunity to shape the future of a growing, multi-disciplinary business operating across fire, security, electrical and compliance services. This role offers the scope, influence and responsibility of a director-level position, while remaining open to ambitious Heads of Function, Operations Leaders and Service Managers ready to take the next step in their career.

BWS Group is a fast-growing fire, security and electrical services business with a strong reputation built over more than three decades. With ambitious growth plans, ongoing investment and a strategy that includes both organic growth and acquisition, the business is entering an exciting new phase of development. As the Group continues to expand, the focus is on creating a consistent, scalable operating model that delivers outstanding service to customers while providing excellent opportunities for talented people to develop their careers.

The Role

As Head of Service Operations, you will take responsibility for the end-to-end performance of service delivery across the Group, including customer contact, scheduling, maintenance, reactive works and field operations.

Key responsibilities include:
•   Leading customer service, planning and field service teams.
•   Creating a responsive, accountable and customer-focused culture.
•   Driving service quality, SLA performance and customer satisfaction.
•   Improving scheduling, workforce utilisation and operational efficiency.
•   Developing and coaching managers to build a high-performance leadership team.
•   Creating clear operational rhythms, metrics and performance management disciplines.
•   Working closely with technical and compliance teams to ensure regulatory standards are consistently achieved.
•   Supporting growth initiatives, acquisitions and integration activity.
•   Delivering strong commercial performance through improved productivity, retention and recurring revenue growth.

This is a highly visible leadership role requiring energy, pace and a willingness to get close to the operation, challenge existing ways of working and drive meaningful change.

What We're Looking For

Success in this role will depend as much on personality and leadership presence as technical expertise. We're looking for a leader with real presence. Someone who brings energy into the room, enjoys being at the heart of a busy operation and thrives on solving problems, developing people and driving standards. You'll be a builder, a doer and a catalyst for change, with the gravitas to lead a growing organisation through its next stage of development. You'll be highly engaged with the day-to-day operation, curious enough to spend time understanding problems first hand and driven enough to do something about them. This is not a role for someone who prefers to lead from behind a desk. We want a leader who is approachable but decisive, commercially minded but customer obsessed, and able to bring people with them through change while maintaining high standards and accountability.

We're deliberately open-minded about industry background. You may currently work in service operations, customer service, field operations, logistics, utilities, telecoms, facilities management, maintenance services, automotive or another high-volume customer-focused environment. What matters most is your ability to lead people, improve performance and build scalable service operations.

We're particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate:
•   Significant leadership experience within customer service, service delivery or operational environments.
•   A track record of improving service quality, responsiveness and consistency.
•   Strong performance management and KPI-driven leadership.
•   Experience leading and developing managers and frontline teams.
•   The ability to manage complex operational challenges and customer escalations.
•   Commercial awareness and understanding of service profitability.
•   Strong organisational skills and a structured approach to improvement.
•   The resilience and adaptability to succeed within a fast-growing business.

Why This Role Stands Out

•   A genuine opportunity to shape and build a group-wide service function.
•   Broad leadership remit spanning customer service, planning, field operations and service delivery.
•   Direct exposure to executive leadership and reporting to the Group COO.
•   The chance to drive transformational change rather than simply maintain the status quo.
•   An opportunity to join a growing business with ambitious expansion plans.
•   Flexibility around title and future progression for the right individual.
•   A role where customer impact, operational excellence and people leadership are equally valued.

If you're passionate about creating exceptional customer experiences, developing high-performing teams and building an operation capable of supporting a rapidly growing business, we'd love to hear from you.