Head of Operations (9 Month FTC - Mat Cover)

About Us

The FT has an uncompromising mission: delivering independent, quality information, news and services to individuals and companies around the globe. It’s the cornerstone of our reputation and the heart of our ambitions for the future. But for our people, the FT offers so much more than what we do. FT people come from all kinds of backgrounds and work across a huge range of disciplines and locations, and find an empowering, warm and welcoming culture that values curiosity and rewards smart, ambitious thinking. Those who are willing to unite around our mission and live our values will find plenty to challenge, inspire and interest them. Like the audiences we serve, no two FT people are the same; but together we help our audience be better informed and understand the world around them. It’s a job that’s never mattered more, and a career that can take you anywhere you want to go.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace

At the FT, we aim for employees across all regions to have a voice so that diverse perspectives are heard and valued. We believe that a supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves at work and have the flexibility they need to meet their personal needs. We’ll continue to remove barriers for all, and in particular barriers facing employees from underrepresented groups.

The FT’s Professional business

The FT has established commercial relationships with over 5000 corporate, government and education customers globally. These customers pay for teams of people to have access to FT’s journalism on any of 60 media platforms. Over 650,000 people at work or study now benefit from this. Professional customers are instrumental to the FT’s global growth strategy. FT Professional is also responsible for the licensing of the FT’s content through a variety of means, including syndication agreements with other publishers.

This highly successful business has a consistent track record of delivering double-digit revenue growth and impressive margins. The next chapter of success for FT Professional involves continued growth of the core business plus accelerated growth through significant investment in new products and services. Evolving from a single to a multi-product organisation will require fit-for-purpose systems, processes and an ever more need to provide business intelligence and customer insight to inform and optimise strategic and commercial decision-making. As well as a high degree of coordination and cooperation across FT professional teams and other FT divisions.

Role Overview 

Reporting to the Operations Director, the role heads up a team based in London and Manila, the role will be responsible for improving the effectiveness and productivity of FT Professional marketing, customer success, sales and support teams. Includes the use of marketing automation technology,  developing and implementing effective new technology solutions, operational procedures and managing our current solutions to optimise their effectiveness.

Job Description 

• Lead teams based in London and Manila providing direction, ensuring workload is prioritised correctly, coaching, objective setting, quarterly performance reviews and career development
• Implement initiatives and processes that drive productivity and growth across Marketing, Customer Success, Sales and Support in alignment with team KPIs and business OKRs. 
• Collaborate with other teams across the business (e.g. Product and Tech teams), acting as the voice of FT Professional in order to influence the successful rollout of new initiatives, legislation, new products & features, etc
• Deliver regular updates to key stakeholders on the progress of initiatives; gathering, evaluating, and implementing requirements as appropriate
• Measure the effectiveness of initiatives delivered to continuously improve the customer experience and operational efficiency, as well as feeding back any areas of opportunity to appropriate stakeholders
• Act as the FT Professional business owner on software evaluation and replacement projects working closely with Product & Technology and other relevant stakeholders
• Develop and maintain relationships with existing software providers to ensure awareness of new releases and product roadmaps 
• Collaborate with the stakeholders in the Marketing, Customer Success and Sales teams to support the delivery of FT Professional strategies and OKRs

Skills / Experience

• Significant management experience
• Strong team player, able to work collaboratively with and through others across teams
• Effective communicator and influencer at all levels of seniority
• Experience of working with CRM systems and marketing automation technologies
• Highly analytical and data literate
• Skills in process mapping and process optimisation
• Excellent digital skills and understanding of marketing/sales technologies
• Effective prioritisation capability
• High level of initiative and self-motivation
• Ability to plan, execute and manage high volumes of work
• Strong project management skills with attention to dates, deliverables and budgets

What’s in it for you? Our Benefits

Our benefits vary depending on location, but we are committed to providing best in class perks across all our offices as well as an inclusive environment to develop your career. Examples of our benefits include; generous annual leave allowances, flexible working (including working from home), medical cover, enhanced maternity & paternity packages, subsidised gym memberships and Giving Back opportunities. Full details of our benefits can be found here.

Further Information

The FT is committed to providing an inclusive working environment for all. We are an equal opportunities employer who seeks to recruit and appoint the best talent regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We also promote flexible working and will consider specific requests around flexibility for all roles where it can be accommodated. Please let us know if you require any adjustments as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements, or have any questions, [email protected] and a member of our team will be happy to help.

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