Head of IT Operations

A Head of IT Operations is required for a Permanent Contract role paying up to £70,645.61 with British Transport Police (BTP) based in Force Headquarters, Camden, London.

BTP is the national police Force for the rail network throughout Great Britain, including London Underground, across which we ensure the safety and security of nearly 3 billion passenger journeys and over 100 million tons of freight every year. The world in which we work is fast-paced, operationally and commercially demanding, and constantly changing. As Head of IT Operations you will act as an advisor, confidante and implementer to the Chief Information Officer (CIO). In addition, the purpose of this post is to also represent the CIO around the daily management of the Technology Department and in the absence of the CIO you will facilitate or make decisions on behalf of the CIO.

As Head of IT Operations you will be required to:

• Advise and support the CIO in their wider role by overseeing and contributing to the development of the departmental plan, performance management, professionalism, corporate communications, stakeholder management and other high level departmental functions.
• Manage key IT deliverables up to date, including the management of actions and outcomes from strategic boards, whilst ensuring that major IT contracts are kept up to date and that strategic governance papers are managed through the appropriate processes with Chief Officers, the Authority and Dept of Transport and Government Digital Services.
• Take responsibility for collation and quality assurance of governance reports, particularly those released to the Police Authority and other stakeholders. Responsible for the provision of general and ad hoc advice to all managers and staff within the Technology Dept, as well as internal and external key stakeholders.
• Act as direct oversight, coordination and management of departmental compliance, audit, governance, risk management and legal services activity on behalf of the CIO. Ensuring that forward planning is in place to manage the associated processes, and removing the risk of failure to respond or comply.
• Provide informed financial forecasting based upon the needs of the technology service and its key stakeholders, ensuring that the Medium Term Financial Planning process is adhered to within the Technology Dept.
• Liaise with the BTPA on behalf of the CIO’s portfolio, ensuring that all requests for information, papers and other correspondence are timely and quality assured.

Further information about this vacancy can be found in the attached job description.

The successful Head of IT Operations will be required to evidence the following:

Qualifications:

• Qualified to post graduate level or equivalent or with relevant professional experience or qualifications.

 
Experience:

• Significant experience at a senior level within the police service or comparable organisation, managing departmental risk, budget setting, governance, compliance returns, key stakeholder engagement or other areas within the CIO’s areas of responsibility.
• Successful track record of giving advice on complex or sensitive issues, and driving & embracing change in a political environment at both departmental and senior level.
• Experience working as part of a senior management team and able to demonstrate and contribute to senior cohesiveness with proven leadership and excellent team management skills, with the ability to stimulate thinking and action in others.

 
Skills:

• Ability to efficiently write correspondence, reports and produce written documents with clearly organised thoughts using language appropriate to the intended audience.
• Very organised, highly self-disciplined and the ability to manage multiple work streams simultaneously, incorporating the ability to successfully track the delivery of outcomes to meet expectations of the force and its partners.
• Exceptional communication skills when liaising with internal and external stakeholders and departments with the ability to manage sensitive and confidential information with discretion.

 
In return for your experience, we can offer you:

• Salary up to £70,645.61 (Base salary: £68,011.36, plus £2,634.25 London Allowance)
• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Final salary pension scheme
• Other benefits include a bespoke BTP rewards platform and various salary sacrifice schemes such as cycle to work as well as many high street and online retail discounts

 
We want our organisation to be as diverse as the community it serves and welcome applicants from all sections of the community. In order to apply, you must have the permanent right to live and work in the UK and have been resident in the UK for the previous 3 years. You will be asked these and other questions to determine your eligibility to work for British Transport Police when you start your application and you must answer honestly.

 
Candidates internal to BTP must confirm that they are not subject to formal action plans for sickness/complaints/discipline or poor performance, that all mandatory training courses have been attended and are in ticket/up to date, that a ‘Competent’ rating, or above, was achieved on the last reporting year PDR and they have completed their tenure period (12 months) for current substantive posting.