School Operations Manager Recruitment in London
EduExec Recruitment is a specialist agency that recruits Operations Managers and Directors of Operations for schools, academies, multi-academy trusts and independent schools across London and the Home Counties. Every search is run personally by Luke Johnson, who has over 12 years' experience in education recruitment.
Ask ten schools for a Director of Operations job description and you'll get ten different answers. That's what makes operations recruitment difficult, and why getting the brief right matters more here than for almost any other senior support role.
The roles I recruit
- Operations Managers in single schools
- Directors of Operations in larger and independent schools
- Trust-wide Heads and Directors of Operations
- Compliance and health and safety leads
- Support services managers
What the role can cover
Depending on the school, an operations leader might be responsible for any combination of estates and facilities, health and safety, compliance, procurement, IT oversight, transport, catering, commercial lettings, capital projects, sustainability, risk management and business continuity.
The biggest overlap is with the School Business Manager role. Traditionally, the SBM is finance-heavy, covering budgets, HR, governance support and business planning, while the operations leader looks after buildings, compliance, projects, service delivery and operational risk. In reality, many schools still expect one person to do both.
How the profession is changing
Operations in education is maturing quickly. Ten years ago, many schools saw it as a support function. Increasingly, trusts recognise that estates, compliance, procurement, capital projects and operational resilience need specialist leadership. Larger trusts in particular want someone who can lead estates strategy, capital projects, procurement and compliance across several sites.
The challenge is that job design hasn't always caught up, and nor has pay. Many trusts want a commercial operator but are still benchmarking against traditional school support staff pay scales, while the strongest candidates are often being courted by private sector employers as well.
Getting the brief right
The biggest mistake I see is hiring for everything: expecting one person to run estates, IT, health and safety, procurement, transport, projects and commercial activity. Schools sometimes advertise for a Director of Operations while describing a School Business Manager, an estates manager and a project manager rolled into one.
The trusts attracting the strongest people are the ones that define the role clearly, are precise about accountabilities and pay accordingly.
The questions I ask candidates
My first question is: tell me about the most operationally complex situation you've led through, and how you knew it was successful. The answer tells you almost everything. Strong candidates talk about stakeholders, risk management, data, communication, decision-making and outcomes.
A second favourite is: what keeps you awake at night in an organisation like this? The best operators immediately mention compliance, safeguarding implications, statutory obligations, single points of failure, business continuity and reputational risk, because that's how they naturally think.
How it works
The process is the same for every role: a proper briefing conversation, direct approach to candidates alongside a targeted advert, a screening interview with every candidate before you see them, a short and honest shortlist, and support through to start date. Fees are a percentage of the first year's salary, agreed before the search begins.
Frequently asked questions
What do school operations roles pay?
Operations Managers in a single school typically earn £40,000 to £60,000. Directors of Operations in larger or independent schools are typically on £60,000 to £90,000 or more, usually as part of the senior leadership team. Trust-wide Heads and Directors of Operations commonly earn £70,000 to £120,000 or more, depending on the size and complexity of the trust.
Does an operations leader need to come from education?
Not always. School experience helps, particularly around safeguarding and statutory compliance, but great operational leadership doesn't always come from inside education and some of the strongest candidates bring experience from facilities, property or other regulated sectors.
Do you recruit operations roles across multiple academies?
Yes, including trust-wide Heads and Directors of Operations responsible for several sites.
Talk to me about your vacancy
If you're recruiting an operations role, I'd be very happy to talk it through, formally or informally. Call me on 07359 924773 or email luke.johnson@eduexec-recruitment.com.