This is a Fixed Term Contract covering a Maternity Leave.

Role purpose 

Lead and continuously improve the central business support function for the Fire business. The role manages a team of Coordinators and Administrators, ensuring consistent, accurate and timely support across operational administration, customer and contract coordination, people processes, training, systems, reporting and financial controls. The postholder will set clear standards, allocate resources, manage priorities and provide reliable management information to support safe, compliant and commercially effective service delivery. 

Key accountabilities 

Leadership and team management 

• Provide day-to-day leadership and line management for the Coordinator and Administrator team, creating clear responsibilities, priorities and service standards. 

• Plan and balance workloads across the team, ensuring appropriate cover for absence, peak periods, month-end activity and business-critical deadlines. 

• Set objectives, hold regular one-to-ones and team meetings, and support induction, training, coaching and development. 

• Promote a collaborative, respectful and accountable team culture, addressing issues promptly and escalating employee relations matters through the correct channels. 

• Maintain role profiles, process ownership and succession or contingency arrangements for key support activities. 

Business support and operational coordination 

• Oversee the end-to-end delivery of central administrative and coordination activities across the Fire business. 

• Ensure requests are logged, owned, prioritised and progressed within agreed timescales, with clear communication to internal and external stakeholders. 

• Maintain consistent administrative standards across contracts and regions, including document control, records, meeting support, correspondence and shared mailboxes. 

• Coordinate operational information required for mobilisation, service delivery, project support, planned activity and business reporting. 

• Provide effective cover and hands-on support when required, while retaining accountability for overall team performance. 

Systems, data and reporting 

• Champion the correct and consistent use of relevant business systems, ensuring the team is trained and records are complete, accurate and current. 

• Own key support trackers, dashboards and reporting routines, including data quality checks and timely submission of weekly and monthly information. 

• Provide management information on workload, service performance, outstanding actions, risks and trends. 

• Identify recurring data or process issues, agree corrective actions with stakeholders and monitor these through to closure. 

• Maintain appropriate access controls, document retention and information security in line with company requirements. 

People, training and compliance support 

• Act as the central liaison between the Fire business and People, Recruitment, Learning and Development, QHSE and other support functions. 

• Oversee administration for starters, leavers, changes, recruitment, mandatory training, competence records, holidays and other people processes. 

• Maintain accurate training and competence information, highlight gaps and coordinate actions required to support compliance. 

• Ensure personal and sensitive information is managed confidentially and in accordance with data protection requirements. 

• Support audits and assurance activity by ensuring required records are available, controlled and accurate. 

Financial and commercial administration 

• Oversee accurate and timely administration of purchase orders, invoices, expenses, payroll inputs, contract or job set-up and vendor information, in line with delegated authority and financial controls. 

• Work with Operations, Commercial and Finance teams to resolve queries, missing information and aged actions promptly. 

• Support month-end readiness by ensuring agreed trackers, approvals and supporting records are complete and current. 

• Monitor administrative controls and escalate any risk of duplicate cost, delayed billing, incorrect coding or non-compliant expenditure. 

Process improvement and stakeholder management 

• Document, standardise and regularly review business support processes, responsibilities and hand-offs. 

• Lead practical improvements that reduce duplication, improve visibility and make the service easier for operational teams and customers to use. 

• Build effective working relationships across Operations, Commercial, Finance, QHSE, HR, L&D, Procurement, Fleet, IT, Sales and Bids. 

• Support mobilisations, organisational changes and systems transitions, ensuring risks, actions, communications and training are controlled. 

• Gather feedback from service users and use it to improve team performance and customer experience. 

Key measures of success 

• Agreed support activities and reports completed accurately and on time. 

• Clear ownership, prioritisation and visibility of team workload and outstanding actions. 

• High-quality records, trackers and system data, with issues corrected promptly. 

• Mandatory training, people administration and compliance records maintained to the required standard. 

• Financial administration completed in line with process, delegated authority and month-end deadlines. 

• Demonstrable process improvements and positive stakeholder feedback. 

• A capable, engaged and resilient team with effective cover and development plans. 

Person specification 

Essential experience and skills 

• Previous experience managing and developing a team of Coordinators, Administrators or a comparable business support function. 

• Strong operational administration and process management experience in a multi-site, service, construction, facilities management or similarly regulated environment. 

• Ability to plan resources, manage competing priorities and deliver accurately to tight deadlines. 

• Confident working with management information, trackers and reports, with strong attention to detail and data quality. 

• Good commercial awareness and experience supporting purchase-to-pay, payroll, invoicing, job set-up or related financial processes. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to engage and challenge appropriately at all levels. 

• Proficient in Microsoft 365 applications, particularly Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Teams, with the ability to learn business systems quickly. 

• Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, information security, health and safety and controlled document requirements. 

Desirable 

• Experience within Fire, Passive Fire, Fire Protection or another compliance-led technical service. 

• Experience supporting business change, mobilisation or systems implementation. 

• Relevant qualification in business administration, management or leadership.