Operations Manager

Job Overview

This is a senior operational management position based in Brighton, with regular travel to Burgess Hill and Central London. The Operations Manager serves as ICTS's primary operational lead for the account, holding full responsibility for the delivery of a safe, compliant and high-quality security service across a portfolio of sites.

The role requires a confident, people-focused leader with proven multi-site experience, the ability to build strong client and team relationships, and the resilience to manage a complex, fast-paced operational environment across geographically dispersed locations.

Principal Accountabilities

Operational Leadership

• Overall responsibility for the provision of the security service across all Client sites within the portfolio.
• Serve as ICTS's primary operational point of contact for the Client, maintaining a strong, collaborative client relationship at all times.
• Lead the site security teams across Brighton, Burgess Hill and Central London, ensuring consistent standards and service quality across all locations.
• Deliver all aspects of physical security at site level, ensuring the safety of all staff, visitors and assets.
• Advise on security-related matters as they affect, benefit, impact upon and influence the Client's operations, people, vendors, assets and reputation.
• Identify security risks and concerns; recommend and implement effective security strategies to address them.
• Promote an inclusive, respectful, and values-driven culture across the workforce, aligned with our diversity and equality commitments.
• Role model emotional intelligence and a growth mindset, encouraging resilience, adaptability, and continuous personal and professional development across the team.
• Contribute to ICTS’s wider strategic planning, offering insights and operational feedback to shape long-term goals and business development priorities.

People Management

• Direct line management of all role leads and supervisors, with overall accountability for all security personnel across the account.
• Ensure all site posts are staffed at all times by competent, trained and licensed individuals; manage personnel and roster issues as they arise.
• Maintain staffing levels across all sites in line with contractual requirements.
• Conduct regular 1-2-1s, performance reviews and annual appraisals for all direct reports.
• Lead recruitment activity across the account, including guarding, control room, pass administration and support function roles.
• Manage annual leave across the team to ensure appropriate site coverage at all times.
• Conduct HR-related hearings including investigations, disciplinaries, probation reviews, welfare meetings and return-to-work interviews.
• Maintain and update HR files and records for all team members in line with ICTS requirements.

Training & Development

• Lead the design and delivery of training programmes, ensuring robust induction and ongoing training for all operatives across the account, with support from our training department.
• Identify and address the individual training needs of each member of the security team.
• Maintain accurate, up-to-date training files and records in line with contractual and ICTS requirements.
• Ensure all officers meet the contractual training matrix requirements for their assigned site and role.
• Proactively promote security awareness, including awareness training at induction and on an ad hoc basis.

Compliance, Quality & Governance

• Overall responsibility for quality assurance, auditing and support to investigations across all sites.
• Ensure compliance with Client and ICTS policies
• Write, implement, review and maintain SOPs and protocols, identifying improvements and efficiencies on an ongoing basis.
• Implement and monitor the correct use of operational documentation including SOPs, reports, logbooks, timesheets, briefing sheets and patrol records.
• Ensure SLAs and KPIs are met consistently across all sites within the account.
• Conduct operational audits.

Health & Safety

• Overall responsibility for the H&S of the security team; conduct weekly and quarterly H&S audits across all sites.
• Conduct H&S investigations and ensure risk assessments are current, reviewed annually or as required.
• Respond to emergency situations including lockdown, fire evacuation, protest, trespass and medical emergencies.
• Support the Client in their response to employee and operational emergencies, including out-of-hours availability.

Administration & Reporting

• Overall responsibility for report writing across the account.
• Identify, respond to, mitigate and escalate threats, risks and incidents in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Collaborate with internal departments to ensure smooth, joined-up operations across all sites.
• Carry out payroll and invoice-related duties for the account.
• Fulfil any reasonable requests from the management team.

Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Minimum five years' experience in guarding, law enforcement, military, or security, with demonstrable progression to a management level.
• Proven multi-site operational management experience, ideally within a corporate or financial services environment.
• Strong knowledge of security protocols and the management of guarding operations.
• Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships at all levels of an organisation.
• Excellent scheduling, administrative, prioritising and multi-tasking skills; able to work effectively in a fast-paced, multi-site team environment.
• Discrete and proactive, with excellent presentation, verbal and written communication skills.
• Detail-oriented with a strong focus on process, governance and contractual compliance.
• Flexible and capable of exercising sound judgement in high-pressure scenarios.
• Willing and able to travel regularly between Brighton, Burgess Hill and Central London.
• Available to respond to unexpected emergencies and out-of-hours situations as required.
• Committed to advancing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

Desirable

• SIA Door Supervisor licence (or ability to gain one as a condition of employment).
• Security and H&S qualifications such as CPP and IOSH.
• Experience in specialist security disciplines including GSOC operations, Event Security, Security Technology, Physical Security or Training.
• Experience of access control and security management technologies