Head of Service Operations

The Head of Service Operations will be a key operational leader in the Society, reporting to the COO.

Job Title: Head of Service Operations

Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours of work: Full Time (35 Hours/week) – 9am to 5pm Mon - Fri

Location: The Society operates a hybrid working model with a combination of remote and in-person (Dublin 4 office) working. Office attendance days are Wednesday & Thursday weekly.

Who We Are

The Irish Cancer Society is a community of patients, survivors, volunteers, supporters, health and social care professionals and researchers. Together we are transforming the experiences and outcomes of people affected by cancer through our advocacy, support services and research.

At the Irish Cancer Society, we have a vision that by 2025, 3 out of 4 Irish cancer patients will survive their diagnosis and everyone affected by the disease will have access to world-class treatment, care and support.

The Role

The overall goals of this post are to lead, inspire and empower the Society's Services Team to deliver excellence in services, and to achieve an exciting programme of service growth and innovation for people affected by cancer.

The Head of Service Operations will lead the delivery of high-quality, patient-centric services, ensuring an integrated, personalised and meaningful experience for everyone who uses the Society's services and supports. They will drive a programme of operational transformation, ensuring a patient-focused and operational excellence culture across all services.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Operational excellence

• Provide leadership and operational direction for the Society's supports and services, for people affected by cancer.
• Develop an annual Services operational plan, in collaboration with the COO, to ensure delivery of the Services aspects of the Society's overall strategic plan, including budgets and strict timescales.
• Scrutinise our operational processes and enable operational excellence and optimisation across all our delivery.
• Instil a culture of collaboration and continual improvement across our services and support delivery.
• Make effective use of operational data and measures to derive insight and improve our service delivery.
• Ensure the Society's services are informed by a deeper understanding of our service users and non-users, regular evaluation and benchmarking against best practice and key performance indicators.
• Provide support and input to the technology enablement of our services, supports and experience, and lead digital transformation of our services.
• Ensure excellence in governance, financial management and compliance across all existing and new services and partnerships, including compliance with internal and external policies and protocols.
• Develop and improve on current policies and procedures, in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Deliver regular impact reporting to illustrate the impact of our supports and services on people affected by cancer.

Sustainable Growth and Reach

• Optimise existing services and supports to enable growth.
• Enable and instil innovation across the Department and ensure our services and supports are responsive to the changing needs of people affected by cancer.
• Lead and inform the development and transformation of our ways of working in line with technology development.
• Continually collect and analyse data and feedback to identify opportunities for improvement and ensure high-quality service delivery.
• Ongoing management of key partnerships and the identification of opportunities to grow our reach and impact.
• Work effectively with the Engagement, Fundraising and Advocacy teams, at all levels, to support the branding and public awareness of our work and increase our reach.
• Plan, drive and deliver the development of new ways to reach patients and their families through new services and new channels to achieve expansion of our reach and impact.

Patient and Family Experience

• Ensure a patient-centred culture across all our services and supports.
• Set goals and objectives to improve the experience of people who use our services and supports.
• Continually research and derive insights into behaviour and preferences, and use this to identify and deliver improvements.
• Design and lead the implementation of feedback mechanisms to understand the experience of people who engage with the Society and how we can improve our services based on this feedback.

Leadership and people management

• Build, inspire and lead a high-performing team to support the delivery of these goals.
• Motivate team members across the Department and organisation to meet the Society's goals and objectives, improve and succeed.
• Work effectively with the broader leadership teams to ensure service operational delivery in line with the Society's overall strategy.
• Work collaboratively across the organisation to build a streamlined experience across all service offerings.
• Champion and enhance our patient-centred culture, making sure everyone working on our services and supports teams understands and feels the positive difference they make for people affected by cancer.

The Person

The successful candidate will:

• Be a goal-oriented and target-driven operational leader with strong commercial acumen.
• Have proven capability in operational excellence and growing service capacities and capabilities.
• Be an excellent communicator, able to distil information and present clearly and with impact, in written and verbal form.
• Be an excellent people leader and motivator, with a high degree of emotional intelligence, possessing the ability to lead and motivate diverse people.
• Have excellent relationship building skills.
• Be a highly effective problem solver, deriving insight from data to make evidence-based decisions and solutions.
• Above all, be purpose-driven, with a strong commitment to the Society's mission and a desire to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Significant management experience, culminating in recent comparable leadership experience serving in operations, business development, transformation, customer experience or similar roles.
• Degree level qualification in a relevant field, with demonstrated commitment to ongoing learning in areas such as operational excellence, customer experience, transformation, change management, leadership or another relevant area.
• Demonstrated capability in developing and rapidly scaling new services and channels to meet needs.
• Experience in leading a complex organisational function through a programme of major transformation and cultural development.
• Demonstrated ability to review and improve current services in line with service needs.
• Proven ability to rapidly create substantial growth in reach and take-up of services.
• Knowledge of the Irish healthcare environment is an advantage, or a demonstrated ability to quickly develop this.
• Experience is measured by quality rather than time.

General:

• The Irish Cancer Society operates a no smoking policy, and the post holder must not smoke in the office or when on Society business outside the office.
• Be willing to occasionally work outside of normal working hours.
• All employees are required to be aware of their responsibilities towards health and safety and to adhere to fire regulations.
• This job description is not exhaustive; it merely acts as a guide and may be amended to meet the changing requirements of the Society at any time after discussion with the post holder.
• Maintain confidentiality at all times, and compliance with the Data Protection Act is an essential requirement.

Some of our Benefits:

• 23 days Annual Leave a year or Pro Rata equivalent, plus public holidays, Good Friday and Christmas Eve (if it falls on a working day).
• Service Days - Additional days awarded to reflect long service with the Society.
• Flexitime.
• Sick Pay Scheme (following Probationary period).
• Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (after 6 months).
• Group membership for VHI and HSF (health plans).
• Bus/Rail Ticket Scheme and Cycle to Work Scheme.
• Death In Service Benefit (from commencement of employment).
• Paid Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity, Adoptive, Force Majeure and compassionate Leave).
• Learning and Development Programmes.
• Educational Assistance (Study and Examination Leave).
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

The closing date for applications is Monday 10 March 2025.

HOW TO APPLY: If you are interested in this role please send a cover letter and CV (including salary expectation) to Amanda Walsh, Recruitment Administrator, Irish Cancer Society, 43/45 Northumberland Road, Dublin 4 or email recruitment@irishcancer.ie.

Please note all CVs are logged through a 3rd party system for processing.

The Irish Cancer Society is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all employees. We know that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.