About this role

A significant senior leader, this is a critical role with accountability for the delivery of a portfolio of large, complex, occasionally externally funded MDU infrastructure build delivery across a defined region. The individual leads a sizeable team of Delivery Management Staff, and is key to the implementation of Openreach’s business critical Fibre First Strategy.

The role holder will have exceptional operational leadership and programme management skills and is responsible for contractually compliant end to end structure delivery of their individual MDU portfolio. They will lead, motivate, empower and inspire their team) to deliver successful customer and business outcomes, assuring targets and milestones are met on their designated operations with E2E accountability for all safety, quality, network build, repair and customer driven SID activities across Openreach’s Delivery portfolio.

You'll have the following responsibilities

• Lead a portfolio of MDU infrastructure delivery taking responsibility for prioritisation of delivery and resource management to ensure outputs are in line with business targets. 
• Sole accountability for final target achievement for the portfolio; key requirement to ensure both internal and external stakeholders’ complete dependencies on time, on budget and to the right quality in order to achieve the required outcomes. Failure here will expose Openreach to contractual breach and significant brand damage.
• Own the resourcing strategy for the portfolio within the designated region. Ensuring clear communication with partner management, 3rd party contractors and Openreach Direct labour to facilitate an effective make/buy decision. Considering changes in cost, skills, availability, performance and wider business strategy in order to iterate as required. 
• Ensure the team comply with any and all contractual requirements laid out in our external client contracts which dictate how Openreach must operate
• Create and implement formal mobilisation/ demobilisation plans for all contracts, including completion of the detailed contract close out process and paperwork for any BDUK contracts in the portfolio
• End to end delivery of structures & outcomes for the defined portfolio assuring high quality outcomes, delivered on time, to quality and within the agreed cost envelope. 
• Ensure effective operational management and governance of build agents by the team, this can include multiple 3rd party contractors in addition to Openreach Direct Labour. 
• Wholly accountable for monitoring and driving key metrics e.g. Cost to Complete, Cost per Premise and total capex budget in year. With plans put in place to rectify if required. (OR exposure on BDUK bids can be multi millions if mismanaged). 
• Full accountability for delivery, contractual and financial governance within delivery. Including ensuring effective Departure from Estimate management and full compliance with OR Financial governance, e.g. implementation of Sarbanes Oxley
• Ensure you and your team work safely and effectively at all times, creating a zero-harm culture.  Fully accountable for ensuring all members of the Team are working safely. Including creation and ownership of the local safety plan.
• Ensuring full compliance with Openreach Health and Safety governance e.g. License to Work/ H+S Training/ AMS checks 
• Take direct accountability for stakeholder expectations, creating and maintaining high quality relationships with stakeholders. Create and update stakeholder maps relating to your portfolio, ensuring they are regularly updated 
• Supplying subject matter expertise to national transformation programmes. You will be a visible sponsor, leading your teams in the delivery and embedding of change programmes to further revenue, customer and people improvements for the region, working alongside the Business Optimisation, Area Manager / Patch manager and Change programme owners. 
• Identifying process and continuous improvement opportunities, executing & embedding them within the area you lead, to drive enhanced service and greater profitability for the region.

You'll have the following skills & experience

• Excellent financial and delivery acumen with budgetary management experience.
• Track record of delivering multiple operations against plan with ability to quickly identify risks/ issues and rectify at speed.
• Ability to work within a demanding contractual framework making prioritisation calls to maximise the customer, cost and quality outcomes
• Understanding of and able to implement quality assurance processes 
• Results driven – a proven track record of operational grip and highly disciplined to deliver a balanced set of results (quality & quantity and behavioural change & empowerment
• Strong understanding of the disciplines of programme financial management
• Able to cut through barriers (perceived or real) to bring real clarity and focus to delivery
• Safety and well-being focused. Able to set and drive high standards at all levels of the organisation
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills with ability to build effective working relationships.
• Comfortable representing Openreach at senior levels externally, and in receiving high levels of challenge
• Proven track record and demonstrable experience of working as a Senior Operational Manager in a portfolio role as well as managing multi stream programmes from initiation through to full operational acceptance
• Experience of actively managing a P&L to successful outcome