Business Operations Manager
| Posting date: | 30 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £35,663 per year |
| Additional salary information: | National: £35,663 London: £39,533 |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 10 May 2026 |
| Location: | Southampton |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 458469/4 |
Summary
Have you provided confident judgement and support when working with senior leaders on high‑profile or critical matters across an organisation?
Do you excel at building strong relationships and supporting senior stakeholders to drive strategic priorities and ensure alignment across a directorate?
If so, we’d love to hear from you!
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government’s maritime safety policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea.
Safer lives. Safer Ships. Cleaner Seas.
Our vision is to be a world-leading organisation, accelerating the transition to sustainable shipping with non-negotiable safety standards. We put our people, our customers and our planet at the heart of everything we do.
Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:
- Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
- 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
- Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.
Read more in the Benefits section below!
Find out more about what it's like working at MCA roles: Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers
Join a dynamic Directorate at the heart of the UK’s maritime governance landscape. As Business Operations Manager, you’ll keep a complex, high‑profile portfolio running smoothly - overseeing budgets, governance, performance reporting and recruitment while enabling strategic delivery across the MGRC. You’ll work closely with senior leaders, support the Director’s key stakeholder engagement, and manage sensitive business information. This is a role for someone driven, organised and adaptable, ready to influence outcomes and shape effective operations across a critical national function.
Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:
Manage the Directorate Business Support team with responsibility for business operations including budgets, corporate governance, business activity reporting and recruitment.Oversee and assist with the preparation, scrutiny and quality assurance of daily and all other reports, papers and briefings that are for the attention of the Director to enable the Director to fulfil their core functions.Acting as MGRCs principal liaison with the office of the Chief Executive for ministerial correspondence, liaising where appropriate with DfT officials. Reviewing and clearing submissions ahead of Director sign off.Responsible for managing the research and preparation of reports, memoranda, briefing papers and presentations as required by the Director to ensure relevance, accuracy, and corpocracy.Co-ordinate and ensure that key stakeholders deliver within timeframes to comply with governance frameworks and MGRC/MCA priorities.Commission work on behalf of the Director to internal colleagues and external stakeholders that supports MGRC organisational strategy and the wider MCA Business Plan.Responsible for the co-ordination of UK and international travel.Updating of relevant Business Continuity Plans (BCP) to ensure the team is represented. Organising annual desktop exercises; ensuring consistency of approach to Business Continuity across MGRC so as to align Business Continuity.Overseeing secretariat responsibilities for internal team meetings, and external meetings if required; representing the MGRC at internal/external meetings as appropriate and/or as directed.Contributing to MCA-wide initiatives and managing the completion of parliamentary correspondence including Parliamentary Questions (PQ’s) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) queries as requested.Line Managing the Business support staff within the Directorate, and ensuring timely completion of PMRs, identifying training/development needs; and setting challenging, relevant objectives aligned to the MCA business plan.Ensuring accurate completion of approvals and reporting in ABW within agreed timescales, and, if required, complete weekly timesheets in ABW within agreed timescales.Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.
For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.
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