Head of Operational Excellence at First… · Homel

About First Bus:

Are you ready to advance your career with one of the UK's leading bus operators? Join a forward-thinking company that embraces cutting-edge bus technology, from innovative mobile apps to environmentally friendly vehicles. We are passionate about delivering passenger journeys that are sustainable, comfortable, and efficient. We are at the forefront of innovation in the industry, connecting communities and shaping the future of public transport.

At First Bus, we’re transforming how operational excellence is defined, embedded and sustained across one of the UK’s largest and most complex transport networks.

As part of this journey, we’re creating a dedicated Operational Excellence capability within our Customer Delivery function, bringing greater focus to standards, governance, capability and assurance across Regional Bus.

This is a newly created, high-impact leadership role where you’ll shape how operational excellence is delivered nationally, ensuring our regions are equipped with the standards, tools and capability needed to deliver safe, reliable and consistent service for our customers. This is a remote based role with UK travel required.

Key Responsibilities

Setting the Standard

• Define and govern mandatory operational standards, processes and operating frameworks across Regional Bus.
• Establish clear governance, decision rights and accountabilities to ensure consistent adoption across regions.
• Ensure alignment and consistent application of safety, compliance and best-practice standards.
• Establish and maintain a single source of truth for operational performance, ensuring data integrity, consistency and transparency.
• Own and continuously develop operational performance reporting (including Power BI and First Bus Basics dashboards), ensuring insight is accurate, relevant and drives action

Capability & Training Frameworks

• Define and govern training and capability frameworks for front-line operational roles.
• Ensure capability standards directly support service reliability, safety and customer outcomes.
• Embed structured approaches to capability development, ensuring consistency across regions and measurable impact on performance

Driving Assurance & Risk Reduction

• Provide independent assurance of operational performance through audits, standards reviews and structured assurance frameworks.
• Identify, quantify and mitigate operational performance risks through robust governance and intervention.
• Use data and insight to diagnose systemic gaps in capability, process or compliance.
• Lead corrective action, working in partnership with Regional teams and Transformation Managers to ensure issues are resolved at root cause and improvements are sustained.
• Reduce repeat audit findings and strengthen overall compliance maturity across the business

Performance Assurance

• Diagnose performance gaps and deploy targeted interventions to improve operational performance.
• Identify, standardise and embed practical, best-in-class ways of working that improve that improve performance and consistency across regions.
• Lead delivery of operational improvement initiatives, ensuring clear ownership, pace and measurable impact on performance.
• Ensure operational requirements and standards are embedded within national transformation programmes from design through to delivery.
• Build a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring learning from audits, incidents and performance reviews is systematically captured, shared and embedded.
• Apply structured continuous improvement methodologies to support problem-solving, prioritisation and delivery of sustained performance improvement.

Leadership & Capability

• Coach and influence senior operational leaders to embed standards, best practice and consistent ways of working across regions.
• Build strong, effective collaboration between Operational Excellence, Engineering, Safety and Customer Excellence to strengthen end-to-end delivery capability.
• Develop and lead a high-performing Operational Excellence team, building specialist capability in standards, audit, training and assurance.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, safety and accountability, ensuring learning from audits, incidents and performance reviews is embedded across the business.
• Act as a visible role model for First Bus “Our Way” behaviours, promoting inclusive leadership, high standards and customer focus

Skills/Experience

• Proven senior leadership experience in operational excellence, service delivery or performance improvement within a regulated or safety-critical environment.
• A strong track record of setting standards, strengthening governance and driving measurable operational improvement.
• Experience leading audit, assurance, compliance or large-scale continuous improvement programmes.
• Strong analytical and data-led decision-making capability, turning insight into action and sustained results.
• Deep understanding of Lean, Six Sigma or similar continuous improvement methodologies (formal accreditation desirable).
• The credibility, resilience and influence to challenge senior stakeholders, drive accountability and lead change at scale.
• A genuine passion for raising standards, building capability and delivering safe, reliable and consistent performance.

Salary - competitive, plus up to 30% annual bonus

Rewards

Your health is important to us which is why we offer Simply Health & Smart Health for you and your dependents at no cost to you! This offering includes cash back benefits across optical & dental as well as virtual GP appointments, mental health support and nutrition and fitness advise. Our EAP provision offers 24hr, 365 days a year mental health support • We are also committed to your financial wellbeing, and we offer a platform with many discounts on high street brands and supermarkets etc • Working at First you also receive discounted train travel for you and your family after 6 months service as well as a free bus pass • Cycle to work scheme • 25 days' holiday + bank holidays • Pension scheme and chance to buy discounted First Group shares • Enhanced maternity / paternity pay • Flexible working

Equal Opportunities

Public transport serves everyone, whatever their differences. At First Bus, we want to be an employer open to you, no matter what your differences are. We aspire to be an inclusive organisation because diverse backgrounds, thinking and experiences bring so many benefits to our customers, communities, and people. We welcome applications from all.