Head of Operational Excellence

The Role & Key Responsibilities

Job Title: Head of Operational Excellence

Location: London/Peterborough (Hybrid)

Contract: Permanent, Full Time

We're seeking an experienced Head of Operational Excellence to lead the evolution of service management, support operations and reliability practices across BTS. This role will play a critical part in ensuring our technology services are resilient, scalable and focused on delivering an outstanding user experience. You'll drive modern operational practices and help shape a culture of continuous improvement across the organisation.

What you'll be doing

• Define and deliver the Operational Excellence strategy across BTS.
• Lead service management, support operations and reliability engineering capabilities.
• Modernise support services through automation, self-service and AI-enabled solutions.
• Transform the User Support Centre to improve service quality and user experience.
• Establish and lead Command Centre and major incident management capabilities.
• Drive operational readiness, resilience and service reliability improvements.
• Lead post-incident reviews and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Develop high-performing teams and strategic service partnerships.

What you'll bring

• Significant experience leading service management and operational teams in large global organisations.
• Expertise in ITSM, operational governance and service lifecycle management.
• Experience modernising service desk functions through automation, AI and self-service capabilities.
• Knowledge of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and reliability-focused operating models.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills.
• Experience driving operational transformation and cultural change.
• A passion for service excellence, simplification, automation and continuous improvement.

Location

• Hybrid, a mix of office and homeworking with regular presence in our Peterborough and London locations.
• About The Company
• Associated British Foods Business Technology Services are continually reviewing our benefits to ensure our staff feel rewarded…

Associated British Foods is a global giant when it comes to the world of food processing and retail. Our ingredients division is the world’s second-largest producer of both sugar and baker’s yeast and our grocery brands occupy leading positions across the globe meaning that, in the UK, nine out of ten households use our brands.

Associated British Foods Business Technology Services (BTS) was first established in 2008 to deliver a centralised IT infrastructure and service to our fellow ABF businesses. We have now grown and operate in over 185 locations spread across 23 countries supported by a fantastic team of nearly 200. Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and we’re looking for people who are eager to join us in supporting and delivering this vision.

We want you to be a part of our future and to support you, so below are a handful of some of our benefits that are offered to our employees.

• AB Foods BTS match up to 10% pension (contributory)
• Up to 10% Bonus
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 days holiday per calendar year
• Discounts on ABF products such as Twinings, Silverspoon, Pataks and Ryvita
• 24/7 free and confidential access to an Employee Assistance Programme to support you as and when necessary

We’re looking for dedicated and conscientious people who embrace and live our values. If you are an individual who thrives in a collaborative, trusting and pioneering work environment, ABF could be the right company for you.

All recruitment activities into our ABF BTS team are supported by our AB Agri business.

Making your application

Ready to apply? Great! Simply register your details and upload your CV via our careers website – it usually takes just a few minutes.  Please do not delay making your application. In the event of a high candidate response to this vacancy we may close the application period before the date shown and without notice.

So that we can support you to perform at your best, please let us know of any adjustments that may be required throughout the recruitment process by emailing careers@abagri.com

As part of your application, we ask you to answer some equal opportunities questions that help us to monitor how inclusive our recruitment process is and identify areas we can improve in. This information is anonymised, separate from your application and is never seen by the hiring panel. You can choose not to answer these questions with no impact on your application.

ABF BTS recruitment is supported by our AB Agri group and we politely request no contact from recruitment agencies or media sales. We have a PSL and do not accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.