Head of Operational Support

Location

United Kingdom | United States

Job description

Are you looking for a career change? Exciting opportunity for an experienced seasoned leader to join  World Challenge. In this role you will use your expertise to help shape operational excellence in a dynamic and impactful environment. The ideal candidate will bring a wealth of knowledge and skills relevant to managing operational activities and incident management.

We offer hybrid working and require the successful candidate to come into our welcoming office in Beaconsfield 3 days per week.

About World Challenge

Refined over 30 years, World Challenge trips focus on enriching lives through experiential travel. Our philosophy is based on the belief that character and perspective are developed through real-world experiences. Working in partnership with schools, World Challenge facilitates powerful, student-led expeditions across the world, providing opportunities to develop crucial life skills, such as leadership, resilience and self-belief.

World Challenge is part of Experience Education, a division of the Travelopia group, one of the world’s leading specialist travel groups.

What you will be doing:

As the Head of Operational Support your key responsibilities will be people management, problem-solving and incident management helping to support our travellers as they prepare for, and during their trip. This includes being responsible for our industry leading 24-hour Operations Centre, when we have groups out on trips. We currently have a team of Operations Coordinators across the UK, South Africa and Australia.

• Provide leadership and performance management for operational support staff.
• Oversee the team to ensure up-to-date traveller information, including medical declarations and passport details.
• Manage and optimise the Ops Centre staffing rota for 24-hour coverage (When we have groups out on trips).
• Collaborate with the wider team to allocate resources efficiently during high-demand situations.
• Take an active on-call role in the Operations Centre to support the team in escalated cases and emergencies.
• Continuously review and develop Operations Centre systems, including incident management, satellite tracking, and communication networks.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders, including Expedition Leaders, school staff, medical and security assistance providers, ground team members, and other contacts to enhance overall response effectiveness.
• Develop and refine standard operating procedures and the Incident Management Plan to improve response times and accuracy.
• Perform ongoing analysis and reporting of incident trends and statistics.

What are we looking for:

• Proven leadership experience in an operations centre or emergency response environment.
• Demonstrated expertise in developing and implementing operational policies, systems, and protocols.
• Effective and motivating leader capable of directing workloads and managing performance.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Friendly and professional manner with a passion for building positive relationships.
• Strong customer service orientation with a keen awareness of customer needs.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office apps, including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and experience with databases.
• Genuine passion for travel and a dedicated commitment to student development.

Join us and in return you will be rewarded with:

• Opportunities to travel overseas as a member of an expedition team and/or on familiarisation trips
• 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays, 2 charity days per year and a bonus day off for your birthday
• Global recognition and reward program
• Various employee discounts and offers, including discounted trips with other Travelopia brands and reduced-price kit for your next adventure

If you’re looking for an exciting opportunity and want to play a key role in the delivery of our World Challenge experiences, then we would love to hear from you!

We believe people are happier and perform best when they are able to be their true self, and that diverse teams deliver better results.

Together we will cultivate a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, where everyone can flourish. We are committed to driving change through increasing awareness of, and counteracting, unconscious bias; building an inclusive culture, and embracing diversity in all its dimensions.

Travelopia is committed to ensuring a work environment that is open, accessible, and inclusive, removing barriers for all individuals. If you require accommodations/additional support to participate in the recruitment and selection process, kindly inform us. Our hiring team will work with you to provide suitable accommodations/additional in a timely and confidential manner. Information received will be handled with the utmost discretion.

To request accommodations, please contact our team at [email protected]

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Job tags

Salary