Head - Operational Readiness

Birmingham, West Midlands (England), B1 2AX : Bristol, South West England, BS1 6EH : Longstanton, East of England, CB24 3EN : Liverpool, North West England, L3 1BP : Leeds, Yorkshire and the Humber, LS11 9AT : Manchester, North West England, M1 6EU : Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, NE4 5BZ Job Summary Closing Date: 11th October 2026 Interviews from wc 2nd November 2 year Fixed Term Contract/Secondment Working within our Help to Buy Transformation & Reprocurement Programme, the Head of Operational Readiness will play a key role in delivering a complex, multiyear public sector change programme. You will join a highly skilled, collaborative programme team tasked with reshaping a nationally significant service at a critical point in its lifecycle. Our focus is on strengthening data integrity, reducing operational and financial risk, improving customer experience, and ensuring long‑term service portability while protecting public funds. This is a programme that values disciplined delivery and thoughtful decision‑making. Our Programme Director champions evidence‑based choices and a diversity of perspectives, recognising that the best outcomes come from constructive challenge and collective problem‑solving.

This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future operating model of one of the UK's most high‑profile home ownership public services. You will work closely with colleagues across a range of specialisms to design and deliver an integrated, coherent and defensible service model. One that can stand up to scrutiny from governance forums, audit and value‑for‑money assessments while delivering long term benefits for the Agency and our customers. This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future operating model of one of the UK's most high‑profile home ownership public services. You will work closely with colleagues across a range of specialisms to design and deliver an integrated, coherent and defensible service model. One that can stand up to scrutiny from governance forums, audit and value‑for‑money assessments while delivering long term benefits for the Agency and our customers. Person specification As Head of Operational Readiness, you will lead the activity needed to prepare the Help to Buy service for successful programme delivery while maintaining continuity for customers. You will provide oversight and coordination across operational readiness, establishing robust governance, reporting and operational frameworks that enable clear, controlled delivery. You will contribute to programme planning, align operational priorities with programme objectives and manage resource requirements, including staffing and training. Acting as a central point for risks, issues, dependencies, ad hoc commissions and senior requests, you will ensure that information is visible, accurate and appropriately signed off. You will also drive continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to strengthen efficiency, compliance and operational performance. You will bring significant experience in operational delivery or programme management, with a proven ability to lead strategic planning and resource management in a complex organisation. You will understand performance reporting and programme assurance requirements, be experienced in developing and implementing process improvements, and be able to balance competing priorities while delivering under high scrutiny. Experience in public equity mortgage loan management, such as Help to Buy, is important for this role. A confident communicator and influential stakeholder manager, you will provide expert operational readiness advice to senior leaders and build productive relationships across internal teams, corporate functions, government departments and other external stakeholders. You will use clear communication and sound judgement to influence decisions, support accountability and help the programme deliver effectively. Benefits Homes England is an executive non-departmental public body with its own terms and conditions, benefits and pension scheme. We are a government agency working in partnership with the private sector and want to employ and retain great people. In return we offer a range of excellent benefits, some of the key benefits include: Holiday - Homes England offers all staff 33 days annual leave per year in addition to 8 statutory bank holidays. Working Flexibly - At Homes England we have a strong culture of flexible working and encourage all employees to have a healthy work/life balance. We offer a wide range of potential working patterns, including part time, job share and compressed hours. Health and Wellbeing - We offer health screening with Nuffield Proactive Health Clinics, a free Employee Assistance Programme which offers confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as access to Occupational Health. Professional Development - At Homes England we are committed to your continued professional and personal development with learning as one of our core values. We pay for one job-related professional membership subscription per year for our employees. We also offer an excellent range of family friendly benefits, for example, maternity, paternity, shared parental leave. Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Selection process details To apply please follow the links to our careers page. Security Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. Selection process details For more information on the role, please see the attached Job Description. Please note – Homes England has a responsibility to ensure compliance with HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard to address the potential problems of identity fraud, illegal working and deception generally. To ensure compliance we will carry out a pre-employment Personal Identity and Vetting Report through Experian to meet the standard and you will therefore be asked to provide certain information in order that the verification check can be carried out if you are successful in your application. Homes England Is Committed To Protecting The Privacy And Security Of Your Personal Data. For Further Information Please Refer To Our Privacy Notice Which Can Be Viewed Here https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/homes-england/about/personal-information-charter Nationality Requirements Open to UK, Commonwealth and European Economic Area (EEA) and certain non EEA nationals. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here. Working for the Civil Service Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. Further information Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks. Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks. Nationality requirements This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements Working for the Civil Service Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment . Contact point for applicants Job Contact

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitmentinfo@homesengland.gov.uk Recruitment team
• Email : Recruitmentinfo@homesengland.gov.uk