Swindon Borough Council (SBC) is on a transformation journey to become a financially sustainable, digitally enabled, and prevention-focused organisation by 2028. HR Operations is at the heart of this change, responsible for ensuring a consistent, efficient, and high-quality HR service that supports the organisations workforce ambitions. The Council requires an interim HR Operations Manager to provide immediate stability, leadership, and operational excellence across the HR Operations function. This role will lead the HR Team Leader and team, introduce robust service standards and performance reporting, and deliver improvements aligned with transformation, audit, and service review recommendations. This post will also be instrumental in embedding technological enhancements including the exploration of AI and restoring confidence amongst stakeholders that HR Operations can deliver timely, reliable, and professional services. Role Purpose To lead and develop HR Operations at SBC, ensuring the function delivers efficient, customer-focused, and digitally enabled services. The role will provide immediate leadership to the HR Operations team, establish performance standards and KPIs, deliver a clear HR Operations service offer, and drive improvement initiatives. The interim HR Operations Manager will also ensure the service is positioned to scale and adapt to future needs, balancing resources with demand, strengthening data quality and reporting, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement. Key Responsibilities Leadership & People Management * Lead, support, and develop the HR Team Leader and their team to ensure capability, accountability, and high-quality service delivery. * Integrate the Assistant HR Business Partners into the HR Shared Service Centre model. * Role-model inclusive and visible leadership, embedding Council values and behaviours. Operational Excellence & Service Standards * Rapidly establish and implement KPIs and Service Standards (SLAs) for HR Operations. * Communicate service standards and the HR Ops service offer clearly to key stakeholders, ensuring transparency and accountability. * Deliver consistent, timely, and customer-focused HR operational support across the employee lifecycle. Data, Insights & Reporting * Partner with the HR Data & Insights team to design and deliver performance reporting mechanisms, including demand management, prioritisation, and team workload allocation. * Strengthen HR data integrity, reporting, and analytics to inform operational and strategic decision-making. kills & Experience * Significant leadership experience in HR Operations or Shared Services within a local authority or complex public sector environment. * Strong track record of leading HR teams, improving performance, and embedding robust service standards and SLAs. * Experience of delivering transformation and process improvements in HR Operations, ideally in a unionised environment. * Demonstrable experience of workforce resource analysis and capacity planning, including the application of technology to enhance efficiency. * Skilled in managing HR data quality, reporting, and analytics to support decision-making. * Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage and reassure at all levels. * Understanding of audit and compliance requirements within public sector HR operations. * Awareness of emerging digital solutions and ethical AI applications in HR. Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR Head of HR