Chief Operating Officer
Role overview
Post: Chief Operating Officer
Contract Type: Permanent
Hours of work: Full-Time
Salary: EPR 13-22 (£108,202/£134,860) – Starting salary will be determined based on experience and track record
Location: Liverpool
Closing date: 9am Monday 22nd June
Interviews will be held: TBC
About the role
Shape the future of a growing Catholic Trust
St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust is based in the Liverpool City Region with six primary and four secondary academies. As a united family of academies, we are fully aligned around our central mission to transform children’s lives by providing them with a world‑class Catholic education.
This is a rare opportunity to join a mission‑driven organisation with an unrelenting pursuit of excellence and a clear trajectory for substantial growth. With the Trust set to expand to include 66 schools and 28,000 children by 2031, the COO will play a critical role in building the infrastructure, systems, and capacity required to support a larger, more complex organisation.
Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Finance and Strategy Officer (CFSO), you will lead the operational strategy of the Trust—ensuring that all non‑educational functions are aligned, efficient, and fit for scale.
The Role
As COO, you will provide strategic leadership across key operational areas, including estates, HR, IT, governance, compliance, and risk. You will:
- Develop and implement a scalable operating model to support the Trust’s growth plan
- Lead operational due diligence and onboarding of new schools, ensuring seamless integration into the Trust
- Lead on organisational design and infrastructure, ensuring readiness for new schools joining the Trust
- Drive operational excellence, embedding efficient, consistent systems and processes across all academies
- Work in close partnership with the CFO to ensure strong alignment between financial planning and operational delivery
- Oversee estates and capital strategy, supporting both expansion and sustainability
- Strengthen governance, compliance, and risk management frameworks
- Build and lead a high‑performing central services team
- Develop and evolving a high‑performing shared services model, ensuring central functions deliver efficient, consistent, and value‑adding support across all academies
- Lead and embed a culture of operational excellence, driving continuous improvement, standardisation, and high‑quality execution across the Trust
- Ensuring that all operational activity is delivered in line with the Trust’s agreed values, behaviours, and culture, role‑modelling and reinforcing these across the organisation
To request an application pack or to arrange a confidential conversation please email dion.mills@edwinpeople.com or call 07860966343.
Who we are looking for
The Candidate
We are seeking a strategic, experienced leader with a strong track record of delivering operational excellence in a complex, multi‑site organisation.
You will bring:
- Proven experience in a senior operational leadership role (COO, Director of Operations or equivalent)
- A track record of leading organisations through growth, transformation, or scale‑up
- Exceptional interpersonal skills
- Strong commercial and organisational acumen, with the ability to translate strategy into delivery
- Experience of working alongside finance leadership to drive integrated decision‑making
- The ability to lead diverse functions and build cohesive, high‑performing teams
- A commitment to the values and ethos of Catholic education
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