Chief Commercial & Operating Officer

Place Partnership – an ambitious organisation representing the voluntary merger of two strong and successful Trusts in South and West Yorkshire, Maltby Learning Trust and Accord Multi Academy Trust – is looking for a Chief Commercial & Operating Officer to lead and develop scalable, high-performing shared services across Governance, Compliance, Estates (including PFI), ICT, Data and operational risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Providing strategic and operational leadership across the Trust’s shared services, implementing scalable and responsive systems for Governance, Compliance, IT and Estates.
• Ensuring operational services are aligned to Trust priorities to enable high-quality educational experiences for all children and young people.
• Driving efficiency, innovation, and continuous improvement across all operational functions by automating routine tasks, where possible, and optimising processes through data-driven insights.
• Leading the development and implementation of operational strategies that support Trust growth and sustainability.
• Providing independent assurance on the effectiveness of shared services through oversight of the catalogue of services and individual SLAs.
• Ensuring all operational services meet statutory, regulatory, and Trust policy requirements.
• Leading on risk management for operational services, identifying and mitigating potential issues.
• Providing executive leadership for business continuity and disaster recovery across the Trust, ensuring that robust plans, testing cycles and recovery arrangements are in place and capable of maintaining operational resilience in the event of disruption.
• Ensuring all academies and shared services align to Trust-wide continuity standards and that critical functions have clear recovery priorities, escalation routes and communication plans.
• Leading the Trust’s operational risk register, ensuring all service areas – including ICT, estates, governance and compliance – are accurately risk‑assessed, monitored and escalated, providing clear assurance to the CEO and Trust Board.

Skills and Experience

• Degree in a relevant field.
• Proven track record of leading large-scale operational functions and managing complex workforce challenges.
• Experience of working at Executive or Board level and reporting to Trustees or Governors.
• Substantial senior leadership experience in operations, estates, or facilities management or related fields, ideally in the education or public sector.
• Experience of leading teams and driving service improvement.
• Deep understanding of health & safety compliance, cyber security, data protection and risk management.
• Commercially astute and growth‑minded, spotting opportunity, building strong partnerships and securing sustainable value that benefits frontline education.
• Digitally confident, viewing technology as an enabler of better services, smarter processes and stronger organisational resilience.
• Analytical and evidence‑led, comfortable using insight, risk intelligence and performance data to inform decisions and prioritise resources.
• Generous annual leave entitlement.
• Corporate paid healthcare cash plan through Westfield Health.
• Competitive salary with incremental progression.
• Enhanced pension scheme.
• Extensive professional learning and development.
• Family-friendly policies, including enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, and parental leave.
• Collaborative working culture.
• Staff recognition programmes celebrating excellence, dedication, and positive impact.
• Supportive, inclusive environments where wellbeing and belonging are prioritised.
• Access to Reward Gateway offers.

Salary: £86,162 – £95,196 per annum (SPOT salary to be agreed subject to skills and experience).

Contract and Hours: Permanent, Full Time, Full Year.

Location: Place Partnership Trust.

Closing date: Friday 5 June 2026 at 12 noon.

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