The Guide Dog Partnership Operations Manager helps people with sight loss to live the life they choose by leading a team of GDMS (Guide Dog Mobility Specialist) in the delivery of guide dog and partnership training and support. You’ll ensure high quality, standardised dog, and client training with responsibility for the customer experience.
 

This role will be based on site at our Exeter office, working closely with a team of Guide Dog Mobility Specialists. You’ll be working 35 hours per week, worked 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 

We offer a generous pension scheme, annual leave, life assurance and enhanced pay for parenting and sickness leave. In addition, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme, flexible benefits package and discounts and cashback scheme to care for our people.

More details can be found in the attached candidate pack and job description.

We reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date.

Diversity
Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity, and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or nationality.

We encourage applications from people with disabilities as they are currently under-represented in the organisation and guarantee an invitation to interview for all applicants with disabilities who demonstrate, within their application form, sufficient evidence to meet the essential criteria for the job.

Safeguarding
Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

To be able to fulfil this role, the skills and experience we are looking for in a potential candidate include;

Essential

• Demonstrable experience of working in a professional management, supervisory or teaching / training role related to vulnerable people.
• Experience of developing, supervising and / or managing performance in others (e.g. staff/volunteers), coaching and leading a team.
• Able to demonstrate experience of managing a complex operations environment where exceptional, customer-focused service delivery is achieved.
• Experience of working guide dog practice
• Experience of handling safeguarding concerns within a service delivery setting.
• Knowledge and understanding of effective management protocol   Knowledge of models of person-centred service delivery to adults, children, young people, and their families.
• Knowledge and experience of ensuring safeguarding compliance within a team.
• Knowledge of current legislation, policy and research relating to people with sight loss and/or disability.
• A comprehensive knowledge of GDPR.

For the complete list of essential and desirable criteria necessary to be successful in this role please see the Person Specification within the Job Description below. The candidate pack contains more information about this role & the recruitment process at Guide Dogs.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. We cannot provide sponsorship for this role.

How to apply

If you have any accessibility issues, please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk.

Applications need to be made using the online application form, accessed using the ‘apply’ button above.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description.

The system has a one-hour time limit. We would advise you to prepare your answers separately and then copy and paste into the online form once finalised.

If any mandatory fields are missed, a pop-up box will appear at the top of the page advising which sections require completion.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If there is not enough space in your application form to provide this information, please ensure you upload additional documentation containing the additional detail.

Please contact our Recruitment Team on 0118 3540345 or peopleservicecentre@guidedogs.org.uk if you require any support with your application.