WFM Operations Partner Senior Lead

Job description

We’re looking for a Workforce Management Operations Partner Senior Lead to join our Operational team in our London office! The WFM Operations Partner Senior Lead is accountable for the WFM–Operations partnering model, ensuring Workforce Management disciplines are consistently embedded into operational decision-making across the business. This role owns the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of WFM partnership with Operations, ensuring that intraday, scheduling, and capacity principles are applied correctly, escalations are handled with discipline, and short-term decisions do not undermine medium- and long-term workforce plans.

The role does not execute tactical WFM activities or own forecasting, scheduling, or intraday delivery. Instead, it leads the Ops Partner function, sets standards, manages people, and acts as the senior WFM representative in complex operational trade-offs. Your mission is to institutionalise WFM decision-making inside Operations, moving the organisation from reactive firefighting to predictable, data-driven execution at scale.

Your Mission The WFM Operations Partner Senior Lead is accountable for the people, standards, and decision quality of the WFM Operations Partner function. This includes direct line management of Ops Partner Leads and dotted-line functional leadership over Intraday and Scheduling Specialists. Act as the direct people manager for WFM Operations Partner Leads, with accountability for: hiring, onboarding, and role clarity performance management, GrowWise cycles, and calibration ongoing coaching, feedback, and development.

Set and reinforce clear expectations for: decision quality stakeholder behaviour adherence to WFM principles and frameworks.

Develop Ops Partner Leads from

metric interpretation structured decision support confident, evidence-based challenge of Operations leadership. Ensure consistent capability, judgement, and behavioural standards across the Ops Partner team through calibration and peer review. Act as the senior WFM representative to Operations Heads and senior Ops leaders. Own the quality and consistency of workforce decisions taken by Operations. Serve as the final escalation point for workforce-related decisions that materially impact service, cost, or workforce sustainability.

Qualifications

6+ Years WFM/Ops Experience: Proven track record in high-volume, scaled environments (Contact Centers or Shared Services).

Financial Services Knowledge

Specific understanding of CS, KYC, FinCrime, or regulated operational environments.

The "Translator" Ability

Capable of turning complex WFM jargon (Erlang, Shrinkage, Occupancy) into clear, actionable business advice.

Strategic Assertiveness

The backbone to constructively challenge senior leaders and say "no" when decisions undermine WFM plans Analytical Reasoning: Ability to interpret data trends and identify leading vs. lagging indicators rather than just reading metrics.

Stakeholder Management

Experience acting as a partner rather than just a reporting function; comfortable operating with Heads of Departments.

Forward-Looking Mindset

A bias toward proactive risk identification and prevention rather than reactive firefighting.

Change Management

Experience driving the adoption of new playbooks or frameworks across different operational units.

Nice to have

Tool Proficiency: Functional familiarity with WFM software (e.g., Calabrio, NICE, Verint) to understand outputs and constraints.

Coaching & Mentorship

Experience in a lead or mentor capacity, specifically helping others improve their decision-making quality.

SQL or Data Viz Skills

Ability to self-serve data using tools like Looker to verify trends before stakeholder meetings.