B3 - Operational Improvement Manager

Client Services Delivery is the main operational delivery division within Social Security Scotland. Our teams deliver a wide range of benefits and services to those most in need across Scotland. This includes people on low incomes, disabled people, carers, young people entering the workplace and to help people heat their homes.

The Operational Improvement function within Client Services Delivery is responsible for delivering operational changes and improvements, supporting benefit/service design and live operations, and ensuring operational readiness (including incidents and outages).

The Operational Improvement Manager (B3) is a senior leadership role within Client Services Delivery, accountable for strategic operational improvement delivery and advocacy for operational experience across Social Security Scotland. The B3 leads multiple work streams (Programme for Government initiatives, release readiness, triage, benefits/services, cross-cutting components) and manages Performance Improvement Managers (B2), ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and values.

This role will be responsible for the strategic ownership of operational improvement backlog, while influencing agency-wide priorities. In this role you will be joining the Operational Delivery Profession which is a recognised Civil Service profession and the largest profession within Social Security Scotland. As a client facing organisation, delivering benefits to the people of Scotland, being part of the profession recognises the important role you will undertake.

• Strategic leadership and line management of B2 managers:
  Provide vision, coaching, and development; ensure performance, QA, and cultural alignment.
• Influence and negotiate operational priorities across internal/external stakeholders; advocate for operational experience in agency-wide decisions.
• Resource and budget oversight:
  Manage workforce capacity and affordability requirements; ensure efficiency and value for money.
• Strategic backlog ownership and prioritisation:
  Direct large/complex improvements and digital/non-digital change; maintain prioritised backlog.
• Release readiness and assurance:
  Liaise with suppliers and delivery partners to minimise disruption; assess impacts and unintended consequences.
• Continuous improvement and innovation:
  Identify opportunities, lead root cause analysis, and drive systemic improvements.
• Governance and stakeholder reporting:
  Provide authoritative updates to senior forums; ensure compliance with organisational values and charter.

We use an assessment framework called 'Success Profiles' which lists the elements we test and provides detailed descriptions of each. Find out more about the framework here.

Technical / Professional Skills

• Adaptability to change (Level: Practitioner)

Experience

• Experience of service delivery within or for an operational environment.

Behaviours

• Communicating and influencing (Level
  3)
• Seeing the bigger picture (Level
  3)
• Leadership (Level
  3)

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours here.

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words
) which provides evidence of how you meet the Success Profiles above.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted on the below Behaviour:

• Making Effective Decisions (Level
  3)

Candidates who pass the initial sift will have their applications fully assessed. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. We aim to provide feedback on request. However, if we receive a large…