Head of Operations

About LIA

LIA is the centre of excellence for the education and development of finance professionals in Ireland. We are currently in a period of significant operational change, with our new member management system, Fonteva, going live in 2026.

For the right person, this is a genuine opportunity to shape how a purpose-driven organisation runs. You will have real influence over how teams work together, how change lands, and how member services performs and develops, with the seniority to make decisions and the COO's backing to drive them through.

Role Overview

The Head of Operations leads the Member Services function and acts as the COO's primary operational partner across departments. On one side, that means direct line management of the Member Services Manager and accountability for how the function performs. On the other, it means working as a peer alongside the other Heads, keeping cross-functional work connected and the COO well-sighted on operations across the organisation.

The role calls for someone willing to do meaningful work themselves alongside leading and coordinating across the wider team.

Reporting to the COO.

Key Responsibilities

1. Member Services Leadership and Line Management

• Direct line manager to the Member Services Manager.
• Accountable for the operational performance of member services, including CPD compliance, annual return, designations, and general member services. The Member Services Manager is responsible for day-to-day delivery; the Head of Operations carries accountability to the COO.
• Responsible for the performance, development, coaching, and engagement of the Member Services Manager, and accountable for how the wider member services function performs and develops over time.

2. Day-to-Day Operations and COO Support

• Keep the COO well-sighted on operational activity across departments, including issues that warrant attention before they escalate.
• Provide the COO with regular, structured updates on operational status, risks, and progress.
• Coordinate workflows that span more than one function, clarifying ownership where it is unclear and recommending improvements or efficiencies where the cross-functional view surfaces them.

3. Cross-Functional Collaboration and Change

• Encourage close working relationships between departments, creating the conditions and rhythm for teams to collaborate well.
• Act as a connector between Heads and department managers so that decisions, dependencies, and handoffs across teams stay clear.
• Lead operational delivery of change initiatives owned by the COO and the senior team, coordinating communication, training, and adoption activity, and keeping progress visible to the senior team.

4. Systems, Process, and Knowledge

Bring the cross-functional view to how LIA’s core systems, processes, and knowledge are used across the organisation:

• Systems: Asana, Microsoft Teams, Guru, HubSpot CS, and Fonteva once live, used in line with the agreed guidance for each.
• Processes and SOPs: documented, followed, and kept current by their owners.
• Knowledge: kept current in Guru by departments.

Where consistency or adoption needs strengthening, work with the relevant Heads to address it.

5. Governance, Compliance, and Risk

• Partner with the Head of IT and Risk on operational risk, contributing to the risk register and supporting risk work where it touches operations.
• Partner with the Governance Executive on policy work, providing the operational channel through which policies reach and take hold across departments.
• Flag specialist review where regulatory or compliance matters arise.

6. Project and Resource Coordination

• Ensure projects are well-scoped, tracked, and have clear owners.
• Maintain a view of workload across teams alongside Heads and department managers, surfacing capacity issues that need cross-functional resolution.
• Identify automation, AI, and process improvement opportunities and bring proposals to the COO.

Decision Rights

• Decides: member services strategy and operational approach in consultation with the COO, line management decisions for the Member Services Manager and member services function within agreed frameworks, operational coordination matters, meeting cadence, internal communication coordination, escalation timing.
• Recommends, COO decides: substantive structural matters, new systems, policy changes, significant project decisions, material changes to the operational model.
• Escalates to COO: regulatory or compliance concerns, governance issues, material risks, capacity issues that cannot be resolved at Head level, significant people matters.